The Machine Stops is a short story by E.M. Forster from 1909, voted one of the best short stories in science fiction. It describes a world where humans live in isolation underground in identical pods, communicating with each other through an early internet, fearful of travelling any distance. All the needs of the people are met by a giant machine. Over time they begin to worship it as God, forgetting it was built by people. Direct experiences of the world are shunned by the subterraneans as unnecessary and dangerous. Instead they use social media to communicate and to experience life, never leaving their solitary cell-like rooms. The story focuses on two characters, Vashti and her son Kuno, who live on opposite sides of the world. Vashti is happy with her contemplative life and her virtual communications with others. However her son Kuno rebels and travels to the forbidden surface to see people living there in the wild. The Machine threatens Kuno with homelessness for his actions, but later he is moved closer to his mother where he prophesises the end of their world: "The machine... stops." And then, of course, it does. One of the few filmed versions of Forster's story was made in 1966 for Out Of The Unknown, the BBC2 science fiction anthology series. It was extremely challenging to produce, requiring a number of complex sets as well as a working monorail. However the result was intriguing: a futurism that also harked back to the Edwardian period - a fitting motif for Forster’s tale.