Max Headroom

Max Headroom was a groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) character who first appeared on British TV in 1985. He was created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton, and was played by actor Matt Frewer. Max was known for his biting commentary on topical issues, arrogant wit, stuttering, and pitch-shifting voice. Max's personality was meant to be a satirical exaggeration of the worst tendencies of television hosts in the 1980s who wanted to appeal to youth culture yet weren't a part of it. Frewer proposed that Max reflected an innocence, largely influenced not by mentors and life experience but by information absorbed from television. Max Headroom debuted in the British-made cyberpunk TV movie Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future, his origin story. In the movie, Edison Carter (portrayed by Frewer) is a journalist fleeing enemies into a parking garage, crashing his motorcycle through the entrance barrier reading "Max. Headroom 2.3 metres". At the time, UK clearance height signs used the phrase "Max. Headroom" as opposed to "Max. Height". While Carter is unconscious, an AI program based on his mind is created. The AI