Pet Shop Boys announce new album A Man From The Future exploring the life of Alan Turing

The Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, have announced their new album A Man From The Future, exploring the life and legacy of pioneering gay figure Alan Turing.

In collaboration with Turing’s biographer Andrew Hodges, the eight-track album explores key chapters in the late mathematician’s life, combining Pet Shop Boys’ music and lyrics with spoken-word narration by Juliet Stevenson and orchestration by Sven Helbig.

The album follows Turing’s story from his school days and sexuality through his work at Cambridge, codebreaking during WWII, pioneering work in computing and AI, his prosecution for homosexuality and his death in 1954.

Remembering Alan Turing

The late mathematician, celebrated for breaking German codes during WWII, was prosecuted for his sexuality in 1952 as a gay man. He was charged with “gross indecency”, the same charge used against renowned Irish poet, playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde.

To avoid prison, Turing agreed to hormone injections, a form of chemical castration that caused significant physical and mental distress. Years later, in 1954, he committed suicide by eating a poisoned apple.

The final track includes Gordon Brown’s 2009 statement apologising for Turing’s treatment, followed by his 2013 posthumous royal pardon.

Pet Shop Boys describe the album as a “musical memorial to Alan Turing”

“Our motive in creating this work was to make a musical memorial to Alan Turing who gave so much to his country and the world and was rewarded for it by being prosecuted for his sexuality,” said the Pet Shop Boys in a news release.

“Alan made a massive contribution to the defeat of Germany in World War II and was a pioneer of computing, imagining a world with intelligent computers. He also looked forward to a time when being gay would be accepted as normal. In both his professional and private lives, he was ahead of his time.”

The work was originally created by Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe and Andrew Hodges in 2012–13 and performed at the BBC Proms in 2014. The Pet Shop Boys have since reworked it to give more electronic emphasis and new string arrangements.

A Man From The Future will be released on 9 October via Parlophone Records, on vinyl, CD, Blu-ray audio and digitally. Before its official launch, the BBC will premiere the 2026 version as a world exclusive on 4 October via BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 3, followed by availability on BBC Sounds.

A Man From The Future tracklist:

1. ‘Natural wonders every child should know’
2. ‘He dreamed of machines’
3. ‘The Enigma’
4. ‘Other ranks’
5. ‘The memory and the control’
6. ‘The trial’
7. ‘Only in his death’
8. ‘A man from the future’