Known for acclaimed hits such as West End Girls, It’s A Sin and Always on My Mind, Pet Shops Boys are a musical duo that have endured through the decades.
The synth-pop group, consisting of Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, are set to release their latest album A Man from the Future. Across eight tracks, the pair explore the life and death of mathematician and cryptanalyst, Alan Turing. The project was made in collaboration with Alan Turing biographer, Andrew Hodges.
BBC Bitesize joined Pet Shop Boys to discuss the new album, their rise to fame and how to succeed in the music industry.
Watch: Pet Shop Boys and Alan Turing biographer Andrew Hodges discuss their latest project, A Man from the Future
Kimberley: A lot of our audience, they would love to emulate a career like what you guys have had in the music industry. What advice would you give to them if they were trying to start out? What would you say to do while they're at school?
Neil Tennant: You have to learn about it and follow your instincts and practice. From an early age, I wrote songs. I just made it up in my head, and I grew up in the time of the Beatles and David Bowie. Ever since grammar school, I used to tell people I was going to be a pop star, and even I thought it was a ridiculous thing to say because it seemed an impossible thing to achieve. But I always carried on writing songs. When I came to London to go to North London Polytechnic, I made demos for music publishers.
Chris Lowe: I was always doing music. We had a school orchestra, then a school dance band, and we formed a little group out of that. We used to play all the working men's clubs and earn money, and that was great. We also played the school dances.
Kimberley: You're not in one box or another. Our audience might be surprised to find that you bring a lot of technology into your music. Sometimes people at school think, "If I'm into tech, I can't have a career in music," but you prove that's not the case. You're multidimensional as the Pet Shop Boys.
Neil Tennant: We used to just have harpsichords, then someone invented the grand piano. Then someone invented the saxophone and that created jazz. Then someone invented the electric guitar, and that created rock and roll. Technology is really at the heart of all types of music.
Kimberley: You've got a new piece of work out. You've worked with Alan Turing's biographer on it. Talk to me about what we can expect from that.
Neil Tennant: Alan Turing became famous recently for being a codebreaker, for leading the team that broke the Enigma code during the Second World War. Really, he's also the person who first thought of the computer. We became fascinated by the story because it has a tragedy. He was gay, and it was illegal to be gay in those days. He was prosecuted for being gay. So we followed his story on both a personal level and a scientific and codebreaking level.
Kimberley: Incredible. Andrew, you're obviously Alan's biographer. What was it like when you got the call to say the Pet Shop Boys wanted to work with you?
Andrew Hodges: That was very exciting because I've always been a fan of the Pet Shop Boys, and I couldn't believe it. We got together pretty quickly after that, and they'd already scoped out a lot of what they wanted to do. The piece opens in 1926, exactly 100 years ago, with a book called Natural Wonders Every Child Should Know. In Alan Turing's words, it opened his eyes to science because it gave the idea that there was an explanation for everything. It wasn't just looking at things, collecting them, and putting them into boxes. It was finding an understanding of what lay underneath. So that's how the piece begins, and I think the music reflects that. There's a children's choir.
Neil Tennant: There is. The Manchester Grammar Choir.
Andrew Hodges: It conveys that basic sense of wondering how on Earth the world works. It's absolutely baffling when you look at it.
Kimberley: It's such an incredible way to do it, through music and narration. We always end our interviews with the same question. If you could go back in time and speak to your younger selves, what advice would you give? Chris, I'll come to you first.
Chris Lowe: It'll probably be better than you think it's going to be.
Kimberley: That's really lovely advice. Neil?
Neil Tennant: My advice would be: stick with it, because it's going to be amazing.
Kimberley: And finally, Andrew.
Andrew Hodges: You have to be yourself. That's all. I mean, it's obvious really. Everyone knows that. But it's not so easy to do at the time.
"I never thought of it as a career"
Casting their minds back to their school years, Neil and Chris told BBC Bitesize that they had very different attitudes to school as children. “I remember my first day at school. I was dropped off by my parents and I burst into tears,” Neil said.
“When I was 11, I went to a Catholic Grammar School in Newcastle, and my big interest was history. I went to a very sporty school, but I was the worst boy in school at football.”
However, things were a lot easier for Chris at his school in Blackpool. “I just walked straight in and never looked back. And that’s pretty much how I am about most things,” he said. “I always like new things and new adventures in life.”
Despite their critical success as musicians today, neither Neil or Chris had ever considered a career in music until the pair met at university.
“At senior school, I was always doing music,” Chris said. He recalled being part of the school orchestra and dance band, before forming a group, where he started performing at working men’s clubs and school dances.
"I always enjoyed doing that, but I never really thought of it as a career.”
Flash forward to today, and the pair are considered one of the most influential groups in pop history, having sold more than 50 million records worldwide and released 60 singles spanning five decades.
So what advice do Pet Shop Boys have for any young people trying to start out in the music industry?
“Well, I think firstly, you have to want to do it. You have to learn about it and follow your instincts and practice,” Neil said. “Since grammar school I used to tell people that I was going to be a pop star and even I thought it was a ridiculous thing to say, […] but I always carried on writing songs and when I came to London to go to North London Polytechnic, I made demos for music publishers.”
The impact of computer science pioneer Alan Turing
Despite its 2026 release, Pet Shop Boys’ new album A Man from the Future has roots in an original 2014 work that the duo performed at the Royal Albert Hall for BBC Proms. The work has now been expanded into a full musical composition combining song, spoken word and both electronic and orchestral music.
The tracks explore the lifetime and impact of the pioneering British mathematician Alan Turing. Not a well known figure during his lifetime, Turing is now celebrated for laying the foundation for modern computing and for the crucial role he played in breaking the enigma code during World War Two.
However, Turing was also a victim of 20th Century attitudes. “We became fascinated with the story because it has a tragedy, because he was gay and it was illegal to be gay during those days,” Neil explained.
This meant in spite of Turing’s wartime contributions, he was arrested for gross indecency in 1952 and died two years later. “We followed his story from a personal level and the scientific and codebreaking level.”
A Man from the Future was created in collaboration with Alan Turing biographer, Andrew Hodges. Andrew recalled the moment he received a call from Pet Shop Boys asking him to join the project, describing it as 'very exciting'. “I’d always been a fan of the Pets, so I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
He told Bitesize that he was drawn to the concept because he was interested in the blend of technology and history. Andrew, who is an electronic music fan himself, described how this formed part of his appreciation for how the album was created.
“[It's] the combination of being so digitally precise about what you do, but with a human cultural history,” he explained.
“And that’s what we are really trying to do,” Neil agreed. “Precision with emotion!”
This article was published in October 2026
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