Survivors

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For other uses, see Survivors (disambiguation).
Survivors
Image:Survivors_Logo.jpg
This is the main title caption that was seen throughout the series.
Format Drama
Created by Terry Nation
Starring Ian McCulloch
Lucy Fleming
Carolyn Seymour
Denis Lill
John Abineri
Celia Gregory
Lorna Lewis
Country of origin UK
No. of episodes 38 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time 50 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel BBC
Original run 1975 – 1977
External links
IMDb profile

Survivors was a British television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977. It concerned the plight of a group of people who had survived an accidentally released plague that had killed nearly the entire population of the planet. The programme is usually described as falling into the science fiction genre, but a more appropriate description would be to call it apocalyptic fiction.

Contents

[edit] History

The programme ran for three series and 38 episodes.

Terry Nation left after the first series to concentrate on other work and due to disputes with producer Terence Dudley and some critics feel that the direction of the programme suffered as a result.[citation needed]

A BBC4 documentary entitled 'The Cult of... Survivors', featuring interviews with actors Lucy Fleming, Ian McCulloch and Carolyn Seymour, director Pennant Roberts and scriptwriter Martin Worth, was broadcast on 5 December 2006, as part of the channel's Science Fiction Britannia series. The 'Cult of...' series also included documentaries on Blake's 7 (a series devised by Terry Nation), and Doomwatch (which was produced by Terence Dudley).

[edit] Remake

 This section contains information about a scheduled upcoming television series.
It may contain non-definitive information based on advertisements, a website or interviews. The information may change as the date of the series premiere approaches.

The BBC actively pursued the rights for Survivors from Terry Nation's estate, so that the series could be revived as a six part serial.[1]

On 22 November 2007, the BBC announced that they were going to remake Survivors, as written by Adrian Hodges, to be shown on BBC One.[2] The new version will be loosely based on Terry Nation's novel [3]. Not all of the characters from the original series will appear, and some will be reimagined.[4]

On 31st May the BBC announced the remake of post-apocalyptic 1970s series Survivors is to air in the autumn.

The drama will star Julie Graham, Max Beesley, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Paterson Joseph with a supporting cast including Freema Agyeman, Shaun Dingwall, Phillip Rhys and Zoe Tapper.

Survivors is set in the present day in the aftermath of a virus which has wiped out most of the world's population.

Writer and executive producer Adrian Hodges (Ruby In The Smoke, Primeval) said: "Survivors is about what it means to be human. It asks questions about our nature and confronts us with our deepest fears.

"When everything else is stripped away, would we band together and find the best in ourselves, or would we fall apart and retreat into barbarism and savagery?"

Kate Harwood, BBC head of drama series and serials, added: "We have managed to assemble a magnificent cast in a series set to take audiences on an emotional rollercoaster ride."

[edit] Locations

The majority of the locations for all three series of Survivors were in the Welsh Marches, the counties of Monmouthshire, Shropshire, Powys with, for the first two series, the characters most often seen in Herefordshire. The first episode of series 1 (The Fourth Horseman) featured several locations in Worcestershire, including Great Malvern railway station. Later episodes had the characters move around Herefordshire, from places like Ross-on-Wye to Welsh Newton Common. Llanarth Court in Monmouthshire was also featured. Towards the end of the first series, the action moved to a more permanent base at Hampton Court, again in Herefordshire. (This was the property referred to as "The Grange" by the characters.)

For the beginning of series 2 the focus moved to a new location, at Callow Hill Farm, near Monmouth (but again just within Herefordshire). (This was the location used for Whitecross.)The Lights of London episodes featured Hanwell Station, Camden Town and The Oval, all in London. The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal and village of Skenfrith also made appearances.

During series 3, production occasionally moved further afield to Suffolk, Derbyshire and Wiltshire, with the last episode filmed in the Scottish Highlands.

[edit] Plot summaries

[edit] Series 1

As the world's population is almost annihilated by a mysterious pandemic, accidentally unleashed by an unknown Asian scientist, the crisis is first seen through the eyes of two characters - Jenny Richards, a young working woman in London and Abby Grant, a middle-class corporate wife living a privileged existence in a nearby commuter village. As Abby goes in search of her son Peter, Jenny wanders aimlessly through the countryside. Other major characters introduced in the first few episodes are the resourceful engineer Greg Preston, the shifty Welshman Tom Price and two children, John Millon and Lizzie Willoughby. Abby, Jenny and Greg eventually come together and realise they must start again from scratch now that civilisation as they once knew it has been destroyed. After several adventures on the road, they find a property called the Grange which they can use as a base and, joined by other survivors, they form a potted community of disparate individuals all united by a shared purpose - to relearn the old skills of farming and tool-making, and to try to live in this strange new world.

Major Cast

[edit] Series 2

Having received word that her son is still alive, Abby has left the Grange to resume her search while the community is devastated by a fire, killing several of their number. The survivors join another community, Whitecross, run by Charles Vaughan, whom they briefly encountered in the previous series. New major characters that make up the Whitecross band are Charles' partner Pet Simpson, medical student Ruth Anderson who works as a travelling doctor and farmyard labourer Hubert Goss. Jenny gives birth to Greg's child Paul, while the survivors are once more focused on the everyday practicalities of post-Death life. Frequent visitors to Whitecross, both friendly and hostile, act as catalysts for various dramatic situations. Finally, the arrival of Norwegian survivors brings the possibility of re-establishing worldwide contact and technology. To achieve this, Greg departs Whitecross in a hot air balloon bound for Norway.

Major Cast

[edit] Series 3

Having received word that Greg has returned from Norway, Charles, Jenny and Hubert set out on horseback to find him. It is a journey that will take them right across what is left of the United Kingdom as their search leads them to various dead ends. However, they meet a broad spectrum of other survivors along the way, and the series continues to explore alternative reactions to the Death and what it takes to survive. The third series juxtaposes the more personal story arc of the search for Greg with a wider narrative of society appearing to establish itself again with federated communities, market bartering and rudimentary railway travel. This culminates in the tentative return of law and order and the quest to restore power through hydroelectricity.

Major Cast

  • Denis Lill as Charles Vaughan
  • Lucy Fleming as Jenny Richards
  • Ian McCulloch as Greg Preston
  • John Abineri as Hubert Goss
  • Gordon Salkilld as Jack Wood
  • Lorna Lewis as Pet Simpson
  • Anna Pitt as Agnes Carlsson
  • Edward Underdown as Frank Garner
  • William Dysart as Alec Campbell
  • Robert Gillespie as Sam Mead (Gillespie appeared as a minor character, John Milner, in episode 3 of the first series)
  • Stephen Dudley as John Millon
  • Angie Stevens as Lizzie Willoughby

[edit] Books

Two novels based on Survivors were made:

  • Survivors by Terry Nation - an overview of season one, with a few changes
  • Genesis of a Hero by John Eyers - essentially an alternative version of events post-season one

There are also two factual books:

  • The Making of Terry Nation's Survivors by Kevin P Marshall (Out of print)
  • The End of the World? The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Survivors by Rich Cross and Andy Priestner. Published December 2005.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • After playing a central role in Survivors during series one, Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant) was not invited to return to the production for the second series. Rumours suggest that this was the result of a personality clash behind the scenes between Seymour and series producer Terence Dudley. Abby's storyline, involving her search for her son Peter, was concluded in the Terry Nation novelisation of the series.
  • It has been claimed that Denis Lill (Charles Vaughan) and Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston) fell out with each other during the filming of the second season, leading to the departure of McCulloch's character. However McCulloch has denied having anything against Lill personally, although he was apparently unhappy that a new male lead had been added to the show, when he had built up a strong character during the first season. He did return for two episodes during the third series, both of which he wrote himself.
  • Stephen Dudley (John) was given his part by his father, the show's producer Terence Dudley, while Tanya Ronder (Lizzie) is the daughter of Jack Ronder, who wrote eight episodes of Survivors.
  • Ian McCulloch wrote a fourth season of Survivors during the 1990s to try and get the programme back on television. BBC Scotland were interested in the idea but did not approve of the idea of an uninfected African nation colonising Britain.
  • Of the cast, William Dysart (Alec Campbell), Gigi Gatti (Daniella), Edward Underdown (Frank Garner), John Abineri (Hubert), Michael Gover (Arthur), Gordon Salkilld (Jack), Roy Herrick (Lewis Fearn), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price) and Terry Scully (Vic Thatcher) have all since died.
  • Notable guest stars in the series included Patrick Troughton, Peter Jeffrey, Brian Blessed, George Baker, Philip Madoc, Bryan Pringle, Iain Cuthbertson and Peter Bowles. Appearing in the series before becoming famous were Robert Fyfe (Last of the Summer Wine), Denis Lawson (Star Wars), David Neilson (Coronation Street), Peter Duncan (Blue Peter), June Brown (EastEnders), David Troughton son of Patrick Troughton, and Roger Lloyd-Pack (Only Fools and Horses and The Vicar of Dibley).
  • The yellow Volvo estate car used in the series also appeared as Jerry Leadbetter's car in The Good Life.
  • There are parallels between 'Survivors' and the 2002 movie, '28 Days Later', including an accidental release of a virus and - in the acclaimed episode, 'Mad Dog' - images of a rabies-sufferer with the urge to infect others. As in the movie, anyone suspected of being infected (as Denis Lill's Charles Vaughan is at one point) will be killed immediately to contain the disease.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Survivors episodes

[edit] DVD release

The complete series of Survivors is available on DVD (Region 2, UK), released by DD Home Entertainment.

All releases include a colour booklet written and researched by Survivors fan Andy Priestner chronicling the making of each series, plus the following extra features:

# DVD release date Breakdown of special features
Series One October 6, 2003 Audio commentary on episode The Fourth Horseman with actor Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant) and director Pennant Roberts. Moderator: Andy Priestner.

Audio commentary on episode Law And Order with actors Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston) and Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards). Moderator: Andy Priestner.
On-camera interviews with director Pennant Roberts and actors Carolyn Seymour, Ian McCulloch, Lucy Fleming and Tanya Ronder (Lizzie Willoughby)
Photo gallery
Series Two October 4, 2004 Audio commentary on episode The Lights of London, Part 2 with actor Denis Lill (Charles Vaughan) and director Pennant Roberts. Moderator: Rich Cross.
On-camera interviews with director Pennant Roberts and actors Denis Lill, Lorna Lewis (Pet Simpson) and Heather Wright (Melanie)
Photo gallery
Series Three November 14, 2005 Audio commentary on episode Law of the Jungle with actor Lucy Fleming and director Peter Jefferies Moderator: Andy Priestner.

Audio commentary on episode Mad Dog with guest actor Morris Perry and director Tristan de Vere Cole Moderator: Rich Cross.
“New World Rising” – documentary on the making of series three produced by Andy Priestner with contributions from directors Peter Jefferies and Tristan de Vere Cole and actors Lucy Fleming and Stephen Dudley (John Millon)
Photo gallery

[edit] See also

  • The Tribe, a post-plague series focusing on teenagers, right after a plague killed off all adults
  • Jeremiah, an another post-plague series, fifteen years after the plague killed off the adults, with similarities to both The Tribe and Survivors
  • Jericho, a post-nuclear holocaust series

[edit] References

  1. ^ BBC set to revive 70s sci-fi show | Media | MediaGuardian
  2. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Cult show Survivors to be remade
  3. ^ SFX: the leading science fiction, fantasy and horror magazine
  4. ^ Survivors: Surviving the 21st Century Interview - Total Sci Fi

[edit] External links

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