Survivors

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This article is about the 1970s television series. For the 2008 version, see Survivors (2008 TV series). For other uses, see Survivors (disambiguation).
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Survivors
Survivors Logo.jpg
The main title caption seen throughout the series.
Format post-apocalyptic drama
Created by Terry Nation
Starring Ian McCulloch
Lucy Fleming
Carolyn Seymour
Denis Lill
John Abineri
Celia Gregory
Lorna Lewis
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of series 3
No. of episodes 38 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s) Terence Dudley
Running time 50 minutes
Production company(s) BBC
Broadcast
Original channel BBC One
Original run 16 April 1975 (1975-04-16) – 8 June 1977 (1977-06-09)
Chronology
Related shows Survivors (2008)

Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived an accidentally released plague – referred to as "The Death" – that kills nearly the entire human population of the planet.

Contents

Production [edit]

History [edit]

The programme ran for three series and 38 episodes (seasons 1 and 2 had 13 episodes, the final season had just 12 - budget cuts and technical problems meant the last double episode was cut down to a single, as some scenes were lost during shooting). All series were broadcast on Wednesday evenings on BBC 1 from April 1975 to June 1977. Popular writer Terry Nation (whose work included many scripts for Doctor Who) created the series, but he left the show after the first series due to disputes with producer Terence Dudley.

The series' main actors included Carolyn Seymour, Lucy Fleming, Ian McCulloch and Denis Lill. The child actor 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. 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 Kevin McNally (Pirates of the Caribbean), Robert Fyfe (Last of the Summer Wine), Denis Lawson (Star Wars), David Neilson (Coronation Street), Peter Duncan (Blue Peter), June Brown (EastEnders), David Troughton, and Roger Lloyd-Pack (Only Fools and Horses and The Vicar of Dibley).

In a High Court case in the mid-1970s, which was abandoned by both sides due to escalating costs, writer Brian Clemens claimed that he had told Terry Nation the concept for the series in the late 1960s and had registered the idea with the Writers' Guild of Great Britain in 1965.[1] Nation strenuously denied this.

A BBC Four 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.

Locations [edit]

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. Brockhampton Court near How Caple, Herefordshire was used as "Waterhouse" in the episode "Garland's War". 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), as "Whitecross". The Lights of London' episodes featured Hanwell railway station, The Oval, and other locations in London, while the Waterloo & City line and the Camden Town deep-level shelter were used to represent parts of the London Underground. 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. Extensive use was made of the Severn Valley Railway.

There are a great number of technical and continuity errors visible as the series was shot quickly on early video cameras which did not work well in the gloomy conditions in which much of the programme was shot. Two cameras were used, but one of them had a recurrent fault which shows as multiple reflections on the left hand side of pictures in many scenes, particularly visible in series 3. Primitive equipment meant that many shots suffered from a green tint. Due to the audience complaining about this the production crew had the cameras replaced.

2008 version [edit]

Main article: Survivors (2008 TV series)

In 2008, the BBC began airing new version of Survivors, with Adrian Hodges as the main writer. In the credits, this version is said to be based on Terry Nation's novel Survivors, which was published in 1976, rather than the previous series. This statement was made to avoid copyright problems as the rights to the television series vested with a different legal entity from the rights to the book. The programme ran for two seasons but the BBC announced in April 2010 that there would be no third season.

Series synopses [edit]

See also: List of Survivors episodes

Series 1 [edit]

As the world's population is almost annihilated by a mysterious pandemic, accidentally unleashed by a Chinese 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 the civilization they once knew 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 new world.

Major cast

Series 2 [edit]

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 encountered in episode 4 of 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 Paul, her child with Greg, 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

Series 3 [edit]

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, based on utilising the steam locomotives preserved on heritage railways. 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 (ep.1, 3-9, 11-12)
  • Lucy Fleming as Jenny Richards (ep.1-3, 5-9, 11-12)
  • Ian McCulloch as Greg Preston (ep.2, ep.10)
  • John Abineri as Hubert Goss (ep.1, 3, 5-9, 11-12)
  • Gordon Salkilld as Jack Wood (ep.1, ep.6, ep.10)
  • Lorna Lewis as Pet Simpson (ep.1, 6-7, 10)
  • Anna Pitt as Agnes Carlsson (ep.2-3, 5, 10-11)
  • Edward Underdown as Frank Garner (ep.7-9)
  • William Dysart as Alec Campbell (ep.8-9, 11-12)
  • Robert Gillespie as Sam Mead (ep. 9, 11-12) (Gillespie appeared as a minor character, John Milner, in episode 3 of the first series)
  • Stephen Dudley as John Millon (ep.1, ep.6, ep.10)
  • Angie Stevens as Lizzie Willoughby (ep.1, ep.6, ep.10)

Books [edit]

Two novels have been published: Survivors by Terry Nation is an adaptation of certain series one episodes, with a radically different ending. Genesis of a Hero by John Eyers is a direct sequel to the first book, which bears no relation to events in series two and three.

Two factual books about the series have been published: The Making of Terry Nation's Survivors, edited by Kevin P Marshall, was published by Fourth Horseman Publications in 1995. The End of the World? The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Survivors (ISBN 978-1845830014) by Rich Cross and Andy Priestner was published by Telos Publishing Ltd. in December 2005.

DVD releases [edit]

The complete series of Survivors is available on DVD (Region 2, UK), released by the BBC company 2 Entertain on 24 November 2008.

The three series were earlier released individually during the mid-2000s by DD Home Entertainment. These included 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 Special features
Series One 6 October 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 4 October 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 14 November 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

See also [edit]

  • The Changes, a series set in a Britain that is suddenly plunged into a pre-industrial age.
  • The Last Train, a series following a group of train passengers who survived an apocalyptic meteor strike
  • The Tribe, a post-plague series focusing on teenagers, right after a plague killed off all adults
  • Jeremiah, 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
  • The Stand, a post-plague series set in the United States

References [edit]

  1. ^ Bignell, Jonathan & O'Day, Andrew: "Terry Nation" (page 21), pub Manchester University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-7190-6547-X, 9780719065477

External links [edit]

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Survivors&oldid=555396031"