Survivors (1975 TV series)

The programme ran for three series and 38 episodes (series 1 and 2 comprised 13 episodes each, the third series just 12; budget cuts and technical problems reduced the planned last double episode 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 (Abby), Lucy Fleming (Jenny), Ian McCulloch (Greg), and Denis Lill (Charles). The child actor Stephen Dudley (John) was given his part by his father, the show's producer Terence Dudley; while the child actress Tanya Ronder (who in series 1 and 2 played Lizzie) is the daughter of Jack Ronder, who wrote eight episodes of Survivors. In addition, the few appearances of Greg and Jenny's baby son Paul on Survivors saw Lucy Fleming's real-life son Diggory appear as Paul, although uncredited. 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.[2] The Cult of... series also included documentaries on Blake's 7 (another series devised by Terry Nation) and Doomwatch (produced by Terence Dudley).

The majority of the locations for all three series of Survivors were in the Welsh Marches,[3] the counties of Monmouthshire, Shropshire, Powys, and, 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. Much of episode 2, "Genesis", was filmed around the village of Rose, Cornwall. 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.)[4]

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 audience complaints about this, the production crew replaced the cameras.

In 2008, the BBC began airing a 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 (1976), rather than the previous series. This statement was made to avoid copyright problems, as the rights to the television series were vested with a different legal entity from the rights to the book.

The principal characters of Abby, Greg, Jenny and Tom Price were retained, but new elements were introduced, including a subplot about the origins of the virus and a stronger focus on action. The show took pains to make sure these characters represented a broader spread of racial and social backgrounds. The show received mixed reviews, but initial viewing figures were strong.[5]

The 2008 series ran for two seasons, and the BBC announced in April 2010 that there would be no third series.[6]

In June 2014, Big Finish Productions released the first four-episode volume of an audio drama expansion of Survivors, with Seymour, McCulloch, and Fleming reprising their screen roles. The second and third volumes were released in 2015, and the fourth and fifth in 2016, with sixth and seventh volumes scheduled for 2017.[7][8] On 21 December 2016, Big Finish announced an eighth and ninth volume to be released in 2018.[9]

As the world's population is almost annihilated by a mysterious pandemic, accidentally unleashed by an unnamed Chinese scientist, the crisis is first seen through the eyes of two characters—Jenny Richards, a young working woman in London who is naturally immune to the disease, and Abby Grant, a middle-class corporate wife living a comfortable existence in a suburban commuter village who caught the virus but barely recovered, while her husband died. As Abby goes in search of her son Peter, who was away at boarding school when the pandemic occurred, 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 civilisation 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.

Having received word that her son is still alive, Abby has left the Grange to resume her search. Meanwhile, the community is devastated by a fire that kills many, including Emma, Charmian and Vic. The survivors join another community, Whitecross, run by Charles Vaughan, and become once more focused on the everyday practicalities of post-Death life. New major characters comprising the Whitecross band are Charles' partner Pet Simpson, travelling doctor Ruth Anderson and farmyard labourer Hubert Goss. 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.

Having received word that Greg has returned to England from Norway and is injured, Charles and Jenny set out on horseback to find him. Warned by Jack that Charles and Jenny should turn back as they're heading into danger, Hubert sets out on horseback after Charles and Jenny. The trio's journey 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 personal story arc of the search for Greg with a wider narrative of society appearing to re-establish itself, with federated communities, market bartering and rudimentary railway travel, based on using 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.

"Revelation" and "Exodus" depict events happening in parallel with the early episodes of the first TV series, as the Death first takes hold and wipes out much of the UK's population. "Judges" and "Esther" take place after the Grange's cellar storeroom is flooded ("Something of Value").

Events in this box-set take place between Series 1 and Series 2 of the TV series.

Events in this box-set take place between Series 1 and Series 2 of the TV series.

Events in this box-set take place between the episodes of the second TV series.

Events in this box-set happen between the episodes of the second TV series.

Events in this box-set happen between the second and third TV series and in parallel with early episodes of the third.

Events in this box-set happen after the end of the third TV series.

Events in this box-set happen after the end of the third TV series.