'' 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 .
The programme ran for three series and 38 episodes, epitomising the pessimistic tendency of British science fiction as shown on
British Television beginning with ''
Quatermass '' and the adaptation on ''
Nineteen Eighty-Four '' and taken up in later series.
Terry Nation left after the first series to concentrate on other work and some critics feel that the direction of the programme suffered as a result.
As the world's population is decimated by a mysterious
Pandemic , 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.
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 .
Having heard nothing from Greg since he left Whitecross for 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 alternate 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 .
- 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 2 of the first series)
- Stephen Dudley as John Millon
- Angie Stevens as Lizzie Willoughby
also penned a novelisation of the first series.]]
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 Ayres - 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
- ''The End of the World? The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Survivors'' by Rich Cross and Andy Priestner {Link without Title}
- 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.
- 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. McCulloch 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 1990's 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), 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 Denis Lawson ('' Star Wars ''), David Neilson ('' Coronation Street ''), Peter Duncan ('' Blue Peter '') and June Brown ('' EastEnders '').
See Also: List of Survivors episodes
The complete series of ''Survivors'' is available on DVD (Region 2, U.K.) from DD Home Entertainment.
All releases include a colour booklet giving chronicling the making of each series, plus the following extra features:
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