Survivors (1975 TV series)

History

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. 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. 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 (another series devised by Terry Nation) and Doomwatch (produced by Terence Dudley).

Locations

The majority of the locations for all three series of Survivors were in the Welsh Marches, 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. 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 audience complaints about this the production crew replaced the cameras.

2008 version

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 (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 principal characters of Abby, Greg, Jenny and Tom Price was retained, but new elements, including a subplot about the origins of the virus and a stronger focus on action, were introduced. The show took pains to make sure these characters were from a broader spread of racial and social backgrounds. It received mixed reviews but initially viewing figures were strong. The 2008 series ran for two seasons, and the BBC announced in April 2010 that there would be no third season.

Audio drama version

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.

Series 1 (1975)

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 comfortable existence in a suburban commuter village. As Abby goes in search of her son Peter, who was away at 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 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.

In episode 9, Wendy is raped and murdered, and the simple-minded Barney is suspected. Thinking Barney is a danger to the others, Greg talks them into executing the young man and finally shoots Barney himself, only to find out just afterward that Price was the guilty party, and Greg had killed an innocent man.

Price is shot dead in episode 10, during a shootout with some armed men they have encountered.

The series ends with the arrival of a sick young woman, Ruth Anderson (Annie Irving), who recovers and reveals that she was a medical student who'd completed her third year, and was just shy of having taken her qualifying examinations. (In the series two episode, "The Lights of London", she tells another physician that she completed 4 1/2 years of training but didn't yet qualify.) She'd previously been on a river barge with a group whose numbers included a boy named Peter Grant, who was alive and well.

Series 2 (1976)

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 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 comprising the Whitecross band are Charles' partner Pet Simpson and farmyard labourer Hubert Goss.

A recast Ruth Anderson becomes a travelling doctor serving Whitecross and other communities. 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.

Series 3 (1977)

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 reestablish itself, 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.

Audio drama episodes

Series 1 (available):

"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").

Series 2 (available):

Events in this series take place after "Something of Value".

Series 3 (available)

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

Series 4 (available)

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

Series 5 (2016)

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

Books

Two novels related to series one have been published:

Two factual books about the series have been published:

DVD releases

The three series were originally released on DVD during the mid-2000s by DD Home Entertainment. Each series set included a colour booklet written and researched by Survivors fan Andy Priestner chronicling the making of each series, plus the following extra features:

On 24 November 2008 the BBC company 2 Entertain released all three series as a single set, with the BBC4 Cult of Survivors documentary only, and no other extras.