Set in the present day, the series focuses on a group of bewildered survivors living in the aftermath of a devastating virus – referred to as "European Flu" – which wipes out 99% or more of the world's population.[1] The series sees the characters struggling against terrible dangers in a world with no society, no police and no law and order[2] led by the de facto matriarch of the group, Abby Grant.[3]
Production
Sue Hogg, an executive producer at the BBC, had the idea of remaking Survivors following the recent increase in concerns about future pandemics and diseases such as SARS.[4] It was decided that the show would be a re-imagining of the original material made by BBC Productions rather than an external production company.[2] The BBC pursued the rights for Survivors from Terry Nation's estate so that the series could be revived.[5] The agreement, which was signed in 2007, took months of negotiations.[2][6] For legal reasons, the new series is billed as being based on Nation's novelisation of material from his episode of the original series.
In remaking the series, Adrian Hodges worked to avoid criticisms of the original series and he felt it was "important that a new version had a cultural and class mix that really represented the country as it is now",[7] and the characters of Al and Najid were created because of this.[8] The writers claimed that the new series retained the "spirit" of the original 1970s show,[9] however Hodges concentrated on the hope and the humanity which was said to be an attempt to make it "less depressing" to watch.[10]
Survivors was filmed in Manchester until September 2008.[2] To help create a world with no people, some shots were made very early on a Sunday morning, including a sequence where Al Sadiq drove his car at speed around the city centre. Producer Hugh Warren said that this reduced the amount of computer-generated imagery required and allowed the budget to be spent on effects such as when the city starts to flood and fires burn.[4] Other locations included a house near Helmshore in Lancashire which doubled as the survivors' main base,[4] the disused Earth Centre in the village of Denaby Main near Doncaster[11] and on the Jaguar Cars test track in Nuneaton which stood in for deserted motorways.[12]
The series was shot using 35 mm film. Warren said that this was chosen over high-definition cameras due to the low light levels that would be experienced when filming in a world without electricity and during an autumn filming period, and over Super 16 due to high-definition transmission requirements.[4]
The series received a mixed critical reception when broadcast, with some reviewers concerned that the series is too derivative and predictable[13] while others were more positive.[14] Ratings are very important for a programme broadcast on BBC One at 9 o'clock, and the producers were happy to have started well, survived the ratings lull in the middle and ended with an upward curve in the last two weeks. Audience breakdowns indicate that a higher proportion of younger viewers were tuning in than many other shows.[8]
The show will premiere on BBC America in the United States on February 13, 2010. [15]
This show also premiered in South Africa on BBC Entertainment on 15 September 2009.
Cast and characters
Regular characters
Julie Graham as Abby Grant: Abby Grant, the maternal protagonist and moral compass,[8] is a woman who – having lost her husband David to the virus – is determined to find her missing son Peter, who she insists throughout the series has survived the pandemic. She is very concerned about Peter's well-being, as he was in remission from leukaemia and was enjoying an outdoor adventure holiday at Castle Crag Adventure Centre in the Peak District when the virus took hold. Abby has been told by Callum Brown, the last surviving instructor – and sole survivor – at Castle Crag, that Peter was one of the first boys to be taken ill and had been taken to hospital by another instructor named Phil Emerson. However, Abby failed to find Peter at the hospital and her son's present whereabouts currently remains unknown. With her inherent virtue, Abby unites the series' first group, within which she strives to maintain peace and welcome new characters – as well as looking for any lead, no matter how small, that will one day reunite her with Peter. She is the only character to have survived the virus without immunity.
Max Beesley as Tom Price: Tom Price is a toughened criminal who was serving a sentence of at least twenty years for murder in HM Prison Wandsworth when the virus struck. He and the rest of the prisoners were isolated under orders from the Prison Governor, i.e. locked in their cells, to try to prevent the virus spreading, but it was no good. Eventually, Price found himself alone with the last surviving prison officer, Gary Wilson; the other prisoners and prison officers, along with prison physician Dr. Colin Thompson (and, presumably, the briefly-mentioned but unseen Prison Governor), having all died. In spite of the fact that prison rules and regulations now no longer applied, Wilson refused to release Price who, as far as he was concerned, was still a prisoner of Her Majesty's Government. Wilson resented the fact that Price had survived the virus, and was determined to do his duty and ensure that his prisoner served the remainder of his sentence. Price escaped after killing Wilson and made his way home, only to discover that his mother had died from the virus. Fearless and strong, Price is able to kill without remorse. Largely through his relationship with Anya, becomes quite loyal to the group. He is not a conventional team player as he is always willing to fight to ensure his comfortable place within it.[8] Throughout the series, it has been hinted that he may have had a previous military background, which possibly may have had direct or indirect connections to his incarceration.
Paterson Joseph as Greg Preston: Greg first encounters Abby on the motorway. His original wish is to be self-sufficient and alone, but as Abby convinces the other survivors to come together he decides to remain within the group. Greg is shown to be more prepared than most to survive in this post-virus world, having immediately assembled a range of necessities from an army and navy surplus store. The idea of a relationship between Abby and Greg is hinted at in the first series, with moments in which he seems to have feelings towards her.
Zoe Tapper as Dr. Anya Raczynski: Anya was a doctor in a busy city hospital when the virus struck, and watched hundreds of patients die of the virus, including her friend Jenny Walsh. After helping a severely wounded Tom, she joins the group. In an internal struggle to rationalise why she has survived, she rejects her medical profession. She discloses that she blames herself for having been too inexperienced to save any of her patients, particularly Patricia, her former lover. With the encouragement of Abby, she composes herself, and goes on to successfully deliver a breech birth.
Nikki Amuka-Bird as Samantha Willis: Samantha becomes the only Government minister left after the virus. Beforehand, she had been the main Government official in charge of dealing with the virus which, she had learned, was incurable and would wipe out over 99% of the world's population. The Prime Minister, her other colleagues and her family have all died from the virus. She moves into a small ecopolis, which is a completely self-sufficient facilty where she establishes a Provisional Government. Her aims are to restore order and absolute moral and legal law, despite the vulgarity and brutishness of the duties she assumes, including executing a woman put on trial and found guilty of having invaded the complex looking for supplies. Later she forms an uneasy alliance with Dexter, a violent gang leader who had been threatening her community.
Phillip Rhys as Al Sadiq: Al is the son of an immensely wealthy father, and had only known fancy hotels and a workless and materialist lifestyle. He had spent the night with Simone, a girl he had met at a nightclub, and got a terrible shock when he discovered the next morning that she had died from the virus. Al was unprepared for life without modern technology, but after finding Najid alone in the city, Al took him along, soon developing a paternal relationship with him.
Chahak Patel as Najid Hanif: Najid is an 11-year old boy and a devout Muslim, who is shown to be praying at the time when the virus eradicates the remainder of the world. He awakes in the mosque to find the entire congregation, including his parents and the rest of his family, dead. Najid runs away, and meets Al. After establishing that Al is not a paedophile, Najid accompanies him as the pair joins the group. Najid's father had told his son that if he should find himself alone, he should tell the authorities that he has cousins in Blackburn, but as there are no longer any authorities, Najid does not known his cousins' address and there is no guarantee that they are still alive, he is set to remain with the group for the foreseeable future. Shown to be a friendly and considerate boy, Najid is adopted into the group with the most ease, and makes close bonds especially with Abby, Al and Anya.
Robyn Addison as Sarah Boyer: Before the virus, Sarah led a very pampered and hedonist lifestyle and she was used to getting what she wanted. When she had to leave to get away from the cities, she met a man called Bob who was attracted to Sarah and gave her a place to stay inside the massive food and drink warehouse he had taken over. Hating life there, Sarah was happy when Greg came to help an injured Bob. After she failed to convince him to stay there, and facing life alone and against potentially hostile further intruders, she joined Abby's community. She has made several poor survival choices, and may end up being a transitory member of this community. Thus far, she has slept with Tom and betrayed Anya's medical aptitudes to Samantha Willis.
Other characters
Dexter, a thug whom Samantha Willis thinks that she has been able to control, appeared irregularly during the series and was played by Anthony Flanagan.[8]
Some characters were emphasised in the BBC promotional material, but only appeared in the first episode as both succumbed to the disease. Freema Agyeman appeared as Jenny Walsh (surname originally reported to be Collins), a young primary school teacher who lived with Patricia and Anya before the virus, who died shortly after discovering the true virulence of the virus. Shaun Dingwall appeared as David Grant, Abby's husband. When Abby contracted the virus and collapsed, David cared for her during her illness, however when she awoke she discovered that David had died.
As the "European Flu" virus spreads throughout the world, governments realise the scale of the problem. After a few days of the virus spreading, people fall ill, including Abby Grant, Jenny Collins and her friend Patricia. The Government Minister in charge of the pandemic is told that at least 90% of the world's population will die but it slowly becomes apparent that the situation is a lot worse than that as the virus is extremely virulent, and completely unstoppable except to the almost infinitesimal remnants of humanity who're either naturally immune or have caught the virus and recovered. Within just a few scenes we see the main characters experience all of civilization come to a stop in the form of the electronic media going off air, the electricity shutting off, and all public services ceasing. When Al Sadiq, Greg Preston, Najid Hanif and Tom Price wake up, they find everyone around them is dead and struggle to find any other survivors. Abby wakes up from her illness, to find that her husband David did not survive and searches the country for her missing son Peter. Eventually, the characters meet and realise they are going to have to stick together to survive.
1.02
"Episode 2"
Andrew Gunn
Adrian Hodges
25 November 2008 (2008-11-25)
5.99
When the survivors go out for supplies from the local supermarket, they are confronted by armed thugs who threaten to kill them if they return. When Abby realises that a man with the thugs looks like someone who may know the location of her son, she returns to find him, but is again threatened with death. Meanwhile, Greg finds a warehouse containing a lifetime stock of food, a young woman called Sarah and her injured companion, Bob. Al and Najid go and look for supplies at some other shops in the area, where Al accidentally kills a surviving shopkeeper, before they return to the house with some chickens.
1.03
"Episode 3"
Andrew Gunn
Gaby Chiappe
2 December 2008 (2008-12-02)
5.22
Greg and Tom see a helicopter flying over and they also encounter an uninfected family who have been isolated since the onset of the virus but when the family's daughter reaches out to them, they risk infecting them. Abby encounters Samantha Willis, the last surviving government minister, who is now in charge of a fledgling community that has hot water, food, light, and power. Initially, the two women bond, but Abby is appalled when she sees the lengths that Samantha will go to, if she thinks her community is endangered. In a research lab, scientists are trying to develop a vaccine for the virus.
1.04
"Episode 4"
Iain B. MacDonald
Simon Tyrrell
9 December 2008 (2008-12-09)
5.42
Abby travels to Waterhouse, a nearby manor and into a land dispute between an aggressive group of teenage boys and Jimmy Garland, whose family owns the house, which obstructs her attempts to discover whether Peter is there or not. Tom, Al, Sarah and Najid find themselves attracted to the comfort and security within Samantha Willis' community but Al falls foul of Samantha and is ejected from it. Tom struggles to prove himself to Samantha, a task complicated by his criminal past. Meanwhile, Anya and Greg confront some unwelcome visitors and learn some useful lessons about group solidarity.
1.05
"Episode 5"
Iain B. MacDonald
Adrian Hodges
16 December 2008 (2008-12-16)
5.62
Suspicions are aroused when visionary spiritual leader John turns up mysteriously at the community's door with his ragged group of disciples. When Abby allows Linda, a pregnant woman from John's group, to stay with them until the baby is born, Anya fears that she will be forced to reveal that she is a doctor. After facing her personal demons, particularly over the death of Jenny Collins, she goes on to successfully deliver a breech birth. She becomes concerned for the group's safety after John becomes increasingly erratic. John proves to be a paranoid schizophrenic. In the research facility, the scientists there discover Abby's video message and find out she contracted the virus but still survived.
As Samantha Willis expands the scope of her community, threatening the independence of other survivors, Abby and the others are forced to abandon their initial settlement after Tom kills one of Samantha's men. After she meets Bob again, Sarah makes a fateful decision to betray Anya to Samantha, while Najid goes missing in the city, and the others look for him. While there, he meets Darren, a feral boy, and a community of other children under the protection of Craig and June, a sinister couple of adults. Greg is shot by Dexter, and Abby is kidnapped by a squad of armed men from "the laboratory". This leaves the series in a cliffhanger situation. After these events, a young boy picks up a bag of belongings marked Peter Grant, and a horserider is shown looking for him.
Series 2 (2010)
The BBC has confirmed that a second series of six episodes has been commissioned for airing in 2010. Adrian Hodges will return to oversee the project and Julie Graham and Max Beesley will return to their roles for the next series.[18] The second series will be set in Birmingham rather than Manchester, and filming will also relocate.[19]
The cliffhanger will be quickly resolved, while the story of the lab will play through series two allowing more about the backstory of the virus, and the lab's direct connection with that. The production team intend to spend more time exploring the nitty-gritty of survival in the post-virus world, and how the various characters cope.[8]
On 10 May 2009, the Scotland on Sunday newspaper reported that the second series of the show could be delayed due to the swine flu outbreak. A spokeswoman from the BBC is quoted as saying "We can confirm a second series of Survivors was commissioned last year. We are monitoring developments with regard to swine flu and no transmission date has been set.".[20]
Filming has started taking place in various locations around Birmingham including the former ITV Central studios standing in for a fictional hospital.[21][22]
Series Two will start airing on BBC One on Tuesday 12 January, 2010 at 9pm.[23]
99% of the planet's population is dead. Greg is badly wounded and Anya leads Al and Tom to go and get some medical supplies to help him. Meanwhile, Abby has been captured by Whitaker, the leader of the laboratory scientists, and they are trying to find out how she managed to survive the disease. Anya, Al and Tom are struggling to get the medical supplies they need due to disease and fires in the hospital, and they don't have time to find another. Time is running out for Greg, and it isn't looking too hopeful for Abby either.
2.02
"Episode 8"
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19 January 2010 (2010-01-19)
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2.03
"Episode 9"
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26 January 2010 (2010-01-26)
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2.04
"Episode 10"
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2 February 2010 (2010-02-02)
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2.05
"Episode 11"
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9 February 2010 (2010-02-09)
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2.06
"Episode 12"
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16 February 2010 (2010-02-16)
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Media
Cover of re-released edition of Survivors novel
To tie in with the broadcast of the series Terry Nation's original 1976 novelisation was released as a new edition by Orion Books.[24] The 2008 series is credited as being based on this novel.
Screenshot of BBC Survivors Interactive web site.
The series was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One and in high-definition on BBC HD, the series will also soon be aired on the Nine Network in Australia. A web site was launched to tie in with the series entitled "Survivors Interactive", which included interviews with actors, clips from the programme and original character pieces-to-camera. The interactive component was based on visitors selecting characters from the show and then answering either/or dilemma-based questions, which are then profiled by what type of survivor they would make as they travel through the post-plague environment.[25]
The full first series was released by 2 Entertain Video on DVD on 26 January 2009, and includes special features such as an Easter Egg, A New World - The Making of Survivors documentary, character profiles and a Survivors Special Effects featurette.[26][27]
Differences from the source material
In the credits, the re-imagined series is said to be based on the 1976 novel by Terry Nation; however, there are a number of differences between the series and its source material. In the novel, Jenny Richards survives, whereas her counterpart in the 2008 series, Jenny Walsh, does not; this means that Greg Preston and Jenny cannot have a child as the years unfold. Abby Grant still falls in love with Jimmy Garland; however in the book, he eventually dies from septicaemia. There are no direct counterparts to Anya Raczynski, Najid Hanif and Al Siddiq in the book. Samantha Willis does not appear in the book. However, her characterisation incorporates some of the personality and leadership ambitions of Arthur Wormley, a "ruthless former trade union leader," who establishes a paramilitary organisation called the National Unity Force which is responsible for Abby's community's eventual decision to leave Britain for the Mediterranean in the latter chapters of the novelisation.
Sarah Boyer is probably the closest character to her original portrayal in the original novelisation. Her original companion was named Vic, not Bob and in the original series, she was named Anne Tranter. Vic starved to death in the novelisation. In the remake, like his counterpart Vic in the first season of the original series, Bob survives his initial abandonment.[8][28][29]
United Kingdom
