Category: Cast and crew

Ian McCulloch to join Dimensions 2014 convention Big Finish roster

Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston) will join the panel of Big Finish guests at the upcoming Dimensions 2014 convention, being held at the Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle on 24-26 October 2014.

Other Big Finish guests involved with the Survivors audio dramas include: Ken Bentley (director, writer), David Richardson (producer), Jason Haigh-Ellery (executive producer) and Matt Fitton (writer, script editor). Also appearing at the convention over the course of the weekend, as part of the Doctor Who guest line-up, are Louise Jameson (‘Jackie Burchall’, writer) and Terry Molloy (‘John Redgrave’).

Ian McCulloch - Greg Preston - Survivors - S1 studio day - 2003

Big Finish release trailer for Survivors audio book

Big Finish have released a first trailer for the unabridged audio-book of Terry Nation’s 1976 Survivors novel, voiced by Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant).
 

 
The CD and download versions of the Survivors audio-book, which will be released in December 2014, can be pre-ordered from the Big Finish web shop.

Survivors - Terry Nation - Big Finish - audiobook
Survivors – Terry Nation – Big Finish – audiobook

Big Finish complete recording on second series of Survivors audio adventures

Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston) and Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards)
Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston) and Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards) in the Big Finish studios, October 2014

Recording of the second series of Big Finish’s Survivors audio adventures has completed this week, and all four episodes are now being scheduled for editing, mixing, music and all post-production tasks ahead of the June 2015 release.

I had the great privilege of attending one of the week’s recording sessions, and was able to interview the cast in between the recording of different scenes and listen in (from the engineer and director’s booth), as sequences from the first episode of the new series were rehearsed and different takes recorded.

Material from these new interviews will be published next year on our dedicated Big Finish Survivors site and in the new edition of The End of the World? book that we’re currently beavering away on.

Big Finish reveals cover art for upcoming Survivors audio-book

Big Finish have released the cover artwork for the upcoming audio-book version of Terry Nation’s 1976 Survivors novel. With its ‘shattered glass’ design, the cover art evokes comparison with the original UK paperback and hardback editions of the book – which featured a smashed photo frame containing a portrait of Abby Grant.

Unabridged and voiced by Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Survivors – audiobook of novel will be released in a six-disc CD set and in a digital download version in December 2014. Both versions of the Survivors audiobook are available for pre-order on the Big Finish site.

Survivors - Terry Nation - Big Finish - audiobook
Survivors – Terry Nation – Big Finish – audiobook

A deadly virus spreads across the world as quickly as the passenger jets that encircle it. Within weeks, most of the global population is dead.

The human race is thrown back into the dark ages. The few left alive must rely on the most basic skills to survive one day to the next.

Abby Grant ventures out into a strange new England, her husband dead, the fate of her son unknown. Jenny Richards flees London. Engineer Greg Preston arrives from abroad. Desperate lone travellers come together, their instinct to form a community, even if that means rebuilding civilisation from scratch. But not all who are left have such high ideals…

And while she has the chance of a new beginning, Abby cannot settle until she knows the truth. Has her son survived?

Written by: Terry Nation | Number of Discs: 6 | Duration: 360ms approx | ISBN: 978-1-78178-451-8

Louise Jameson discusses her work on Big Finish’s Survivors dramas

A new interview with Louise Jameson (Jackie Burchall), in which she discusses her highly praised work on the first series of Big Finish’s Survivors audio adventures has been added to the Big Finish Survivors mini-site of Survivors: A World Away.

Says Louise of signing up to take part in the series:

I said ‘yes’ before I’d seen a word. I don’t normally do that, but I trust Big Finish so much. David Richardson has become a really good mate. And as you say, the series was so highly acclaimed too. I didn’t see how it could fail, really. I think they’ve done a fantastic job with the soundscape. They say that the best pictures are on the radio, and I think that they’ve achieved that with Survivors.

Louise Jameson - Jackie Burchall - Big Finish - Survivors - audio dramas

Louise Jameson shares photo of her Survivors script for Big Finish series two

Louise Jameson (Jackie Burchall, Big Finish Survivors) has Tweeted a photo of the front coverage of Mothers’ Courage – her script for the second episode of the second series of Survivors audio dramas. Jameson is the first of the new Survivors audio drama cast to write a script for the Big Finish series.

 
Louise Jameson - Mothers' Courage - Survivors - Big Finish - 2.2

Big Finish confirm release of Survivors novel audio-book

Audio-drama specialists Big Finish have confirmed their intention to release an audio-book version of Terry Nation’s 1976 Survivors novel, to be read by Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant). Survivors: Audiobook of Novel will be released as a 6-disc CD set and as a digital download. Both formats are available for pre-order, and will be released in December 2014.

Carolyn Seymour – star of BBC’s popular Survivors series – was in the UK last weekend for Big Finish Day 5 – and it’s been announced what else she was working on while here…

Big Finish are pleased to announce a release of the Survivors novel, written by series creator Terry Nation in 1976. Out in December it will be read by Carolyn Seymour – Abby Grant in the 1975 series, a role she reprised in a special appearance in Big Finish’s first Survivors release in June:

A deadly virus spreads across the world as quickly as the passenger jets that encircle it. Within weeks, most of the global population is dead.

The human race is thrown back into the dark ages. The few left alive must rely on the most basic skills to survive one day to the next.

Abby Grant ventures out into a strange new England, her husband dead, the fate of her son unknown. Jenny Richards flees London. Engineer Greg Preston arrives from abroad. Desperate lone travellers come together, their instinct to form a community, even if that means rebuilding civilisation from scratch. But not all who are left have such high ideals…

And while she has the chance of a new beginning, Abby cannot settle until she knows the truth. Has her son survived?

Survivors: Audiobook of Novel is available as a Download or 6-disc CD set, at a special pre-order price held until the end of December.

Survivors - audio book of Terry Nation's novel

Survivors audio-drama panel at Big Finish Day 5

Big Finish have posted a set of photos on Facebook from the Big Finish Day 5 convention (13 September) – including shots from the Survivors panel, which several attendees have been retweeted:

Survivors cast and crew - Big Finish Day 5


 
Carolyn Seymour - Big Finish Day 5


 
Terry Molloy and Chase Masterson - Big Finish Day 5
https://twitter.com/ChrisDalek/status/511200831027572736/

Brian Blessed – Who Do You Think You Are?

The force of nature that is Brian Blessed (whose memorable turn as Brod in series three Survivors episode Law of the Jungle is one of the guest-starring highlights of the final series) is the focus of the latest episode of the BBC personal family history show Who Do You Think You Are? (14 August 2014)

Interviewed for the Radio Times, Blessed revealed: “I didn’t want to find some boring king or duke or baron; I was hoping to find normal people 
with all their turmoil and suffering and joy. And by God, we have done! It’s more Dickensian than Dickens. Even the camera crew was weeping. They’re saying it’s the best they’ve ever filmed.”

Who Do You Think You Are? Series 11: 2. Brian Blessed is available (in the UK) on the BBC iPlayer until 23 October 2014.

Brian Blessed - Brod, original Survivors
Brian Blessed – Brod, original Survivors

Survivors scriptwriter Shaw pens new drama on his meeting with Dora Russell

Don Shaw - A Meeting with Dora

A Meeting with Dora, a new radio play by Survivors scriptwriter Don Shaw (Greater Love, Mad Dog), explores (in fictionalised form) Shaw’s meeting with Dora Russell a redoubtable campaigner for “women’s rights, progressive education, sexual reform and birth control”.

Shaw visited Dora Russell’s Cornish home in 1979 while researching a film, commissioned from him by the BBC, intended to focus on the complex and ultimately failed relationship between Dora and her husband, the celebrated philosopher Bertrand Russell. The film never entered production, but this new radio drama revisits that memorable encounter.

Eleanor Bron stars as Dora Russell, with David Schofield taking on the role of Don Shaw. Shaw has a supporting role in A Meeting with Dora, appearing as John Russell, the troubled son of Dora and Bertrand.

Shaw explained to the Derby Telegraph  (9 August), “I took the idea to BBC Radio 4 where Jeremy Howe, head of drama, was captured with my account of my meeting with Dora.”

“While interviewing her, she became suddenly interested in my childhood. I had been the son of a coalminer-turned-postman. This contrasted sharply with Bertrand Russell’s childhood, he being brought up as an aristocrat living in a mansion in Richmond Park, Surrey. The play is set against the stormy background of a gale force eight and ends dramatically with an attempted suicide.”

“I’m really pleased with it and, thankfully, so are the BBC who commissioned it.”

The Radio Times’  preview of the play suggests that the play is: “a psychological drama about love, loss and the value of key emotional memories. […] A quiet, but powerfully nuanced piece of writing and acting.”

Don Shaw and Eleanor Bron were both interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour  (22 August) about their work on the drama.

A Meeting with Dora will premier on BBC Radio 4 at 14:15 (in the Afternoon Drama slot) on 28 August 2014, and will then be available on the iPlayer.

Says Shaw: “It is very strange starring in a radio play that you have written and starred in yet the role of yourself is being played by someone else. […] Knowing it will be played to up to a million listeners is hugely exciting.”

A Meeting with Dora is produced and directed by Pauline Harris.