Category: Cast and crew

Survivors series three DVD studio day – ten years ago today

It is exactly ten years ago to-the-day (4 August 2005) that Tristan de Vere Cole, Peter Jefferies, Lucy Fleming, Morris Perry and Stephen Dudley were reunited at a studio in central London to record the ‘special features’ for the Survivors series three DVD release.

De Vere Cole and Perry recorded a memorable episode commentary for the classic Mad Dog, while Fleming and Jefferies watched and discussed Law of the Jungle. All five attendees recorded interviews for the series three ‘making of’ documentary New World Rising; while Stephen Dudley provided an extra interview reflecting on his work on series one (which was included as an ‘Easter Egg’ on the DVD release).

To mark the decennial anniversary of this event, we’re publishing a set of never-before-seen behind-the-scenes photos from the day.

A gallery of previously-published photos from the day is available on the main Survivors: A World Away site.

Survivors directors Tristan de Vere Cole and Peter Jefferies at the Survivors series three DVD studio day, August 4 2005
Survivors directors Tristan de Vere Cole and Peter Jefferies at the Survivors series three DVD studio day, August 4 2005

Survivors director Tristan de Vere Cole and Morris Perry at the Survivors series three DVD studio day, August 4 2005
Survivors director Tristan de Vere Cole and Morris Perry at the Survivors series three DVD studio day, August 4 2005

The participants break for lunch at the Survivors series three DVD studio day, August 4 2005
Participants break for lunch at the Survivors series three DVD studio day, August 4 2005

Raising a toast at the Survivors series three DVD studio day, August 4 2005
Raising a toast at the Survivors series three DVD studio day, August 4 2005

Director Tristan de Vere Cole on set at the Survivors series three DVD studio day, August 4 2005
Director Tristan de Vere Cole on set at the Survivors series three DVD studio day, August 4 2005

Lucy Fleming: new Big Finish Survivors interview

Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards) discusses her work on the new Big Finish Survivors audios in the latest new and exclusive interview to be added to the Survivors: A World Away Big Finish mini-site. In the interview, Fleming is very supportive of the close attention that Big Finish play to the established TV Survivors canon:

I think that’s quite a good thing, because there are still a lot of fans about who like the television series. And I think if we made it too different it wouldn’t be, maybe, so popular.

The second series of Survivors audios is available from the Big Finish shop, along with all the other current entries in the range.

Lucy Fleming - Survivors - Big Finish - series two - interview

John Banks: new Big Finish Survivors interview

A new interview with John Banks (Daniel Connor) discussing his work on the second series of Big Finish Survivors audio dramas has now been added to the Survivors: A World Away Big Finish mini-site. In the interview Banks expresses his delight at the reception of the first series:

I’ve looked on the Big Finish forum and at other places and seen some of the things that people have said about it – and that’s been fantastic. And, obviously, new series have been commissioned – so we must be doing something right. It certainly gives you confidence going in; knowing that there is an audience who are wanting things to continue and to find out what will become of these characters.

The second series of Survivors audios is available from the Big Finish shop, along with all the other current entries in the range.

John Banks - Big Finish - Survivors - series two - interview

Ian McCulloch: new Big Finish Survivors interview

In the latest of a new series of interviews on the Survivors A World Away Big Finish mini-site, in which cast and crew discuss work on the second series of Big Finish’s Survivors audio dramas, Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston) takes issue with the idea that Greg should be thought of as ‘heroic’:

The thing that has struck me when thinking about this in relation to the original series is actually how much of a bastard Greg could be. Looking back I can remember he killed people, suffocated a sick child, strangled someone with his bare hands, and passed on deadly diseases. For an action and adventure series, this was nasty stuff.

The second series of Survivors audios is available from the Big Finish shop, along with all the other current entries in the range.

Ian McCulloch - Big Finish - Survivors - series two - interview

Carolyn Seymour: new Big Finish Survivors interview

A new and exclusive interview with Carolyn Seymour, discussing her work on the series two of Big Finish’s Survivors audio dramas has been published on the Survivors: A World Away Big Finish mini-site. In the interview, Seymour says that Abby is:

still the same. She’s the one who has the tacit leadership quality, this innate leadership quality, that everybody responds to. She still “calling the shots”. She seems to be a little more willing to give it up this time. She seems to be listening to other people more, and isn’t given such complete control as she was before.

The second series of the acclaimed Survivors audios is available from the Big Finish shop, along with all the other current entries in the range.

Carolyn Seymour - Big Finish - Survivors - new interview

New DVD and BluRay release for Ian McCulloch’s Contamination

Released on 6 July 2015, Arrow Film‘s new combined DVD and BluRay release of 1980s Italian splatter favourite Contamination (one of three Italian horror movies Ian McCulloch starred in after appearing in Survivors) offers a new print and a range of exclusive special features.

Amongst those new features are a Q&A session with McCulloch and director Luigi Cozzi filmed at the 2014 Abertoir horror film festival.

Starring Italian horror veteran Ian McCulloch (Zombie Flesh Eaters), Contamination from director Luigi Cozzi (Starcrash, Hercules) is one of the brightest stars in the firmament of early 1980s Italian splatter.

A cargo ship drifts up the Hudson River. Its crew: all dead, their bodies horribly mutilated, turned inside out by an unknown force. Its freight: boxes upon boxes of glowing, pulsating green eggs. It soon becomes clear that these eggs are not of this planet, and someone intends to cultivate them here on Earth. But who? And to what end?

Contamination takes the premise of Ridley Scott’s classic Alien and peppers it with exploding guts galore and dangerously infectious soundtrack from celebrated Italian prog-rockers Goblin (Deep Red, Suspiria).

Lucy Fleming praises new James Bond author

Lucy Fleming (Jenny in Survivors, and niece of James Bond creator Ian Fleming) has praised Anthony Horowitz’s new James Bond novel Trigger Mortis, which is based on original, uncompleted ideas from Fleming himself.

In The Guardian (28 May 2015), Fleming is quoted as saying:

It was almost as if Ian had written [Trigger Mortis] himself.

It does feel like a Fleming book,” she said. “It takes place a couple of weeks after Goldfinger – Pussy’s back, which is fantastic, and we’ve got a particularly good villain in Sin – he’s absolutely horrible, a megalomaniac type, but fascinating as well… Pussy Galore is one of the iconic characters from the films and the books… It will be interesting to see what the public make of that.

Each writer has their own style, but I think Anthony is closest to Ian’s style,” said Lucy Fleming. “And he has the page-turning effect of making you think ‘what the hell is going to happen next?’… He’s worked Murder on Wheels in brilliantly – it’s woven into the whole thing. It was just a treatment, really, with the idea for the plot.”

Trigger Mortis - Anthony Horowitz

Carolyn Seymour and Richard Heffer reunited for Big Finish third series of Survivors audios

On their Facebook page, Big Finish have today (16 May 2015) posted the first publicity shot showing the reuniting of Carolyn Seymour and Richard Heffer.

This week in the studio – Survivors: Series 3!

Ahead of next months second series, recording has just finished on the third instalment of Big Finish’s revival of the classic post-apocalyptic series – featuring a reunion between two classic characters!

Abby Grant (Carolyn Seymour) is reunited with Jimmy Garland (Richard Heffer). Both characters left the Grange at the end of the first TV series. But where will their struggle for survival take them now?

You can pre-order the next four series of Survivors now, with Series Two released in June.

Richard Heffer and Carolyn Seymour at the Big Finish studios to record the third series of Survivors audio adventures
Richard Heffer and Carolyn Seymour at the Big Finish studios to record the third series of Survivors audio adventures

Big Finish complete the recording of series three of Survivors audio adventures

Recording of the third series of Survivors audio adventures, scheduled for release in November 2015, has completed today at Big Finish’s London studios. Producer David Richardson, actors Chase Masterston, Andrew French and John Banks and scriptwriter Andrew Smith all took to Twitter in the last couple of days whilst working in the studio.

I was fortunate enough to visit the studios on Thursday (14 May), the penultimate day of recording on the series to interview cast and crew (and be mightily impressed by hearing just a glimpse of what’s in store for series three). I’ll be publishing lots of information, insight and opinion from those interviews in the week and months ahead.

In the meantime, if you’ve not already done so – a reminder that series two (scheduled for release in June 2015) is still available for pre-order from the Big Finish site, as is series three (November 2015), series four (June 2016) and series five (November 2016).

Lucy Fleming in new play ‘As Good A Time As Any’

Lucy Fleming (Jenny, Survivors) appears in a new play As Good A Time As Any, written and directed by Peter Gill. The play is described as:

a witty and ironic portrait of eight women on a spring morning in London. The play is divided into five choruses. The eight women are the ordinary, unheroic inhabitants of the city, who speak for the continuity of everyday life, and its inexhaustibility. The world of As Good A Time As Any is on the face of it a small one, yet it has an intensity and depth of emotion which make it feel transcendent and universal.

Fleming plays the role of Slyvia, a character described in The Guardian review (5 May 2015) of the production as ‘an upper-middle-class scatterbrain ruefully dwelling on the amorous path not taken.’ She is joined in the production by Roberta Taylor, Tessa Bell Briggs, Indira Joshi, Olivia Llewellyn, Eileen Pollock, Hayley Squires, and Sharlene Whyte.

The play runs at The Print Room at the Coronet, 103 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3LB until 23 May 2015. Tickets for all performances can be purchased online.

Lucy Fleming as Sylvia in the play 'As Good A Time As Any'