Survivors: A World Away – news
The classic 1975-1977 post-apocalyptic BBC TV series Survivors
Latest casting news from Big Finish reveals that Caroline Langrishe will appear in the first series of the new Survivors‘ audio adventures as Helen Wiseman.
Caroline Langrishe is Helen Wiseman, a journalist at the centre of a burgeoning catastrophe…
Series one of the new Survivors audio adventures is available for pre-order from the Big Finish site.
Big Finish have confirmed that Terry Molloy will be joining the cast of the first series of new Survivors audio adventures, taking on the role of John Redgrave.
Terry Molloy is John Redgrave, a civil servant whose world is falling apart around him…
Series one of the new Survivors audio adventures is available for pre-order from the Big Finish site.
Louise Jameson (Doctor Who, The Omega Factor, Tenko) is the first cast member to be confirmed by Big Finish as joining the first series of the new Survivors audio adventures. Jameson will take on the role of Jackie Burchall. Big Finish will be releasing promo sheets for each major cast member as they are confirmed.
Series one of the new Survivors audio adventures is available for pre-order from the Big Finish site.
Issue 55 of Big Finish’s Vortex fanzine – which is free to download from the Big Finish site – provides the first tantalising details of the new Survivors audio adventures which the company will be releasing early next summer.
The ‘Sneak previews and whispers’ section gives the first hints of what series one will offer: (Note: mild spoilers).
Terry Nation’s Survivors is one of the UK’s most loved fantasy series – a gritty look at a world ravaged by lethal plague, and the handful of people who survive into a new world where technology is largely obsolete and the rule of law is long gone…
The brand new audio series from Big Finish starts from the beginning again, introducing a new set of characters who face the near-end of the world. The episodes then run in tandem with the 1970s TV show, combining our characters with familiar faces from Nation’s original.
Get ready to meet Daniel Connor, Helen Wiseman, John Redgrave, Maddie Price, James Gillison and Jackie Burchall as a new strain of flu passes from person to person, and from country to country. And get ready to meet some friends from the past again too…
By the closing credits, not everyone will get out of this alive.
Out June 2014
The back cover of Vortex 55 sports a new full-page advert for the series one audio adventures.
Thanks to Adrian H for alerting the blog to this news
Lucy Fleming (Jenny, Survivors) appeared on the 23 August edition of The One Show on BBC One.
Fleming featured in a film segment, being interviewed by Cerys Matthews about her uncle Ian Fleming’s authorship of his well-loved 1964 novel Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
For viewers in the UK, this episode of The One Show is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer until 19:29 on Friday 30 Aug 2013.
Audio-drama genre publishers Big Finish have today (9 July) revealed plans for a new series of original audio dramas based on the original Survivors, and featuring the vocal talents of original cast members. The first four-part series will be released (on CD and through download) in June of next year; with a second series to follow in 2015.
Series one and two are available for pre-order through the Big Finish web shop.
Both series will be produced by David Richardson, and episodes directed by Ken Bentley. Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs will serve as executive producers.
Four scriptwriters, with established track-records with Big Finish’s Doctor Who audio-dramas, will together pen both series: Matt Fitton, Jonathan Morris, Andrew Smith and John Dorney.
The Big Finish press release announced the following details:
Big Finish has signed a licence with the estate of the acclaimed writer Terry Nation to make the 1970s post-apocalyptic drama Survivors on audio. The series ran for three seasons between 1975-77 and told the story of a small group of people who survive a plague that wipes out most of the world’s population.
‘Survivors made a huge impact on me when I first saw it – as it did on many people of my generation,’ says producer David Richardson. ‘It’s long been a dream of mine to bring it back on audio, exploring the human drama and the many challenges in a world where the majority of people have died and most technology is useless.’
Executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery adds: ‘I am very proud to have another Terry Nation series associated with Big Finish. His influence on British television in the Sixties and Seventies was massive and I grew up knowing that any show with his name on it was going to be both exciting and thought provoking. Survivors is one of the seminal series of the Seventies, with themes that have been visited again and again over the years, most recently by series such as The Walking Dead. We all look forward to working on what we know will be a fantastic new audio series for Big Finish.’
Executive producer Nicholas Briggs: ‘Over the years, so many people have asked us about the possibility of doing Survivors on audio, and now, with the right team in place and agreements signed, we can finally deliver yet another series that our loyal listeners have been waiting for. My early teens were haunted by Terry Nation’s stark depiction of a world decimated by a virus, and I’m looking forward to being terrified all over again!’
Like Nation’s TV show and novel of the same name, the audio series will begin with the terror and torment as a global pandemic breaks out, and gradually the very fabric of society falls apart. These terrible events will be told through the eyes of a handful of characters whose lives are changed forever…
A number of actors from the original TV series Survivors will be reprising their characters for the audios. These will be announced once recording commences later in the summer.
Terry Nation’s impact on British culture is beyond measure – he famously created the Daleks for Doctor Who (for which he wrote 66 episodes), devised the enduringly popular Science Fiction series Blake’s 7, wrote the much-loved children’s novel Rebecca’s World, and contributed acclaimed scripts to successful series including The Avengers, The Protectors, The Persuaders! and The Champions.
Survivors – Series One will be released in June 2014; the box set will comprise four hour-long full cast audio dramas.
Survivors – Series Two has been commissioned and will follow in 2015.
The writers of the first four episodes are Matt Fitton, Jonathan Morris, Andrew Smith and John Dorney, all of whom are seasoned contributors to the Doctor Who audios at Big Finish.
The series will be directed by Ken Bentley, and produced by David Richardson. The executive producers are Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs.
Actor Denis Lawson, best-known in genre circles for appearing in all three original Star Wars films, but equally well-known to Survivors fans for his guest-starring role in series one Survivors episode The Future Hour, appeared at the Collectormania 19 event at Milton Keynes on 26 May 2013.
Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards, Survivors) was a guest-speaker at events marking this year’s World Book Night at London’s Southbank (24 April 2013). To coincide with World Book Night 2013 a “half a million books were given away across the country to support the nation’s love of reading”.
The niece of James Bond creator Ian Fleming, Lucy read from her uncle’s essay How To Write A Thriller (see video below).
Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant) is scheduled to appear at the Wales Comic Con 2013, being held at Glyndwr University, Wrexham on Sunday 28 April 2013.
On the Guest pages, Seymour is listed as appearing to sign autographs (but not to be part of a convention panel or to be included in official photoshoot events).
Thanks to Adrian H for alerting the blog to this
As part of the promotional work to support the release of the new film adaptation of his bedroom farce Run For Your Wife, writer and director Ray Cooney catches up with Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams (two of a huge number of British actors and actresses who cameo in the film). The interview includes footage of Fleming’s and Williams’ brief appearance in the film (alongside Andrew Sachs and Mark Wingett).
The film, which stars Danny Dyer, has received near-universally dire reviews, and the story of its dismal performance at the box office has attracted widespread press comment.
Reviewing the film in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw concludes:
The humour makes The Dick Emery Show look edgy and contemporary, and the movie features a mind-boggling parade of cameos you are only otherwise liable to see in the cutaway shots of an ITV3 repeat of An Audience with Magnus Pyke. Frank Thornton! Bill Pertwee! Russ Abbot! Connoisseurs of the British thespian scene from 30 years ago are likely, however, to have precisely the same response as those who do not recognise any of these people: an overwhelming desire to buy an old-fashioned town-gas cooking appliance in which one’s head will fit snugly.