Big Finish release cover and episode details for Survivors series nine audios

Big Finish - Survivors - series nine - cover

BIG FINISH HAVE revealed the cover and the episode catch-lines for the ninth and final release in the current series of original Survivors audio adventures due for release in June.

The striking cover features the characters of Abby Grant (Carolyn Seymour) and Jenny Richards (Lucy Fleming) pictured in the misty and atmospheric surroundings of a graveyard in the weak light of dawn or dusk: an image which presents the sharpest possible visual juxtaposition of the themes of death and of survival.

Big Finish’s Survivors producer David Richardson has again reemphasised that, while the release of the ninth instalment signals the end of the current incarnation of the series on audio, this will not mark the end of Big Finish’s involvement with the world of Survivors. No details are available yet as to what the future format of Big Finish’s Survivors audio adventures might be: more news on this as soon as we have it.

The newly-published series nine episode summaries reveal that the challenge posed by the mysterious force known as The Protectorate, and the villainy of Robert Malcolm, will be decisive to the storylines of the final four episodes. They also confirm that the fraught and pained relationship between Abby and her son Peter will continue to play out over these closing tales, as the showdown over the future direction of post-Death Britain reaches an historic moment of decision.


Survivors series nine finale

The story details and artwork can be revealed today for the final release in the current series of Survivors. Having survived the ‘Death’, Abby and Jenny must face the toughest choices yet for the future of the human race…

Terry Nation’s Survivors is drawing to a close with Series Nine and what an epic finale we’ve in store for you. Happily this isn’t the end of the audio adventures from the world of Survivors, but the current ongoing narrative will be wrapped up at the end of this series, due for release in June 2019.

The world has ended. The ‘Death’ pandemic crossed continents, sparing only a fraction of the global population. The survivors are now trying to pick up the pieces and rebuild society – to create a new future. But with no cities, no laws, no technology, everyone must start over. And the worst of human nature has survived along with the best…

9.1 – The Farm by Jane Slavin

After a short, sharp coup, power has shifted and a new order asserts control over the country. Meg Pritchard believes she is the leader who can draw together the threads of civilisation.

With the men sent to war, Jenny must help the women of ‘The Farm’ see the truth behind their new society…

9.2 – Hearts and Mines by Christopher Hatherall

The Protectorate now holds resources once shared by the Federation. Its enemies are branded terrorists, as they skirmish up and down the country.

Craig wants to strike a decisive blow, while Abby still hopes for reconciliation with her son. Ruth is caught between her friends: can she stop them both from making terrible mistakes?

9.3 – Fade Out by Roland Moore

Robert Malcolm is closing in on the ringleaders still struggling against the Protectorate. Peter Grant has reasons to make this fight personal.

But the fugitives, hiding in an abandoned cinema, find that people are tired of war. When the soldiers come to town, for some, this will be their last stand.

9.4 – Conflict by Andrew Smith

The Protectorate tightens its grip on the fragile infrastructure of a country in recovery. All stirrings of rebellion must be crushed.

But Jenny has a plan to unseat its leaders once and for all. And now she, Abby and Peter Grant are heading inexorably towards a final confrontation. 

Producer David Richardson told us about the mammoth achievement of continuing the epic television show across nine series on audio: “Working on Survivors has been one of the personal highlights of my 11 years of Big Finish. We’ve had the opportunity to make 36 brand new full-cast episodes that have been dark, richly dramatic and bold.

“But all good things must come to an end and this box set brings the current Survivors story arc to a conclusion – and what a finale it is. I think we have the perfect bookend to that very first TV episode, The Fourth Horseman, broadcast back in 1975.”

Survivors Series Nine will be released in June 2019, available on CD at £25 or £20 on download.

Or why not save money and pre-order Series Nine and get Survivors Series Eight in a bundle at £50 on CD or £40 on download


Big Finish. 2019. ‘Survivors series nine finale,’ Big Finish, 14 March. https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/survivors-series-9-finale

Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams take Posting Letters To The Moon show to New York

LUCY FLEMING AND Simon Williams will travel to New York in May to perform a three-week run of their acclaimed narrated two-hander Posting Letters to the Moon.

The ninety-minute show offers a “romantic, funny, and touching portrait of life during the early 1940s featuring readings of wartime letters between Oscar- nominated actress Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter) and her explorer and writer husband Peter Fleming (brother of James Bond creator Ian Fleming).”

Posting Letters to the Moon will feature of part of the “Brits Off Broadway 2019” season which aims to introduce New York theatre audiences. to innovative new productions from the world of British theatre.

The New York run of the show opens at the 59E59 Theatres venue on Tuesday 14 May 2019 and continues daily (excluding Mondays) until Sunday 2 June 2019 (with matinee and evening shows on Saturdays). Tickets can be purchased online from the 59E59 Theatres site.

Show Info

Compiled by Lucy Fleming
With Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams

Posting Letters To The Moon is a romantic, funny, and touching portrait of life during the early 1940s featuring readings of wartime letters between Oscar- nominated actress Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter) and her explorer and writer husband Peter Fleming (brother of James Bond creator Ian Fleming).

Their daughter, Lucy Fleming, alongside her own husband, Simon Williams, reads these touching and amusing letters that tell of Celia’s experiences during the war: coping with a large isolated house full of evacuated children, learning to drive a tractor, dealing with rationing, holidays in Cornwall where she took to surfing, and all the while accepting offers, when she could get away, to act — for David Lean, Noël Coward, wartime propaganda films, and ultimately starring in the classic film Brief Encounter.

59E59  Theatres
59 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022
USA

Prior to, and following, their appearance at the festival in New York, Fleming and Williams continue performances of the show in the UK with dates at:

  • Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis DT7 3QB (26 April 2019) [tickets]
  • Churchill War Rooms, London SW1A 2AQ (8 May 2019) [invitation only]
  • Regal Theatre, Tenbury Wells WR15 8AE (20 June 2019) [venue]
  • Farnham Maltings, Farnham GU9 7QR (9 July 2019) [venue]

Carolyn Seymour joins cast of Fourth Doctor audios

CAROLYN SEYMOUR FEATURES IN the cast of Big Finish’s newly released eighth series of Fourth Doctor Adventures starring Tom Baker.

Although Seymour’s work on the series of current Survivors audios comes to an end with the release of the ninth box set of stories in June 2019, she is continuing to take on new one-off and recurring roles in other audio dramas in the Big Finish universe.

In the Fourth Doctor audio “The Syndicate Master Plan”, available to buy now from the Big Finish site, Seymour voices two characters: The Commodore and Mrs Kidd. Amongst others joining Tom Baker in the ensemble cast are Jane Slavin, John Leeson, John Shrapnel and Jon Culshaw.

Denis Lill guest stars in Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators

Denis Lill features as Eddie Dogberry in "No More Cakes and Ale" episode 2/5 of Shakespeare and Hathaway

DENIS LILL PUTS in a winning guest appearance in the second series of Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators currently showing on BBC One and available in the UK on the iPlayer.

The show is described as a “comedy drama about an oddball couple of private detectives who investigate crime in Stratford-upon-Avon.”

Lill appears in the fifth episode of series two “No More Cakes and Ale” as seventy-something farmer and plaintiff Eddie Dogberry. The Radio Times describes Lill’s appearance as follows:

Who is Eddie Dogberry? Late one night at Touchstone Farm, farmer Eddie was violent assaulted when he accosted three thieves attempting to steal his quad bike. Now the date for his court case has arrived, and he wants justice.

What else has Denis Lill been in? The actor is known for his role as Alan Parry in Only Fools and Horses. More recently, he starred as Mr Rose in TV series The Royal.

The episode will be available for streaming (in the UK) from the BBC’s iPlayer service until February 2020.