THE NEW EDITION of Big Finish’s Vortex magazine includes a preview of the upcoming Survivors audio boxset New Dawn 4.
The feature includes interview snippets with writer-director Ken Bentley, writer Matt Fitton, and series’ producer Emma Haigh.
It also reveals some new information about the characters who will appear in New Dawn 4 and some of the settings and scenarios that the three stories in the boxset will explore – so the article comes with a ‘mild spoilers’ advisory, for those who prefer to listen to the series with no advance knowledge.
The concluding boxset in the New Dawn series, Survivors: New Dawn 4, will be released next month (September 2023), and remains available for pre-order.
AS PART OF a ‘celebration’ of Terry Nation-inspired audio content in its catalogue, Big Finish are offering discounts on both single releases and bundles from its Survivors audio drama range.
Discounts are available on titles from the original and the New Dawn series, in a variety of download-only and CD combinations.
The full range of Survivors audio offers is available to browse on the Big Finish site.
These offers expire at 23:59 (UK time) on 06 August 2023.
IAN MCCULLOCH HAS today been confirmed as a guest at the Popcorn convention in Sheffield on 10 September 2023.
Ian McCulloch starred as Greg Preston in the BBC’s cult post apocalyptic 70’s TV series Survivors and most recently in Big Finish’s popular audio productions of the series. He had leading roles in the Italian horror films Zombie Flesh Eaters AKA Zombi II (1979) by Lucio Fulci, Zombie Holocaust (1980) by Marino Girolami, and Contamination (1980) by Luigi Cozzi. Zombie Flesh Eaters was originally banned in the UK as part of the 1980s campaign against “Video Nasties”. McCulloch has had supporting roles in studio films such as “Where Eagles Dare (1968) with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood, and Cromwell (1970) with Alec Guinness and Richard Harris. In addition, he has appeared in successful independent films, most notably The Ghoul (1975) with Peter Cushing and John Hurt. Ian has also guest starred in many TV series, including: Colditz (1974), Return of the Saint (1978); Hammer House of Horror’s episode “Witching Time” with Patricia Quinn (1980); The Professionals (1980), episode “Mixed Doubles”, in which he played the physical fitness and close quarters combat instructor of Bodie and Doyle; and as Nilson in the Doctor Who, serial “Warriors of the Deep” with Peter Davison (1984).
Popcorn convention
Also confirmed as Popcorn guests are Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison, Clare Higgins, Kenneth Cranham, Madeline Smith, Patricia Quinn and Michael Carter.
Autographs and photo opportunities can be purchased with all guests appearing on the day.
Popcorn describes itself as:
a pop culture festival that gets its geek on for the world of TV, Film, Comics, Literature, Sci-Fi, Horror, Cosplay & Art all under one roof! As well as Special Guests,Q & A panels, there will be autographs, selfies, costume groups, cosplay, a busy marketplace filled with memorabillia & merch! Meet fellow geeks!
Popcorn takes places at the Magna Science Adventure Centre, Magna Way, Templeborough, Sheffield S60 1FD on Sunday 10 September 2023.
Find out more and buy tickets from the Popcorncon.com site.
IN A POLL of writers for Starburst magazine, the original 1970s’ incarnation of Survivors features in a ‘top 100’ rundown of the best genre TV shows of all time.
Survivors lands just outside the ‘top 50’ shows, ahead of Terry Nation’s celebrated space opera Blake’s 7, and just behind Seth MacFarlane’s scathing animated sitcom Family Guy.
As a regular Starburst contributor, the editor of this site submitted a list of his top 20 shows to the vote, and wrote the summary description of Survivors (and many other entries in the list, including that for Blake’s 7) once all the votes had been tallied and the ranking confirmed.
Starburst magazine #482 is available to buy from discerning newsagents and online through the Starburst shop.
Big Finish’s Survivors stories have always distinguished themselves by their ability to surprise and to shock… Together with the decline and fall of the New Federal Government, Tate’s fate is a salutory reminder that there are no guarantees that the next generation of survivors will face a brighter future – even as the horrors of the pandemic fade into memory
Survivors: A World Away
Survivors: New Dawn 3 is available to buy on CD now and as a digital download from the Big Finish site.
Survivors: New Dawn 4, which will be released in September, is still available for pre-order as a collector’s edition three-disc CD and digital download combo or as a digital download only.
BIG FINISH HAVE today (27 April 2023) released the new Survivors audio boxset Survivors: New Dawn 3.
The boxset can be purchased as a CD boxset, as a digital download, or as a CD and download combo, from the Big Finish site.
This third instalment in the New Dawn series follows the continuing struggles of Abby Grant (Carolyn Seymour) and Jenny Richard (Lucy Fleming) fifteen years and more on from The Death.
A fresh type of social and political order has emerged in Britain, but many of those living under the rule of the New Federal Government view it as tyrannical. The authorities’ grip on the country at large is tenous, and protests are growing. Neither Jenny nor Abby can be confident that they, the new administration or its opponents, will survive the reckoning that’s coming.
Food shortages threaten the stability of the New Federal Government. Prime Minister Celia Tate clings to power and Robin Page – once a thorn in her side and now a minister – becomes involved in an uprising to depose her.
Once again, the world is changing and the best Abby and Jenny can hope for is to survive.
Big Finish
Reviews of each of the three episodes in the boxset will be published on this site shortly.
The concluding boxset in the New Dawn series, Survivors: New Dawn 4, will be released this September, and is available for pre-order.
Read the Big Finish press release marking today’s release of Survivors: New Dawn 3.
To coincide with this latest release, Big Finish have also announced temporary price reductions on previous releases in the Survivors audio series. These offers are available until 23:59 (UK time) on 30 April 2023.
AHEAD OF ITS release on Thursday 27 April, today’s Big Finish podcast (23 April) previews the new Survivors audio boxset Survivors: New Dawn 3.
The podcast includes a sneak-preview of the release’s behind-the-scenes interviews and a fifteen-minute ‘drama-tease’ of the first episode ‘The Turning Part One’ written by boxset director Ken Bentley.
Survivors: New Dawn 3 is still available to pre-order, as both a collector’s edition three-disc CD and digital download combo or as a digital download only, from the Big Finish site.
THE SEVERN VALLEY heritage railway service has launched a one-and-a-half-million pound ‘survival fund’ to secure the immediate future of the line which runs between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth.
For fans of Survivors, the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) is significant as one of the iconic filming locations used on the third series. In 1977, BBC Outside Broadcast cameras filmed sequences for the episodes Law of the Jungle, Mad Dog, Bridgehead and Power at the Highley and Hampton Loade stations and in the surrounding areas on and close to the line.
The most recent organised Survivors fan visit to the SVR took place in May 2019, during the Mad Dog 2019event.
Falling visitor numbers – rising costs
The SVR has been hit hard financially by the impact of the Covid pandemic, by the soaring costs of coal and electricity, and by the experience common to many leisure and tourist attractions in the UK: that visitor numbers have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with a resulting loss of revenue.
“Last year, passenger numbers were almost one third lower than pre-Covid,” the SVR confirms. “In 2022 alone, we saw a drop in expected income of £1.5 million. Other heritage railways and local attractions had exactly the same experience. It became obvious that the cost-of-living crisis was really starting to bite.”
In response to the depletion in funding, the SVR announced in February that as many as 18 members of staff would be made redundant, that the early-season timetable would be restricted to fewer operational days, and that other cost savings would be found.
As bank reserves were depleted, overheads have still had to be met. “Our forecast for the coming year and into 2024 shows that we will not have any reserve in the bank,” the company says. “This means we won’t be able to lift ourselves out of the financial difficulties that we currently face.” Hence the need for the ‘survival fund’ appeal.
An Urgent need
“We urgently need to raise £1.5 million to enable the SVR to overcome the current financial crisis and implement longer-term plans for its future,” Managing Director Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster explains.
Dunster emphasises that the financial situation that the SVR is wrestling with is acute, and that the success of the ‘survival fund’ is essential. “Without this help, the SVR may not survive into next year,” he warns.
To find out more about the SVR’s plans to address the financial crisis, and stabilise the heritage railway for the future – and to donate to the SVR ‘Survival Fund’, visit the dedicated section of the SVR web site.
Another obvious way to help put cash in the SVR coffers is to arrange a visit to either end of the line and to purchase a ticket to travel to Highley or Hampton Loade stations or to the Country Park Halt.
THE COVER ART for the upcoming Survivors: New Dawn 3 audio boxset has just been released by Big Finish, along with the striking cover art.
Survivors: New Dawn 3 will be released later this month and is still available to pre-order, as both a collector’s edition three-disc CD and digital download combo or as a digital download only, from the Big Finish site.
DISCOUNTS OF UP to two-thirds are available on boxsets in Big Finish’s Survivors audio range until 23:59 (UK time) today (31 March 2023) as part of the company’s Spring Clearance Sale.
Series two, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine, and the audiobook of Terry Nation’s Survivors novelisation, are included in the offer – which combines the CD boxset with a digital download.
The CD boxsets of series one and three are now out-of-print, but still available as digital downloads.
Details of the offers are all available on the Big Finish website’s Warehouse Offers page.
