Survivors: A World Away

Doomwatch DVD cover redesigned – new promo video

DVD publisher Simply Media have commissioned a redesign of the original DVD cover artwork for the forthcoming Doomwatch DVD box-set.

The title is now listed on the Simply Media site, and remains available for pre-order on Amazon and other online retailer sites. The Doomwatch DVD boxset (containing all of the remaining episodes from all three series and the 2006 BBC documentary The Cult of… Doomwatch) is released on 4 April 2016.

Simply Media have also produced a new promotional video to support the release.

Denis Lill – Shadowlands tour – cast photos

The 2016 national tour of William Nicholson’s Shadowlands, directed by Alastair Whatley, enjoyed its opening night on 18 February at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, ahead of a national press night on Friday 26 February.

Denis Lill (Charles Vaughan, Survivors) is a late addition to the cast, taking on the role of Major W.H. Lewis ‘Warnie’, joining Stephen Boxer (C S Lewis), Amanda Ryan (Joy Davidman), Simon Shackleton (Professor Christopher Riley), Jeffrey Harmer (Rev ‘Harry’ Harrington), Ian Marr (Alan Gregg), Richard Holliday (Dr Maurice Oakley), Shannon Rewcroft (Douglas), with Holly Smith and Alistair Higgins playing multiple supporting roles.

Broadway World has published a gallery of promotional shots from the production.

Tickets for performances at venues across the country are now on sale.

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Update, 2 March 2016: The touring production has secured an early glowing five-start review from the Guilford Dragon newspaper (23 February), whose theatre critic concludes:

The whole play is acted well and I don’t know who I would give the most credit to. Would it be: Stephen Boxer as Jack (CS Lewis), Amanda Ryan as Joy, Denis Lill as Warnie, Simon Shackleton as Christopher, Alastair Whatley – director or even William Nicholson as the writer. The stage set is minimalist but highly effective.

The whole combination worked for me. The story was brilliantly told, intellectually stimulating, humerous and naturally it was sad. Inevitably, highly emotional too. I thoroughly enjoyed my evening.

The Salisbury Journal review (1 March 2016) says of the Salisbury Playhouse run:

Finely acted, Stephen Boxer brought gravitas and humour to the role of CS Lewis who wrote the Narnia books and Christian apologetic novels like The Screwtape Letters, as well as non-fiction work.

Amanda Ryan, playing Joy Gresham, was wonderful as the archetypal American who blew the cobwebs away surrounding the comfortable existence of the scholar.

Her physical descent into frailty when she gets cancer is masterfully portrayed as is her patient manner with the reserved Lewis, who not only has to do battle with his emotions, and his faith, in realising he loves Joy but also, when he loses her.

Denis Lill, endearing as Warnie, is full of strength, concern and a hint of mischief.

The Southern Daily Echo review (2 March 2016) observes, of the Salisbury Playhouse run:

In difficult and emotionally demanding roles, Stephen Boxer as “Jack” Lewis and Amanda Ryan as Joy are both outstanding as the gentle lovers.

CS Lewis is a committed Christian, discovering love late in life, Stephen Boxer conveying brilliantly his agonies over traditional values clashing with his new-found affections.

Joy has been married before, to a violent alcoholic, moving to England for a new life. With a convincing Jewish New York accent, Amanda Ryan nails a beautiful mix between American can-do attitude and her cancer-ridden vulnerability.

As Lewis’s stalwart brother Warnie, Denis Lill is superb, his stiff-upper-lip softening as he helps Joy’s emotionally splintering son.

Denis Lill joins the cast of a national tour of Shadowlands

Denis Lill (Charles Vaughan, Survivors) is joining the cast of a new theatrical production of Shadowlands. He is stepping in to the role of Major W.H. Lewis (Warnie) with less than ten days before the tour begins, following the enforced withdrawal of Tony Slattery from the production due to ill-health. Lill’s first day in rehearsal was yesterday (8 February). Producers, Jon and Anne-Marie Woodley of Birdsong Productions, said:

“We are very sorry that Tony has had to leave and along with all the company of Shadowlands, we send our love and best wishes. We are delighted that Denis has so kindly agreed to step in at such short notice to take on the role of Warnie. Having both previously worked with Denis, we know he will be a lovely addition to the talented cast and crew of Shadowlands.”

Describing the production, they add:

The cast of Shadowlands will be led by Stephen Boxer (Humans, The Iron Lady, Garrow’s Law, Doctors) as C.S. Lewis and Amanda Ryan (The Forsyte Saga, Shameless) as Joy Davidman, along with Denis Lill (The Royal, Only Fools and Horses, Rumpole of the Bailey) as Major W.H. Lewis ‘Warnie’. They will be joined by Simon Shackleton as Professor Christopher Riley, Jeffrey Harmer as Rev ‘Harry’ Harrington, Ian Marr as Alan Gregg, Richard Holliday as Dr Maurice Oakley and Shannon Rewcroft as Douglas, with Holly Smith and Alistair Higgins playing multiple supporting roles.

Shadowlands, by William Nicholson, tells the love story of C.S. Lewis, Oxford don and author of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters, and American poet Joy Davidman. What begins as a formal meeting of two very different minds slowly develops into a feeling of connection and love. Lewis finds his quiet life with his brother Warnie disrupted by the outspoken, feisty Davidman, whose uninhibited behaviour offers a sharp contrast to the rigid sensibilities of the male-dominated university. Each provides the other with new ways of viewing the world, but Lewis’s Christian faith is tested when Joy is diagnosed with cancer.

Tickets are available for all dates on the tour, which begins in Guilford on 18 February 2016, and plays at venues across the country, before concluding in London at the end of July.

Denis Lill appears in Midsomer Murders episode “A Dying Art”

Denis Lill (Charles Vaughan, Survivors) appears in the current episode of Midsomer Murders (Series 18, Episode 4) “A Dying Art”, in the role of frustrated and under-achieving artist Simeon Rowling: one of number of suspects in a typical Midsomer Murders‘ killing spree.

Art comes to the picturesque Midsomer village of Angel’s Rise with the opening of a new Sculpture Park. But when its launch is marred by murder, DCI Barnaby and DS Nelson have to get creative to crack a case where art imitates death, and everything has a deeper meaning.

The episode, which was first broadcast on ITV on 3 February 2016, is available for streaming on the ITV hub until early March.

Since John Nettles stood down at the end of the thirteenth series, the lead role in Midsomer Murders (in the guise of DCI Barnaby) has been taken by Neil Dudgeon – who in 2008 appeared in a memorable guest starring role in the third episode of the remake of Survivors (as the paranoid former farmer Sean, who has locked himself and his young children in isolation in a vain attempt to protect them from contact with the infected).

Denis Lill – Midsomer Murders – ‘A Dying Art’ – Series 18 – Episode 4

Big Finish ‘Apocalypse Now’ offers this weekend

This weekend (23-24 January 2016) audio-drama specialists Big Finish are offering ‘Apocalypse Now’ special deals on the whole of the current Survivors range and the Night of the Triffids audio adaptation. If you’ve yet to experience the wonder of these post-apocalyptic audio adventures, this weekend is the ideal time to become fully immersed and bag a bargain in the process! But be aware that the ‘end is nigh’: the special offers end at 12noon on Monday 25 January 2016.

This weekend you can enjoy special savings on the end of the world, with offers on our favourite apocalypses…

Until noon Monday January 25th, you can pick up some dark tales after the fall of humanity with our Apocalypse Now offers. We start the weekend with the award-nominated Survivors: Series 1, our continuation of Terry Nation's cult BBC TV series.

Starring Lucy Fleming, Ian McCulloch, John Banks, Louise Jameson, Chase Masterson and Sinead Keenan, this terrifying box-set takes place in and around the original TV series, which chronicled a deadly plague wiping out most human life on Earth. With people forced to make terrible sacrifices in order to survive, can mankind start again?

Featuring stories written by Matt Fitton, Jonathan Morris, Andrew Smith and John Dorney, you can buy Survivors: Series 1 today for just £15 on CD, or £12 to download. And remember, when you choose to buy this release on CD directly from Big Finish, you will also unlock instant access to a digital copy for download.

Also available is our audiobook reading of Terry Nation's original novel, read by series star Carolyn Seymour. Adapting and expanding on the first series of TV episodes, you can own this today for just £10 on both CD or to download.

Finally we go from one cult apocalypse to another, with a full-cast adaptation of The Night of the Triffids by Simon Clark. A sequel to John Wyndham's classic horror The Day of the Triffids, this double-disc CD story stars Sam Troughton and Nicola Bryant, surviving on the Isle of Wight while the carnivorous and semi-intelligent Triffids continue to engulf the mainland. You can buy and download the story today for just £5 on both CD and to download.

All three titles can also be picked up as part of our Apocalypse Bundles – which also contain Survivors Series 2 and Series 3, together at a reduced price of just £85 on CD or £75 to download. But hurry, the special prices must end noon Monday 25th January.

(Or at the end of the world. Whichever comes first…)

Doomwatch DVD cover published

The cover design of the forthcoming Doomwatch DVD box-set has been published by Simply Media. The title is not yet listed on the Simply Media site, but is available for pre-order on Amazon and other online retailer sites. The Doomwatch DVD boxset (containing all of the remaining episodes from all three series and the 2006 BBC documentary The Cult of… Doomwatch) is released on 4 April 2016.

Doomwatch secures DVD release in April 2016

Celebrated edge-of-the-apocalypse drama (and Survivors pregenitor) Doomwatch will secure its first full DVD release in April 2016, when a boxset of all remaining episodes is released by Simply Media.

Doomwatch was produced by Survivors producer Terry Dudley, and several of its scriptwriters (Don Shaw, Roger Parkes and Martin Worth), and directors (including Eric Hills and Pennant Roberts) would go on to work on Survivors. Numerous Survivors cast members (including Stephen Dudley, Talfryn Thomas, Julie Neubert, Eileen Helsby, Lorna Lewis, Robert Gillespie and many others) appeared on-screen in Doomwatch.

With many Doomwatch episodes long-since lost from the archives, the Simply Media boxset will include all twenty-four of the surviving stories (across all three series of the show), including the infamous and never-transmitted Sex and Violence. Released on 4 April 2016, the new boxset will also include the 2006 BBC Four documentary The Cult of… Doomwatch. Says Simply Media:

Doomwatch was devised by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, who had previously worked together on the science-fiction programme Doctor Who, and who were responsible for creating the part-human, part-machine race known as the Cybermen. The Department of Observation and Measurement of Scientific Work – nicknamed ‘Doomwatch’ – is a section of the Ministry of National Security whose remit is to act as a watchdog group investigating current scientific work, and ensuring that the welfare of the general public and the environmental is not compromised. It is led by Doctor Spencer Quist, a gruff and no-nonsense Nobel Prize-winning mathematician who is assisted by Doctor John Ridge, a chemist in his late thirties who is not only a ladies’ man, but who also has a shady past and connections to MI6 and Toby Wren, a physics postgraduate from Cambridge played by Robert Powell.

The release is discussed on Archive TV Musings; while Wiped News provides a detailed guide to the lost episodes.

Simply Media is not yet (23 December) listing the title in its forthcoming catalogue, but the Doomwatch DVD set is available for pre-order on Amazon in the UK.

Big Finish Survivors series three reviews

A set of four episode reviews covering series three of Big Finish’s Survivors audio dramas has been posted on the Survivors: A World Away Big Finish mini-site. Of the closing story Leaving, the review concludes that the episode:

succeeds as a sure-footed departure point for series three, demonstrating once again the versatility of the Survivors audio format; showcasing the breadth of the dramatic terrain it opens up; and reasserting Big Finish’s conviction that, if the perils facing the survivors are to remain credible, the survival of even the most well-liked of new characters has to remain in doubt.

Reviews

3:1 Cabin Fever
3:2 Contact
3:3 Rescue
3:4 Leaving

Big Finish Survivors cast join other Big Finish dramas

Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant) is appearing in the Big Finish Doctor Who story The War Doctor, starring John Hurt and Jacqueline Pearce, in the role of ‘The Slave’. Writer and director Nick Briggs recalls that Hurt and Seymour knew each other from earlier in their respective careers. ‘They hadn’t seen each other for about 40 years’, explains Briggs, ‘but they were delighted to be able to chat again.’ John Banks (Daniel Connor) also appears in The War Doctor in the role of Garv.

The War Doctor imprint has the same producer (David Richardson) and script editor (Matt Fitton) team as work on the Big Finish Survivors audios.

Cast from The War Doctor, including Carolyn Seymour and John Banks

Seymour also appears as Mrs Multravers in the Jago and Litefoot and Strax story The Haunting; and features in Doctor Who: The Churchill Years, Volume One, released in January 2016.

Carolyn Seymour at Big Finish

Zoë Tapper, soon to appear in the fourth series of Big Finish’s Survivors audio adventures, as Evie, appears in The Martian Chronicles, which stars Derek Jacobi in the role of Captain Wilde. This adaptation of the celebrated sci-fi novel, which won a Silver at the 2015 New York Festivals’ World’s Best Radio Program Awards, was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and is now available for purchase as a Big Finish release.

Tapper will also feature in The War Doctor Volume 02: Infernal Devices, released in February 2016, in the role of Collis.

Zoe Tapper (with John Altman) in The Martian Chronicles

Lucy Fleming recalls her mother’s work on Brief Encounter

An article in yesterday’s Daily Mail (11 December 2015), which revisits the making of the 1945 classic British film Brief Encounter, includes reflections on the work of Celia Johnson by her daughter, Survivors‘ actress Lucy Fleming. She recalls:

Celia Johnson was in many ways just like Laura Jesson, agrees her daughter, the actress Lucy Fleming, today. ‘She was very moral and wouldn’t have liked that kind of situation to arise in her own life,’ says Lucy, 68, who is married to the actor Simon Williams and was best known for her role in Seventies series Survivors. ‘People loved working with her. She was fun. She had a great sense of humour.’

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