Cast and crew – Page 9 – Survivors: A World Away

Chase Masterson and Andrew French discuss Big Finish’s Survivors third series

In original interviews, recorded in the Big Finish studios earlier this year, Chase Masterson and Andrew French discuss their work on the third series of Survivors audio adventures from Big Finish. Says Masterson of the plight facing the character of Maddie Price:

one day in the future any of us could wake up and wish that we had back exactly the life we have today. And I think it’s a great lesson to take from the series: being grateful about what we have.

Andrew French says of the moral texture of the latest series of Survivors:

I think these stories are quite moral. If you were in this situation, what kind of leadership would you want? Would you want someone who would kill anybody else as long as you were safe? I think most people would probably say “yes”, in the final analysis. But what does that make you? I think that these are incredibly moral tales.

John Banks discusses his work on series three of Big Finish audios

In a new and exclusive in-studio interview, John Banks discusses his work as journalist Daniel Connor in the third series of Survivors audio adventures from Big Finish. In the interview he reflects:

I talked with producer David Richardson about the character for quite a long time actually before even I saw a script, and the whole idea of him. We got very excited. David was already very excited with the notion of the series. When he told me about it I immediately latched onto it. I knew the TV series. And it was such an exciting thing to be involved with.

Cast discuss Survivors series three audio adventures in Big Finish’s Vortex

The new edition of Big Finish’s house magazine Vortex (No 81, November 2015) includes an two-page interview with actor John Banks (Daniel Connor) discussing his work on the third series of Survivors audio adventures. The issue also features some brief comments from Miranda Raison (who plays the role of Janet the new series of Survivors), who admits that: “Survivors was surprisingly dark”; and a photo showing Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant) with fellow cast members of the new Jago, Litefoot & Strax story “The Haunting” (in which Seymour appears).

Earlier this week Big Finish released the much-anticipated third series of Survivors audio adventures! The new four-part series is available to buy in both digital download and CD formats.

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 director Tristan de Vere Cole and Morris Perry 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”