The classic 1975-1977 post-apocalyptic BBC TV series Survivors
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.
Big Finish have added a full-page advert for the forthcoming release of the first series of their new Survivors audio dramas to the latest issue of the company’s Vortex fanzine – which is free to download on the Big Finish site.
Thanks to Adrian H for alerting the blog to this
The tortuous story of the long-running plan to revive and remake Survivors‘ creator Terry Nation’s space drama Blake’s 7 has taken yet another turn this week.
In April 2013 it was announced that FremantleMedia International would produce a 13-episode series remake of Blake’s 7 to be broadcast of the cable channel SyFy. This was to be a ‘re-imagining’ of the original (1978-81) show.
On Thursday 15 August, the Financial Times, BBC News and Digital Spy all reported that these plans had been shelved. Instead it was announced that the revival of Blake’s 7 would now be funded by Microsoft, with the series airing on the Xbox Live service. The London-based Motion Picture Capital company was reported to have taken over responsibility for the show’s development.
Digital Spy suggests the development is “part of Microsoft’s ambition to reposition Xbox as an ‘entertainment hub’, and to directly compete with other online subscription services.”
However, a Freemantle spokesman told BBC News that it was “not aware of any deal” with Microsoft, while both Microsoft and Motion Picture Capital declined to comment. Rights owner Andrew Mark Sewell told BBC News: “When we have news to report, we’ll let everyone know.” It seems clear that position remains far from settled.
Blake’s 7 was the show that Terry Nation created shortly after his departure from the original Survivors at the end of series one in 1975. Later in his career, Nation sought to get an American network to revive Blake’s 7, as he also (unsuccessfully) attempted to do with Survivors.
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.
It is exactly ten years ago to-the-day (5 June 2003) that Carolyn Seymour, Lucy Fleming, Ian McCulloch, Pennant Roberts and Tanya Ronder were reunited at a studio in central London to record the ‘special features’ for the Survivors series one DVD release. The unprecedented reunion of series one Survivors personnel recorded commentary tracks for episodes The Fourth Horseman (Roberts and Seymour) and Law and Order (Fleming and McCulloch); provided individual on-camera interviews; and met with a range of journalists from the genre press to promote the upcoming 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.
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.
Survivors fan Steve Clutterbuck is organising an informal gathering for fans at Hampton Court in Herefordshire on Saturday 29 June 2013. Says Steve:
If anyone fancies a trip out to visit Hampton Court near Leominster, enjoy a walk around the grounds and get a chance to meet fellow Survivors fans, there is an informal picnic being arranged on Saturday 29 June 2013. On Friday 28 June, if anyone’s interested, we could perhaps arrange to visit some other nearby Survivors filming locations. If anyone is interested in joining in on either day, please get in touch via my website.
Updated: Organiser Steve Clutterbuck has shared a video of the tour of the castle interior which fans joined on the day –
A range of hard-wearing, protective cases for iPads, smartphones and other mobile devices, marketed by Griffin Technologies boasts impressive and striking brand styling.
The Survivor range benefits from a strong stencil-style logo which aims to emphasise the durability and resilience of its products. It is an effective and memorable case of (trade-marked) product branding, about which Griffin Technologies’ lawyers would certainly not encourage us to comment.
The garage and workshop visited by Abby in the opening minutes of Survivors‘ series one episode Corn Dolly (located in the Herefordshire village of Llangrove) has been demolished.
The exterior of the building was used as a filming location during the first series on-location filming block in January 1975 (while the interior sequences were shot on video at BBC Television Centre several weeks later).
The workshop, located adjacent to the village school and close to the Post Office, remained in active use until at least 2005, but has since closed and been boarded up.
The building has now been demolished, the land cleared, and the site put up for auction.
Artist Pete Wallbank, who created the sleeve artwork for the Sovereign VHS release of series one of Survivors in 1998, has been commissioned by fan David Tulley to create a new original piece of Survivors art.
In the style of a Survivors video sleeve cover, Pete has produced a new and original design inspired by the classic series three episode The Last Laugh, which the artist and new owner have kindly agreed can be published on the Survivors: A World Away site.
With thanks to Pete Wallbank; from the collection of David Tulley
To learn more about his work on the Sovereign video release of Survivors, read an interview with Pete from 2007.