DeathRay – mini-interview with new series scriptwriter Adrian Hodges

A mini-interview with Adrian Hodges, the lead scriptwriter on the new series of Survivors, appears in the February 2008 issue of DeathRay. Several key facts emerge:

1. Hodges has ‘very strong memories’ of watching the original series in his student days
2. It was the BBC that suggested that Hodges pitch the idea of a Survivors remake to them
3. Although the new series will be rooted in the same pandemic premise as the original, Hodges reveals that ‘nearly everything will be changed in some detail or another. There will also be a lot of new stories that I’m devising…’
4. Hodges is keen that the new series will have a strong contemporary feel, with a range of characters reflecting the social composition of the UK in the 2008.
5. The new series of Survivors will be a post-9pm watershed show for BBC1

DeathRay contradict one key ‘fact’ revealed in a recent SFX interview with Head of Series and Serials Kate Harwood – insisting that the new series of Survivors will comprise 13 episodes (rather than six, as reported in SFX).

DeathRay, No 10, February 2008

Note, 17 April 2008: To clear up a misunderstanding that has appeared on a number of other blogs, forums and discussion lists – the main photo in the DeathRay article is not of the new Survivors cast, but from the ITV dino-romp Primeval, a series that writer Adrian Hodges has been closely involved with since its inception. No cast photos from the new Survivors series have yet been released.

SFX mini-interview with Survivors executive producer Kate Harwood

Several important questions are answered in a mini-interview with new series Survivors producer Kate Harwood in SFX magazine in February 2008:

1. The remake will stay ‘close to the original’ in several key respects – not least in setting events in motion through the spread of a global pandemic
2. The new series will be based on Terry Nation’s 1976 Survivors novel rather than directly on the events of the original TV series
3. It will present a fresh spin on the drama, updating the setting, context and storylines and focusing a little more on ‘action adventure’ themes
4. The new Survivors will be a six-part mini-series, four episodes of which will be penned by Adrian Hodges
5. It is likely that the new series will be broadcast at the end of 2008 or early in 2009

SFX, No 166, February 2008