Iain Cuthbertson (actor, original Survivors) dies aged 79

Small-screen stalwart Iain Cuthbertson, who memorably appeared in the role of Laird McAlister in the final episode of the original Survivors, has died aged 79.

Probably best known for his roles in Sutherland’s Law and Budgie, Cuthbertson’s numerous genre credits include ITV children’s supernatural drama Children of the Stones, the adapted M R James’ chiller Casting the Runes, and the Doctor Who story The Ribos Operation.

In the finale of series three of the original Survivors, Cuthbertson’s Laird was determined to assert the interests of Scottish survivors and challenge any plans that Agnes’ new ruling council might have to take the country’s resources for granted.

Obituaries appeared in The Times, The Guardian, The Independent and The Scotsman.

Survivors series one to be shown in Italy

The first series of Survivors (2008) will be shown on the RAI-TRE station in Italy, beginning with a broadcast of the 90-minute opening episode at 21:10 on Thursday 3 September 2009.

The first and second series of the original Survivors were extremely popular when shown in Italy by RAI (1979-1982) and TMC (1983). Transmission of the new series is certain to encourage renewed interest in the original Survivors – all three series of which have been released on DVD in Italy (as both a series of box-sets and a multi-part serial) for the first time.

Many thanks to Luca and Riccardo for alerting the blog to this news.

Beesley promotes Survivors series one in Italy

Survivors actor Max Beesley (Tom Price) appeared at the Italian film and TV festival RomaFictionFest being held in Rome between 6-11 July.

Beesley was in attendance to promote series one of Survivors, which is an Official Selection for the Series strand in the International competition. RomaFictionFest is also an opportunity to promote international TV sales, in the European market in particular.

Three promotional shots of Beesley’s appearance can be viewed (in thumbnail format) on the Bruno Press web site. (Deep-linking is not supported, so carry out a search for Max Beesley Fiction Festival to retrieve the relevant images).

The original 1975-1977 series of Survivors was a major TV hit in Italy, and all three series of the show have just been released on DVD in Italy for the first time – in a set of three box-sets and also as a series of ongoing ‘part-works’.

BBC Four to repeat ‘Cult of… Survivors’ – 16 December 2008

The well-received 2006 BBC documentary on the original series The Cult of… Survivors is to be repeated on BBC Four at 10.00pm on 16 December 2008. The transmission will follow straight-on from the broadcast of the penultimate episode of the new series on BBC One.

As well as clips from across the three series, the documentary features interviews with Ian McCulloch (Greg), Carolyn Seymour (Abby), Lucy Fleming (Jenny), director Pennant Roberts and scriptwriter Martin Worth.

The documentary is also included as a special feature on the three-series DVD boxset released in November.

Richard and Judy – Watch TV – Survivors feature

Survivors actors Zoë Tapper and Nikki Amuka-Bird were interviewed on Watch TV’s Richard and Judy’s New Position on Friday 5 December, in a slot which featured clips from episodes one and two of the new series.

Original series actor Lucy Fleming (who played the role of Jenny Richards) was also briefly interviewed, alongside a clip from the series three episode Manhunt (featuring Jenny, Charles [Denis Lill] and Hubert [John Abineri]). Asked for her view on the new series, Fleming said:

I’m really enjoying it. I find it really difficult to judge, actually, because I know the characters a bit and I know the story a bit, but it’s all different. It’s brilliant for the modern generation to do it [like that], to make it real for them. Good luck to them.

Zoë Tapper, Nikki Amuka-Bird (left); Lucy Fleming (right)

Original series writer Martin Worth interviewed on Radio 4

Martin Worth, who wrote scripts for the second and third series of the original Survivors, was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House on Sunday 30 November, discussing how the real-world survival skills of current day survivors would compare with those expected of the public thirty years ago. (The episode is available on the BBC’s iPlayer until the next episode broadcast at 10am on 7 December).

Elsewhere on Radio 4, Survivors was also the theme for the spiritual Thought for the Day slot on the morning news show Today on 25 November.

Pennant Roberts, original series director, rates the new Survivors

*** EXCLUSIVE *** Pennant Roberts, who directed numerous episodes of the first and second series of the original Survivors – including the classic opening episode The Fourth Horseman – shares with this blog his initial reaction to viewing the first two episodes of the remake:

“on the whole I enjoyed watching the first episode. Remakes often have a chequered history, but writer Adrian Hodges never permitted his audience to lose the plot. Terry Nation’s storyline was faithfully reproduced, even some of his actual lines recycled. The timing of the remake appears perfect. We find ourselves challenging ‘difficult times’ once more, as Gordon Brown is so fond of saying. What a relief! Things could be far, far worse for us all.

I didn’t enjoy the second episode as much, because it contained more of Terry Nation’s bish-bash-bosh philosophising, which thankfully I was able to avoid first time around. Nevertheless, I’ll be watching the new series to the bittersweet end.”

Pennant Roberts, 28 November 2008

Lorna Lewis comments on the Survivors remake

Lorna Lewis, who played the role of Pet Simpson in series two and three of the original Survivors describes her reaction to the revival of the programme in an interview in Kent News, published on 24 November 2008.

BBC Breakfast news Survivors feature

A 2min-20sec news-story on Survivors was broadcast several times during today’s morning news programme BBC Breakfast on BBC One.

The story featured interviews with cast members including Philip Rhys (Al), Julie Graham (Abby Grant) and Paterson Joseph (Greg Preston); clips from the main BBC promotional trailer; and a brief extract from the opening episode of the original series The Fourth Horseman, focusing on the original Abby Grant – Carolyn Seymour.

Julie Graham, BBC Breakfast, 19 November 2008

SciFiNow – original and new series features

The four-page full-colour guide to the original Survivors (authored by the editor of this blog) which first appeared in the April 2008 of SciFiNow, has been republished in Volume One of the SciFiNow – Timewarp collection, which is now available in newsagents. The 256-page ’special’ [ISBN: 978-1-906078-19-5] retails for £9.99.

The five-page feature on the the new series, which appears in the current issue of SciFiNow (Issue 21) (also written by this blog’s editor), will be available in shops until 27 November (cover price, £4.00).

SciFi Now - 21 and Timewarp Collection Vol 1

BBC confirm artwork for original series DVD set sleeve

With a current release date of 24 November 2008, the BBC has confirmed the artwork for the wraparound sleeve for the three-series, 12-disc complete DVD set of the original Survivors. The set is available for pre-order from the BBC Shop, Amazon.co.uk and other online retailers.

Peter Copley (The Fourth Horseman, 1975) dies aged 93

Respected character actor Peter Copley (who appeared in the role of schoolteacher Dr Bronson in the first episode of Survivors “The Fourth Horseman” in 1975) has died at the age of 93.

Obituaries have appeared in The Guardian and The Telegraph.

Comments have been recorded on Britmovie.co.uk forum and in other online forums.

Survivors: three series DVD boxset released 24 November

A complete three-series DVD boxset of Survivors will be released on the 2-entertain label on 24 November 2008. Previous plans to release a complete box-set of the series were thwarted by the collapse of the DDHE group (which had released each of the three series on DVD in turn between 2003 and 2005).

The set will be available from the usual high-street outlets and online retailers including Amazon and Play.com.

Celia Gregory (Ruth, Survivors, 1976) dies at age of 58

Celia Gregory, who played the role of Ruth the doctor in the second series of Survivors in 1976, has died at the age of 58.

An obituary written by colleagues and collaborators Cherie Lunghi, Allan Corduner and Jan Sagent appears in The Stage. A revised version of The Stage obituary was republished in The Guardian on 26 September.

Comments have been recorded on Britmovie.co.uk forum and in other online forums.

Celia Gregory in Survivors episode Greater Love

Hana Maria Pravda – Emma Cohen in the original series of Survivors – dies

Hana Maria Pravda, who played the character of the elderly Jewish matriach Emma Cohen in seven episodes of the first series of the original Survivors (1975), passed away on 22 May 2008 at the age of 92.

Obituaries discussing Pravda’s remarkable life appeared in The Times and The Stage.

‘Survivors Returns. Probably’ – SFX publicises remake news

Following the publication of the announcement in the Media Guardian on 10 July 2006 of the forthcoming revival of Survivors by the BBC, the story was picked up by SFX magazine No. 147, dated September 2006

The full text of the story was as follows:

Survivors Returns. Probably.

The BBC is in talks to resurrect another ’70s SF show, Survivors. The brainchild of Terry Nation, Survivors lasted three series from 1975 and focused on a post apocalyptic world peopled by survivors of a devastating plague.

It is understood that the BBC wants to make a new series of six hour-long episodes. The project’s being overseen by Beeb producer Sue Hogg. But a deal has yet to be finalised and the BBC is still in negotiations with Nation’s estate.

Although Nation owns the rights to the series, he left after season one, going on to create Blake’s 7.


SFX, No. 147, September 2006.

The Media Guardian story was also covered in Dreamwatch magazine.

‘Survivors Emerge?’ – Dreamwatch publicises remake news

Following the publication of the announcement in the Media Guardian on 10 July 2006 of the forthcoming revival of Survivors by the BBC, the story was picked up by Dreamwatch magazine No. 144, dated September 2006.

The full text of the story was as follows:

Survivors Emerge? Terry Nation’s post-apocalyptic drama eyed for revival by BBC

Cult 1970s’ science fiction show Survivors may be poised to return to TV, with the BBC confirming that it has plans to revive the post-apocalyptic drama.

Survivors was devised by Doctor Who writer Terry Nation, who would later create the BBC space opera Blake’s 7. Running for 38 episodes from 1975 to 1977 the BBC production saw a genetically engineered virus kill 95 per cent of the world’s population. Lucy Fleming, Carolyn Seymour and Ian McCulloch starred as some of the remaining survivors, struggling to maintain humanity.

Creator Terry Nation died from emphysema in 1997. The BBC has now confirmed that it is in talks with his his estate about the possibility of buying the rights to Survivors. This follows the BBC’s successful negotiations with the Nation estate for the use of his villainous creations the Daleks in its hit Doctor Who revival.

The new Survivors project is being developed within the BBC, with the proposed six-episode serial overseen by The Last Train and My Family and Other Animals producer Sue Hogg.


Dreamwatch, No. 144, September 2006

The Media Guardian story was also covered in SFX magazine.

Survivors revival – the original Media Guardian announcement

Confirmation that a new series of Survivors was to be made by the BBC came in a story published in Media Guardian on 10 July 2006.

The full-text of the story was as follows:

BBC set to revive 70s sci-fi show

First came Doctor Who, now the BBC is considering reviving another cult science fiction show from the man who invented the Daleks: Terry Nation’s Survivors.

The BBC has confirmed it is in talks with the estate of Mr Nation, a co-creator of Doctor Who, about buying the rights to his 1975 series centred on a post-apocalyptic world peopled by survivors from a devastating plague.

The BBC is understood to be hoping to make a new series of six 60- minute episodes.

The project is being overseen by inhouse BBC executive producer Sue Hogg and is one of a handful of Doctor Who-related dramas being planned by the corporation.

One imminent drama is Torchwood, based on the fictional alien research centre in Doctor Who, which is currently being filmed.

The BBC is not yet at the casting stage for the Survivors series, which would be dependent on the agreement of the Terry Nation estate.

The original drama was seen through the eyes of two characters – Jenny Richards, a young working woman, and Abby Grant, a middle-class corporate wife living a privileged existence in a nearby commuter village. The women were played by Lucy Fleming and Carolyn Seymour respectively.

The original programme ran for three series and 38 episodes, although Mr Nation left after the first series.

He followed up Survivors with his next BBC sci-fi creation, Blake’s 7, about a ragtag group of criminals on the run from the sinister Terran Federation in a stolen alien spaceship.

Mr Nation, who also invented the Daleks, is regarded as one of the creators of Doctor Who in the early 60s alongside then BBC head of drama Sydney Newman.

The estate of Mr Nation, who died from emphysema in 1997, also jointly owns the copyright to the likeness and characters of the Daleks with the BBC.


A screengrab of the original online story, 10 July 2006

The news was quickly picked up by the sci-fi genre press, including Dreamwatch and SFX.