In the UK, The Walking Dead is broadcast on the FX channel, and – in synch with the US – current transmission has paused at a ‘mid-season finale’ point, seven episodes in. The Walking Dead returns to UK screens shortly after the US broadcast recommences in February 2012.

The Walking Dead

Entitled ‘Death of Our City’, the exhibition showcases several striking images of an imaginary future Manchester in ruins.

The Go See This in Manchester site reports:

Featuring many of Manchester’s iconic buildings and landmarks, the show is a haunting, unnerving and photorealistic collection of images created by a fusion of traditional painting techniques, photography and new media.

“Trying to maintain a degree of realism was essential as I wanted the audience to be absorbed into that reality” explains Chadderton. “The focus was to provide images of iconic areas of Manchester such as Urbis and The Palace Theatre in a derelict and eroded state as if involved in an apocalyptic event that somehow left the city lifeless and dissolving over potentially hundreds of years.”

Several selected pieces from the exhibition are viewable in an online gallery on the BBC News site.

The exhibition continues until 4 January 2012.

The Death of Our City

Those scheduled to appear were:

* Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston, S1-S3)
* Myra Francis (Anne Tranter, S1)
* James Cosmo (Lenny Carter, The Chosen, S2)
* Roger Lloyd Pack (Wally, Lights of London S2)
* Philip Madoc (Max Kershaw, The Chosen, S2)

Roger Lloyd Pack is unique is being the only actor from the original series of Survivors to appear in the revival of the series. Lloyd Pack appeared as villainous truck driver Billy Stringer in episodes three and four of series two of the new Survivors.

No specific Survivors panel or event had been arranged, and the appearance of such a large number of Survivors alumni (all of whom have a large number of other genre credentials to their name) seems to have been entirely co-incidental.

Individual sets of series one and series two were released on 27 April 2011, and a two series box-set released on 19 October 2011.

All three releases offer a dubbed French (along the original English) soundtrack and French subtitles, and have the additional French title of Les Survivants De L’Apocalypse (‘Survivors of the apocalypse’).

The Koba Films release is the only example so far of a second language release for Survivors. The French editions are widely available through European DVD retailers (alongside the original English-language Region 2 2-entertain release).

The UK FX site for the show announced:

The critically acclaimed series The Walking Dead returns to UK screens this October for its gripping second season. Last season left us nailed to our seats as the survivors of the zombie apocalypse fled an epic explosion at the CDC. As we enter the new season the survivors must make their way out of Atlanta to escape the tribe of ‘walkers’ that have taken over the city. But with the stakes even higher, what new problems will they face in their fight for survival?

The seven-episode second series continues on FX in the UK on Fridays at 10pm.

Baker enjoyed a long and varied career on the big and small screen, and in the latter part of his career became best known for playing the lead role in the Ruth Rendell Inspector Wexford detective series.

Genesis was written by series creator Terry Nation, and the character of Wormley appears in the 1976 Survivors novel which Nation also wrote. In the 2008-10 remake of Survivors (developed from Nation’s novel) the character of Wormley was reinvented in the guise of junior government minister Samantha Wills (played by Nikki-Amuka Bird) who appeared as a recurring character in both series.

Obituaries for Baker appear in The Guardian and other newspapers, and on the BBC News site.

Brought to the screen by executive producer Steven Spielberg and Robert Rodat (scriptwriter for Saving Private Ryan), Falling Skies is set six-months after the planet has been devastated by an alien invasion. Human civilisation has been destroyed and, in the ruins of their old world, the remaining survivors are locked in a desperate guerilla war against the invader; detemined to secure the survival of the human race and to repel the aggressors from Earth.

Starring Noah Wyle, Moon Bloodgood and Drew Roy, Falling Skies is produced for the TNT cable network. The pilot episode was shot in 2009, and after the series was commissioned the remaining episodes of the first season were shot in 2010.

Falling Skies premiered on the TNT network in the US on June 19 2011, where the opening episode secured some 8m viewers. In the UK, Falling Skies is being shown on the FX channel, with the opening episodes shown on 5 July.

More details, behind-the-scenes information and clips can be found on the show’s official web site; and on the UK FX Falling Skies site.

Amongst an online collection of samples of Butt’s work are two extracts from his Survivors score – Survivors – Sacrifice (2m, 46s) and Survivors – Anarchy (1m, 35s), in streaming MP3 format.

There is no sign at present of the theme and collection of incidental music from Survivors being prepared for commercial release.

Thanks to Adrian H for alerting the blog to this