Category: Cast interviews

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.

Julie Graham interview – Sunday People

In an article entitled ‘Apocalypse? Wow!’ in the Sunday People (7 December 2008), Jon Wise interviews Survivors actress Julie Graham, who describes her work on the show, along with her attitudes to family, relationships, children and the vagaries of the acting profession.

***SPOILER*** In the article, Graham reveals a plot development in an upcoming episode.

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

Max Beesley interview – TV & Satellite Week

A one page interview with Survivors actor Max Beesley (Tom Price) appears in the new issue of TV & Satellite Week (6-12 December).

Asked about the likelihood of a second series for the show, says Beesley:

I hope so, and I’ll be surprised if there isn’t. The stories are interesting and people are really going to buy into the concept.

BBC launches Survivors Interactive

The BBC Survivors web site has launched Survivors Interactive. This new site (which requires Flash software, and which seems to work far better in Internet Explorer than Firefox) includes interviews with actors; clips from the programme; and original in-character pieces-to-camera. The interactive component is based on visitors selecting characters from the show and then answering either/or dilemma-based questions, which are then profiled into survivor ‘types’ as they ‘journey’ through the post-plague environment.

BBC Survivors interactive
BBC Survivors interactive

BBC adds video content to Survivors web site

New video content has been added to the BBC Survivors web site, including:

  1. Episode one extract: ‘Abby searches for son Peter in the aftermath of the deadly viral attack’
  2. Interview: ‘Actor Chanak Patel tells us why Najid’s faith is important to him
  3. Context feature: ‘Ecologist Joaquin Hortal gives us expert advice on how to survive a disaster’

What’s On TV web site – Survivors photos and video interviews

The web site of the What’s On TV listing magazine, includes a Survivors section, featuring a gallery of publicity photos and short new video interviews with Julie Graham, Zoe Tapper and Philip Rhys and Chahak Patel, (follow the link under the Latest Video heading to launch the video pop-up).

The interview is also available through the What’s On TV YouTube channel:

Many thanks to Adrian Hulme for alerting me to this content, and for all his continuing help with tracking down Survivors sources in print and on the web.

BBC Newsbeat site: Survivors preview

The BBC Newsbeat web site is offering a Survivors preview page. The feature ‘Bleak’ Survivors back on BBC includes a brief on-location video report, clearly shot on the same day that the BBC North West Inside Out Survivors report was filmed.

Zoe Tapper on Newsbeat's Survivors preview
Zoe Tapper on Newsbeat's Survivors preview

Sky TV interview with Julie Graham

A brief interview with Julie Graham has been added to the Sky TV web site.

The feature also features promotional stills and brief interview quotations from all the main cast members.

Sky TV interview with Julie Graham
Sky TV interview with Julie Graham

Digital Spy: five more cast interviews from the BBC Features day

The Digital Spy website has added five more video-interviews with Survivors cast members recorded at the BBC Features press day in London in September.

Featured in the interviews are: Paterson Joseph (Greg Preston); Shaun Dingwall (David Grant); Zoe Tapper (Anya); Nikki Amuka-Bird ; and Phillips Rhys (Al) & Chahak Patel (Najid).

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
Julie Graham, BBC Breakfast, 19 November 2008

TV guides promote Sunday’s first episode of Survivors

All of the main (and most of the minor) highstreet TV listings magazines (which are published today) feature promotional materials on Survivors ahead of the transmission of the first two episodes of the new series next week.

The features on offer include:

  • Radio Times: ‘Fight to Survive’, (pp.20-24)
  • Total TV Guide: ‘Grave new world’, (pp.4-5)
  • TV & Satellite Week: ‘Survival of the fittest’, (pp.12-13)
  • TV Choice: ‘Survival of the Fittest’, (pp.6-7)
  • TV Easy: ‘Deadly drama!’, (p.5)
  • TV Quick: ‘It’s the end of the world’, (pp.16-17)
  • TV Times: ‘Life after death’, (pp.16-17)
  • What’s On TV: ‘Killer Virus’, (p.15)

Total TV Guide is the only magazine to feature Survivors as its main cover photo.

Total TV Guide, 22-28 November 2008
Total TV Guide, 22-28 November 2008

Radio Times – Survivors features, but not as the cover shot

The new Radio Times (for week beginning 22 November) includes an illustrated feature on the new Survivors – although the programme has lost out as the main cover feature to the David Tennant-starring Einstein and Eddington drama.

Radio Times, 22 November 2008
Radio Times, 22 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
SciFi Now - 21 and Timewarp Collection Vol 1

DeathRay – Survivors feature

The Winter 2008 edition of DeathRay magazine (which is now publishing quarterly rather than monthly) includes a six-page feature on Survivors.

‘At World’s End’, by Thom Hutchinson, includes interview material from Julie Graham, Shaun Dingwall, Paterson Joseph, Zoe Tapper, Phillip Rhys, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Chahak Patel, and showrunner Adrian Hodges, and is illustrated with BBC stills.

DeathRay, Winter 2008
DeathRay, Winter 2008

Independent: Survivors feature, 12 November 2008

The 12 November edition of the Independent includes the article Survivors: the classic TV saga returns, which features interview quotations from Adrian Hodges, Julie Graham, Nikki Amuka-Bird and producer Hugh Warren.

***SPOILER*** This article mentions a significant plot event which occurs in the first episode, although it does not name the character that it effects.

Independent 12 November 2008 Survivors feature
Independent 12 November 2008 Survivors feature

Inside Out North West: Survivors feature

The 12 November 2008 edition of the regional BBC programme Inside Out – North West includes a nine-minute feature on the new Survivors.

The report features brief footage of the production team recording on location, and on-set interviews with Patterson Joseph (Greg Preston), Max Beesley (Tom Price), Nikki Amuka–Bird (Samantha Willis), Phillip Rhys (Al Sadiq) and Julie Graham (Abby Grant). It also includes several clips from the first episode.

This edition of Inside Out – North West will be available on the BBC’s iPlayer service for seven days following transmission.

Paterson Joseph on Inside Out (North West)
Paterson Joseph on Inside Out (North West)

The programme was previewed on the BBC’s Inside Out – North West web site.