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The BBC's revival of the classic 1970s post-apocalyptic drama by Terry Nation

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Survivors: A World Away

Survivors: A World Away

Worlds Apart

From Classic TV Press -
The Unofficial and Unauthorised guide to the BBC's remake of Survivors - by Rich Cross

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Survivors (2008-2010)

Survivors is a two series (twelve episode) post-apocalyptic TV drama broadcast on BBC One and the BBC HD channel between November 2008 and February 2010. The BBC declined to commission a third series.

Brought to the screen by showrunner (and lead script writer) Adrian Hodges, the programme was a 're-imagining' of the classic end-of-the-world drama Survivors, devised by Terry Nation shown on BBC1 between 1975 and 1977, and drew its initial inspiration from Nation's 1976 Survivors novel.

All three series of the original Survivors and both series of the new Survivors are available for purchase on Region 1 and Region 2 DVD.

Both series of the new Survivors are also available for purchase through iTunes.

The cancelled show attracted renewed audience interest in the US, when both series one and series two of Survivors were licenced by the Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and Hulu service streaming services.

In the UK, in 2012, the BT Vision service began to offer both series for streaming download, as part of its range of TV channel packages and on a pay-per-episode basis.

An unofficial guidebook to the original Survivors was published in 2005. An unofficial guidebook to the new Survivors was published in 2010.

In July 2013, audio-drama publishers Big Finish announced that they would be producing collections of new audio dramas based on the original (1975-1977) Survivors. The first series of new Survivors audio adventures was released (on CD and as a digital download) in June 2014.

Following an extremely positive reception, a further two series of Survivors audios were commissioned in 2014; with series two released in June 2015, and series three following in November 2015.

An audio-book of the 1976 Survivors novel (on which the 2008-2010 remake of Survivors is based), voiced by Carolyn Seymour (who played Abby Grant in the 1975 TV series) was released by Big Finish productions in December 2014.

In April 2015, series four and series five of these new Big Finish Survivors audio adventures were commissioned, for release in June 2016 and November 2016. Series six, seven and eight were released by the close of 2018, with the final ninth series being released in June 2019.

Survivors: A World Away blog

Survivors feature in November SFX October 10, 2020
A FOUR-PAGE FEATURE on Survivors, that includes comments from Carolyn Seymour, Lucy Fleming and Ian McCulloch, appears in the November issue of SFX magazine. Written by Steve O’Brien, who’s recently published articles on the 2008-10 Survivors remake in The Guardian and SFX, the piece attempts to summarise the history of the original series forty-five years … […]
Survivors on Britbox September 17, 2020
FROM TODAY ALL three series of Survivors are available to stream, and to download for offline viewing, from the subscription-based and ad-free Britbox service. Britbox is a recent collaboration between the BBC and ITV which brings together archive, classic and contemporary television programmes from both services’ catalogues. Back in the 1970s, the BBC scree […]
Survivors remake retrospective in SFX magazine August 3, 2020
THE AUGUST 2020 edition of SFX magazine features a six-page retrospective feature on Adrian Hodges’ 2008-10 remake of Survivors. The article includes recollections and reminiscences from Hodges, Paterson Joseph (Greg Preston), Julie Graham (Abby Grant) and Robyn Addison (Sarah Boyer). It’s clear from the feature that Hodges’ disappointment at the abrupt canc […]
Carolyn Seymour joins online Star Trek Q&A session July 14, 2020
CAROLYN SEYMOUR (ABBY Grant) will join a three-person panel for an online Star Trek question-and-answer session on 15 July. Hosted by Wizard World Virtual Experiences, Seymour will appear alongside fellow Star Trek cast members Anthony Montgomery and Alan Van Sprang for an hour-long web session, starting at 21:00 UK time. The session will be free … Continue […]
Hampton Court, Herefordshire reopens to visitors July 6, 2020
HAMPTON COURT IN Herefordshire, the main filming location for the last seven episodes of the first series of Survivors and a regular travel destination for fans of the show, re-opens to visitors on Wednesday 8 July 2020. Hampton Court estate has been closed to public access during the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions that were imposed towards … Continue readin […]
New study of performance and production in Survivors July 4, 2020
A NEW BOOK which examines the way in which actors perform in television drama, and the way in which their performance is captured by the camera, uses Survivors as one of its illuminating case studies. In The Changing Spaces of Television Acting: From studio realism to location realism in BBC television drama, author and researcher … Continue reading "Ne […]
Original series discussed in Guardian article on Survivors remake May 28, 2020
“I COULDN’T WATCH that first season again. It’s too harrowing,” says Adrian Hodges of the remake of Survivors shown on BBC One in 2008. “It’s so close to what we’re going through now.” In an interview in the Guardian, with genre journalist Steve O’Brien, Hodges looks back at the reception and impact of his remake … Continue reading "Original series disc […]
Lucy Fleming reads ‘Posting’ letter on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme May 4, 2020
LUCY FLEMING READ an extract from a letter that her mother Celia Johnson sent to her father Peter Fleming just after VE Day on BBC Radio 4’s flagship news progamme Today this morning (4 May 2020). The Today show is featuring a number of different readings this week, as part of the wider BBC shedule … Continue reading "Lucy Fleming reads ‘Posting’ letter […]
Entertainment Focus enjoys a full rewatch of Survivors May 2, 2020
TWO JOURNALISTS FROM Entertainment Focus have recently been enjoying a full rewatch of all 38 episodes of Survivors from all three series of the show, and sharing their thoughts, criticisms and observations in a series of linked articles in the online magazine. Good-humoured, interesting, sometimes contentious, but usually well-informed, Greg Jameson and Sam […]
Carolyn Seymour joins New Counter-Measures audios April 29, 2020
CAROLYN SEYMOUR RETURNS to the world of Big Finish audios, in two adventures from The New Counter-Measures series that have just been released. These two instalments were recorded back in June 2019, several months after the completion of Seymour’s work on the ninth and final series of Survivors audio box sets. Seymour reprises the role … Continue reading […]

New series links

BBC Survivors mini-site
Classic TV Press
IMDb: Survivors
Wikipedia: Survivors

Original series links

Survivors: A World Away
Survivors: Mad Dog
Survivorstvseries

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Recent comments

Comment on SFX reflects on the Survivors remake with cast and crew by dtasker72
I loved this, I have it and keep it and watch it once or twice a year. One of long time favourites I was so disappointed when it was cancelled.
dtasker72
Comment on Why was Survivors cancelled after two series? by Melvyn Exton
Melv exton.it is not the only time the bbc have done this they didn’t finish the original 1970s survivors with ian macculloch either i found the new version better and different and am sure someone out there could finish off the series with the original actors and make a success of it.
Melvyn Exton
Comment on Why was Survivors cancelled after two series? by Tim Lister
This never would've happened now. BBC1's "flagship" sci-fi show Doctor Who regularly gets under 4 million viewers and remains on the air. They should've just moved it to BBC2 and reduced the budget or number of episodes.
Tim Lister
Comment on Why was Survivors cancelled after two series? by Neil Harrison
I watched the original series as a teenager in the mid 70's which was excellent ... The 2008 & 2010 series even better ... I'm not really much of a sci-fi fan at all, but I'd go as far as saying this is one of the best series the BBC have ever made. The decision to pull the 3rd series with so many open ends was pretty disgraceful and whoev […]
Neil Harrison
Comment on Why was Survivors cancelled after two series? by Ken Bolton
In reply to Carol Fitzgerald. BBC is now run by s low caliber lot who seem to think people want to watch rubbish like Eastenders, Pointless and Victoria Derbyshire. What a waste of taxpayers money they are. Series 3 should have been made and BBC really doesn’t really have an excuse for not doing so. BBC needs a change of staff
Ken Bolton
Comment on Survivors remake episode three series two was broadcast ten years ago today by thesentinel2012
An interesting connection with Roger Lloyd-Pack appearing in both versions of Survivors. But there weren't actually many connections between the two versions, even when the same character names were used. Max Beesley played the hardened criminal convincingly, but it was a completely different character to the one played by Talfryn Thomas. In the origina […]
thesentinel2012
Comment on Why was Survivors cancelled after two series? by Jason Harris
Found Survivors remake, thoroughly enjoyed story / characters and acting. Cliff hanger S2. Everyone’s favourite apocalyptic sociopath, good ol’ Tom steals aboard plane to save Aryn .... no Season 3. Come on. It was a great premise (revisited) and you don’t even wrap it up. Very disappointed.
Jason Harris
Comment on Why was Survivors cancelled after two series? by Carol Fitzgerald
Do a third season and put it on net flix, you tube etc. It will be watched.
Carol Fitzgerald
Comment on Why was Survivors cancelled after two series? by Heather Latham
Totally agree with John Melville , we are left with no logical ending , and it was a well acted series and people wanted more stories and they should have finished with a film at the end if they didn’t want another series , to tie up loose ends ..
Heather Latham
Comment on Survivors remake series one finale was broadcast ten years ago this week by Janet Johnson
I was looking for it on Netflix today, where I had already watched it twice, and it was gone. This really was one of the best TV shows for me; still sad they cancelled it. Can't afford the DVDs but may buy them anyway!
Janet Johnson

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Recent Posts

SFX reflects on the Survivors remake with cast and crew
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