Category: Survivors

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Original Series 1 Survivors

The Fourth Horseman

Survivors (1970s series)A routine day in Abby Grant’s cozy world starts to unravel slowly. Her son’s school is locked down due to a flu outbreak – only the latest such outbreak in recent weeks – and her husband’s train is delayed by hours due to power outages and rail backups all the way to inner London. In London itself, Jenny Richards tries to get a doctor to make a house call for her ailing roommate, but by the time help arrives, the woman has died. The doctor admits that the fast-spreading disease is not the flu – and that even modern medicine in a major city like London cannot find a cure. He urges Jenny to head for the safety of the country: before long, the inner city will be piled up with the dead, unleashing more diseases that, despite being fairly common, will wipe out those who remain without medical services. Jenny packs her bags and starts making her way out of London. People make their way to churches and other refuges, and fear leads to isolation. Those seeking shelter are turned away; every man, woman and child must fend for themselves. As the disease wipes out much of the world’s population, the facade of civilization melts away.

Abby herself has fallen ill with the disease, and her husband leaves to find a doctor. But while Abby survives her infection, her husband dies. She sets out alone and finds no survivors in her relatively isolated village; the dead pile up in church pews, living rooms, and cars. Abby finally leaves to go retrieve her son from his boarding school, and is almost relieved to find that her son is missing – at least he’s not among the dead. She finds only one man alive on the entire campus, a teacher who reveals that Abby’s son was among a small group of students who were evacuated just before the disease spread through the student body like wildfire. Armed with this information, Abby returns home one last time to prepare for the quest to find her son – and to say goodbye to the life she once knew.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Pennant Roberts
title music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), Peter Bowles (David Grant), Peter Copley (Doctor Bronson), Christopher Reich (Andrew Tyler), Margaret Anderson (Mrs. Transon), Callum Mill (Doctor Gordon), Blake Butler (Mr. Pollard), Elizabeth Sinclair (Patricia), Giles Melville (Kevin Lloyd), Len Jones (First Youth)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

Genesis

Survivors (1970s series)Awakened by the incongruous sound of a helicopter flying overhead, Abby tries to get the pilot’s attention, to no avail. The pilot, Greg Preston, stole the helicopter to rush home from Holland, only to find his wife dead of the plague. He sets out by car and happens upon a woman named Anne Tranter, who’s trying to flag down someone who can help her husband, trapped under a flipped tractor. Once Greg has helped to rescue Anne’s husband, however, he is stunned by her attitude – she’s more concerned with regaining some semblence of material wealth than with trying to rebuild society. Abby’s travels take her to a large country house where Arthur Wormley, a well-known union boss, has set up shop. At first, Wormley’s ideas are attractive: rebuilding society and restoring normalcy. But slowly, Abby realizes that Wormley’s rhetoric is merely a smokescreen to cover for his real motive – a grab for power, forming a new government with himself at the top. When he admits that the spacious house is something that he and his supporters “took over,” and decides that he has the authority to order the execution of anyone who tries to oppose his idea of law and order, Abby leaves quickly. Jenny Richards – still wandering – meets Preston, who is raiding a pharmacy for medicine for Anne Tranter’s husband. But as he races back to help, he finds Anne has already left her husband, claiming he is dead.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Gerald Blake
title music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCullouch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), George Baker (Arthur Wormley), Myra Frances (Anne Tranter), Terry Scully (Vic Thatcher), Brian Peck (Dave Long), Edward Brooks (Colonel), Peter Jolley (First Man)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

Gone Away

Survivors (1970s series)Vagrant Tom Price thought that the plague might actually improve his lot in life – with fewer people alive, he might actually find work. But the plague has drastically recalibrated the scale of what is and isn’t valuable. In this new world, scavenging through a vacant house, Tom finds a huge wad of cash which now has no value whatsoever. The only thing of value that he does find is a shotgun – and live chickens. He shoots one of the chickens, only to see it stolen by another survivor. Tom continues wandering until he happens upon the abandoned property that Abby has decided to use as a base of operations in her search for her son. Abby, however, isn’t there; she’s enlisted the help of Jenny and Greg to go scavenging for more food and supplies at the first store they can find. But while the store has ample supplies, it also has a hanged man on display as a warning to looters. Greg is eager to leave at once, but Abby and Jenny continue “shopping” until a gang of armed thugs appear. Abby recognizes them – Arthur Wormley’s self-appointed mob passing themselves off as the “new government.” Even at gunpoint, Abby refuses to accept their authority as law, and whether she wants to choose sides or not, she has made a new enemy.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Terence Williams
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), Brian Peck (Dave Long), Barry Stanton (Reg Gunnel), Robert Gillespie (John Milner), Robert Fyfe (Phillipson), Graham Fletcher (Boy)

Notes: The dead farm animals seen by Tom may have starved to death, or it may be a subtle hint that the disease has jumped species. If anything is surprising about the survivors’ plight, it is the fact that, with limited space in their scavenging vehicles for food, they manage to keep acquiring an endless supply of cigarettes.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

Corn Dolly

Survivors (1970s series)On the run after Wormley’s men discovered their shelter, Abby, Greg and Jenny encounter another small group of survivors, decidedly more friendly than any of Wormley’s thugs. Their leader, Charles, is open and seems to share Abby’s desire to restart society in simpler, more peaceful terms. Not only does Charles seem to have the same goals as Abby, but joining up with his group would save her the responsibility of personally leading what remains of humanity. Charles’ group seems to have abundant resources, and they’ve already begun planting crops. But when Abby and her friends return to Charles’ commune with him, they find that many of his followers are deathly ill. Abby soon discovers that her definition of mercy, and her ideas for ensuring humanity’s survival, may not be the same things Charles has in mind after all.

written by Jack Ronder
directed by Pennant Roberts
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Denis Lill (Charles), Yvonne Bonnamy (Isla), Annie Hayes (Loraine), Keith Jayne (Mick), June Bolton (Tessa), Maureen Nelson (Woman)

Notes: This episode is the source of much information about the state of post-plague England; the estimated population of the entire island is down to 10,000, and no more than one person from any given immediate family seems to have survived. The domestic cat has also mysteriously vanished in the wake of the disease. It is, however, possible that Charles invented these statistics to make the idea of joining his commune more appealing and urgent.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

Gone To The Angels

Survivors (1970s series)Greg finally breaks down and tries to convince Abby that not only is her search for her son unlikely to produce the result she wants, but it’s preventing her from moving on to her role as a natural leader to rebuild society. But she refuses to give up the search, which takes her back to Peter’s school – where there are both surprising signs of life and signs that things have gotten worse for anyone who stayed behind. Greg and Jenny meet a pair of children who are desperately trying to scrape by, but they’ve met another boy – possibly from Peter’s nearby school – and talk about other children who have “gone to the angels.” Reunited with Abby, they try to find where any survivors from the school could have gone, but instead they discover an unnerved man who’s seen evidence that Arthur Wormley’s movement is gaining momentum.

written by Jack Ronder
directed by Gerald Blake
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Peter Miles (Lincoln), Frederick Hall (Jack), Kenneth Caswell (Robert), Nickolas Grace (Matthew), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

Garland’s War

Survivors (1970s series)Abby and the others follow a lead about a boy spotted nearby, and when the man they speak to calls out to Peter, Abby dares to hope she’s found her son – until the boy turns out to be a different Peter. As Abby retreats to recover from this revelation, Greg and Jenny probe further, learning about a country estate called the Waterhouse where a group of people have banded together to pool their resources. When Abby goes to search for the place, she drives right into a manhunt – a large group of armed men pursuing a man named Garland. He seeks her help, and he has bad news: his pursuers have taken control of the Waterhouse. She’s disturbed when Garland confesses that he’s enjoying the post-plague lifestyle – his survivalist hobby has now turned into an excitingly risky way of life for him. Garland goes to secure new transport to replace Abby’s damaged vehicle, and in his absence, she’s captured by men from the Waterhouse. They paint an entirely different picture of Garland’s activities, and in any case, both Garland and the men occupying the Waterhouse seem more than happy to make it a fight to the death…and Abby is trapped in the middle.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Terence Williams
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Richard Heffer (Jimmy Garland), Peter Jeffrey (Knox), Dennis Chinnery (John Carroll), Robert Oates (Harris), David G. March (Bates), Michael Jamieson (Ken), Susanna East (Betty), Roger Elliott (Sentry), Steve Fletcher (Peter), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

Starvation

Survivors (1970s series)Two women have found each other in the aftermath of the plague, forming a close bond – and something of a dependency. The younger woman, Wendy, forages for food for both of them, but has no hunting skills, while the older woman’s home provides shelter for both. Wendy ventures out to search for food and has the misfortune to meet Tom Price. Still a vagrant after leaving Wormley’s movement, he’s become a self-proclaimed “procurement” expert – he gets what people need, and they give him something he needs in exchange. There’s something very specific he wants from Wendy in exchange for food, but he soon finds out that she’s not willing to negotiate for that. Abby leaves her traveling companions to defend the old woman from a pack of feral dogs, until Tom – still on Wendy’s trail – finds the house and holds them at gunpoint. In the meantime, Greg and Jenny may have discovered an abandoned country estate that could well serve as a permanent base of operations.

written by Jack Ronder
directed by Pennant Roberts
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), John Hallett (Barney), Julie Neubert (Wendy), Hana-Maria Pravda (Emma Cohen), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

Spoil Of War

Survivors (1970s series)Settled into the easily defendable, castle-like estate, the survivors begin trying to grow their own food. A man named Paul approaches them outside, offering his expertise in working the land… and marveling at the fact that the city-dwellers are surviving at all with what little farming experience they have. Greg remembers his encounter with a couple in a rock quarry, and recalls that their caravan – almost certainly abandoned by now – was stocked with a number of things that could be planted and grown. He dispatches Tom Price to retrieve this stash, but Price fails to return at the appointed hour; instead of Price’s van, another vehicle approaches, containing businessman Arthur Russell and his overworked secretary, upon whom he seems to depend for everything even in the wake of the plague. The survivors do, in fact, need Paul’s help, and the supplies from the quarry… which aren’t as abandoned as Greg thinks.

written by M.K. Jeeves
directed by Gerald Blake
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Terry Scully (Vic Thatcher), Hana-Maria Pravda (Emma Cohen), Julie Neubert (Wendy), John Hallett (Barney), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

Notes: The quarry was last seen in the second episode of the series, Genesis. Though the most common usage of the phrase is “spoils of war” – indeed, Tom Price even says that in the course of the story – the title of the episode is indeed Spoil Of War.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

Law And Order

Survivors (1970s series)With her community having suddenly accumulated so many people – Paul, Arthur Russell and Charmian, simple-minded Barney, Tom Price (again), the children, Wendy and Mrs. Cohen, and the crippled Vic Thatcher – Abby finds herself in charge of a disharmonious group. She attempts to set some ground rules for living in the burgeoning community but meets some resistance; to ease the tension a bit, Abby decides to throw a party, even going so far as to break out some of the wine that Vic had stashed in his caravan.

The next morning, Wendy is found dead, brutally murdered. Now Abby has to find a murderer in the midst of her community – suspects must be singled out and questioned, and a verdict much be reached, voted on by everyone else. And then the group must decide what action to take against the guilty party, up to and including a death penalty. But can a unanimous jury be found within the already-fractious group?

written by M.K. Jeeves
directed by Pennant Roberts
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), John Hallett (Barney), Julie Neubert (Wendy), Hana-Maria Pravda (Emma Cohen), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

Notes: This rather shocking episode is, perhaps, more startling for what it implies than for what it makes explicit. No one ever states it directly, but it is strongly implied that Wendy has been raped as well as murdered. There’s also a question left hanging over whether or not the guilty party is a serial rapist, an incredibly dark subject for prime time TV on either side of the Atlantic in 1975.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

The Future Hour

Survivors (1970s series)Abby’s commune isn’t the only organized pocket of civilization trying to rebuild. Greg and Paul discover a convoy of vehicles under the command of Bernard Huxley, who has hoarded various consumables into trailers with the hope that currency will make a comeback – and make him a rich man. As strange as Huxley’s ideas are, he and his men are determined to protect his property, and he counts among that his pregnant wife, who’s actually trying to escape from him. When she comes to Abby to seek a place to hide, it puts Abby’s group of survivors in Huxley’s line of fire, and he’ll stop at nothing to recover what he firmly believes is his.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Terence Williams
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Glyn Owen (Bernard Huxley), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), Hana-Maria Pravda (Emma Cohen), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Terry Scully (Vic Thatcher), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Caroline Burt (Laura Foster), James Hayes (Phil), Denis Lawson (Norman), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie), Stephen Dudley (John)

Notes: This episode sees the demise of series regular Talfryn Thomas as Tom Price, tying off the loose ends from the previous episode, though it’s surprising that Price was allowed to remain with Abby’s group, and even more surprising that anyone was willing to allow him to be armed. Guest star Denis Lawson would later find cult fame as Wedge Antilles, the luckiest X-Wing pilot in the history of the Star Wars franchise.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

Revenge

Survivors (1970s series)Having grown more isolated as the rest of the survivors work toward the harvest, Vic – confined by his crippled legs to a rolling office chair – attempts suicide. Greg and Paul continue searching through the rooms of the Grange, eventually finding a real wheelchair for Vic, as well as a wealth of books that could help to formalize Vic’s role as the settlement’s unofficial teacher. A tanker truck full of gasoline arrives, occupied by two more refugees from the more populated parts of England – one of whom is Anne, the woman who left Vic for dead at the first opportunity. She and Greg recognize each other on sight, and Greg informs her that Vic is still alive. When Vic learns of Anne’s return, he becomes obsessed with seeing her – but is he plotting revenge or rapproachment?

written by Jack Ronder
directed by Gerald Blake
music by Anthony Isaac

SurvivorsCast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Hugh Walters (Vic Thatcher), Myra Frances (Anne Tranter), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Hana-Maria Pravda (Emma Cohen), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie), Stephen Dudley (John), Robert Tayman (Donny)

Notes: Hugh Walters – known to Doctor Who fans as Time Lord roving reporter Runcible – takes over the part of Vic for the remainder of the character’s appearances.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

Something Of Value

Survivors (1970s series)A stranger shows up at the Grange, introduces himself, stays for dinner, and then sneaks out under cover of night during a downpouring rain. The rain floods the Grange’s basement and its garden, wiping out most of the survivors’ food stock. With Donny’s tanker of fuel still on hand, however, they have something that’s as good as currency for trading – perhaps the only thing that really matters aside from food. Little do they know that the mysterious visitor was an advance scout for a smaller group of survivors who will stop at nothing to get the fuel for themselves, whether it means taking hostages or committing murder.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Terence Williams
music by Anthony Isaac

SurvivorsCast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Matthew Long (Robert Lawson), Murray Hayne (Jim Buckmaster), Paul Chapman (Thorpe), Hana-Maria Pravda (Mrs. Cohen), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie), Stephen Dudley (John)

Notes: Donny is not seen in the episode, so it’s uncertain whether or not he remained at the Grange or left with Anne Tranter (who seemed to leave alone in the previous episode).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

A Beginning

Survivors (1970s series)A trade with another settlement – some of the gasoline from Donny’s tanker for seed – turns disastrous when the seed proves to be useless. Open dissent breaks out among the survivors, and Abby has had her fill of having to make all the decisions. Another group of plague survivors appears, though they have one seriously ill woman with them, and bear a warning about a more aggressive group of survivors beginning to chase smaller groups off of their own land. The woman’s illness forces Greg to consider the safety of the rest of his group and deny them access to the Grange. When the new group leaves, however, they leave the sick woman near the Grange to die on her own; Greg advocates letting her do precisely that, while Abby decides to take her in instead. A serious disagreement erupts, and this time Abby opts to leave the Grange; after several hours of walking, she encounters survivalist Jimmy Garland, still thriving in the post-plague world, and he takes her in for the night. Greg, Arthur and Paul decide to reach out to other nearby settlements and groups, even the Waterhouse, to form a mutual defense pact. As she recovers, the sick woman reveals that she has met a boy named Peter Grant.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Pennant Roberts
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Hana-Maria Pravda (Mrs. Cohen), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Hugh Walters (Vic Thatcher), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Richard Heffer (Jimmy Garland), Harry Markham (Burton), Annie Irving (Ruth), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

SurvivorsNotes: This is Carolyn Seymour’s last appearance in Survivors; in a Survivors-focused episode of the BBC’s retrospective series The Cult Of…, Seymour reveals that she was struggling with alcoholism during the making of the first series. She went on to appear in Space: 1999, a few guest shots on Quantum Leap as Zoey, the hologram advisor of the “Evil Leaper” from the show’s later seasons, three episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (Contagion, First Contact, Face Of The Enemy), Babylon 5, and a brief stint in what was intended to be a recurring role in Star Trek: Voyager (Cathexis, Persistence Of Vision), among many, many other appearances and video game voice-over roles. Jimmy Garland and the Waterhouse were last seen in Garland’s War.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Remake Series 1 Survivors

Episode 1

Survivors (1970s series)A routine day in Abby Grant’s cozy world starts to unravel slowly. Her son is away with friends as news of an unprecedented virulent flu outbreak grips the UK. As news – and evidence – of the spreading flu worsens, some people grow panicked while others sink into their own oblivion. Abby falls ill and her husband desperately tries to nurse her back to health while the medical and emergency services are overwhelmed. Convicted killer Tom Price sees the spreading sickness as an opportunity to shorten his 20+ year sentence, while millionaire playboy Al Sadiq ignores the news as best he can…until he wakes up in his penthouse, his latest conquest having died of the virus overnight. The virus isn’t limited to England, and soon modern conveniences are a thing of the past. Power stations and other critical services are disrupted because the people manning them have died. Overnight, the human race is reduced to foraging for its survival.

It’s into this world that Abby awakens three days after she falls ill. Her husband has died in that time, as has everyone in her neighborhood. With phone service gone, she has no way to check on her son, and so she sets out to find him. Along the way, she runs into Greg Preston, who seems to have very clear ideas on what he’ll have to do to survive, and has stocked up on fuel, food and other necessities. They soon encounter more survivors, including a disheartened doctor named Anya Raczynski, and the unlikely pair of Al Sadiq and an 11-year-old orphan, Najid. Tom Price, having murdered his last surviving jailer to escape, is also a survivor – though no one yet knows what he is capable of.

written by Adrian Hodges
based on the novel by Terry Nation
directed by John Alexander
music by Edmund Butt

Cast: Julie Graham (Abby Grant), Shaun Dingwall (David Grant), Joanne Rowden (Linda Pope), Matt Lanigan (Joe Pope), Freema Agyeman (Jenny Walsh), Amber Herod (Tina Styles), Guy Hargreaves (Mr. Styles), Christine Anderson (Marion Sturges), Max Beesley (Tom Price), Tim Dantay (Gary Wilson), Joe Jacobs (Tony Coyne), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Samantha Willis), Jamie Belman (Mark Carter), Flo Wilson (Helen Crawley), Trevor Dwyer-Lynch (Driver at petrol station), Phillip Rhys (Aalim “Al” Sadiq), Sophia Di Martino (Simone), Bryony Afferson (Patricia Kelly), Zoe Tapper (Anya Raczynski), Hazel Cadman (Hospital Receptionist), Ian Champion (Journalist 1), Sagar Arya (Journalist 2), Tom Lloyd-Roberts (Sir Brian Tilston), Geoffrey Kirkness (General Mike Stone), Rohit Gokani (Najid’s Father), Chahak Patel (Najid Harif), Francis Magee (Callum Brown), Robert Boulter (Neil), Sophie McShera (Cathy), Paterson Joseph (Greg Preston), Jimmy Allen (Man at petrol station), Nicholas Gleaves (Whitaker), Ronny Jhutti (Sami Masood)

Notes: Though it’s the equivalent of The Fourth Horseman, the first episode of the original Survivors series, this untitled pilot of the new series subtracts and adds numerous characters and changes many of the details in the name of modernizing the story. Oddly, the writers’ credit for the pilot only credits Survivors creator Terry Nation for his novel, which was in fact a novelization of the original series; as such, writer and executive producer Adrian Hodges is credited as the show’s creator. Both Shaun Dingwall and Freema Agyeman had recently appeared in Doctor Who, and much was made of their appearances in Survivors, though neither of their characters survive this episode; Paterson Joseph – who had appeared in the first season finale of the new Doctor Who – was also a hot topic as Survivors premiered, as many considered him a likely contender for the role of the Doctor, which David Tennant had recently announced he would be vacating. Another Doctor Who universe veteran prominent in the first season is Nikki Amuka-Bird, who also appeared in the second season of Torchwood.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Audio Series Survivors

Revelation

SurvivorsAn unusually potent winter flu has swept across the British population, leaving classrooms mostly empty and businesses struggling to operate. American attorney Maddie Price finds that she can no longer simply hop on a plane back to Chicago, while reporter Daniel Connor confers with his co-worker and acting editor, Helen, about how best to cover the growing crisis. A low-level government official, Redgrave, confides to Maddie that the spread of the illness is worse – becoming fatal for some – and flights to America (or, for that matter, anywhere else) won’t be resuming anytime soon). Jaded Professor Gillison finds himself giving pre-Christmas-break refresher lectures in sociology to a classroom nearly empty of students. When Helen becomes increasingly sick, Daniel tries to take her home, only to find that her husband and children are dead. Daniel finds every excuse he can to avoid telling her and decides to try to get her to a hospital, but London traffic has come to a standstill; Helen herself dies before Daniel can get her help. Maddie and Redgrave make their way to the airport control tower, now abandoned, to try to get a message out to any other survivors of the plague who may be listening. Similarly, Gillison commandeers the campus radio transmitter to attempt reaching out to others. Daniel, alone, powers up his tape recorder and begins recording events as they unfold.

None of them know if they’ll ever hear another human voice again.

Order this CDwritten by Matt Fitton
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Nicholas Briggs

Cast: John Banks (Daniel Connor), Louise Jameson (Jackie Burchall), Sinead Keenan (Susie Edwards), Caroline Langrishe (Helen Wiseman), Adrian Lukis (James Gillison), Chase Masterson (Maddie Price), Terry Molloy (John Redgrave), Camilla Power (Fiona Bell), Phil Mulryne (Pnil Bailey), San Shella (Sayed)

Notes: Based on Terry Nation’s cult classic mid-1970s series about a plague sweeping through the human population and leaving few survivors, Big Finish’s audio series populates its cast with original characters who bump into the original TV characters as their stories unfold. The technology referenced in dialogue still dates the story to the 1970s. This first installment features none of the original TV characters.

LogBook entry by Earl Green