TELEVISION VIEWERS of a certain age will likely remember the chilling BBC drama from the 1970s Survivors – a glum and apocalyptic tale of a post-epidemic Britain where the few suvivors of a lethal flu outbreak are forced to face an uncertain future together.
Well, the show is back, set in the present day and currently airing Saturdays on BBC America. The new Survivors focuses on the world in the aftermath of a virus where only a lonely few are left to start over in a devastated world where everything that was once safe and familiar is now strange and dangerous.
In the middle of the story is a bewildered but resilient group of survivors led by Abby Grant, a woman whose strength comes from a burning need to find out if her young son is still alive. Other members of the group include Greg (a good man who hides the pain of his past), Anya (a doctor who has seen too many people die) and Al, a former playboy who becomes surrogate father to streetwise urchin Najid. Then there is Tom, outwardly handsome and charming, but actually a dangerous and ruthless man who, unbeknown to the others, was a high-security prisoner before the virus hit.
This brave new world brings an opportunity for new beginnings, but also terrible dangers – not just the daily struggle for food and water, but also a deadly threat from other survivors. The cast includes Julie Graham as Abby Grant, Paterson Joseph as Greg, Freema Agyeman as Jenny, Max Beesley as Tom Price, Phillip Rhys as Al, Zoë Tapper as Anya, Nikki Amuka–Bird as Samantha Willis, Shaun Dingwall as David and newcomer Chahak Patel as 11-year-old Najid.
“Survivors is about what it means to be human,” says award-winning writer and executive producer Adrian Hodges (co-creator and writer of Primeval). “It asks questions about our nature and confronts us with our deepest fears. When everything else is stripped away, would we band together and find the best in ourselves, or would we fall apart and retreat into barbarism and savagery?”
Hodges adds: “Survivors is about adventure, fear, love, loyalty and friendship. But above all, it’s about new hope.”
Survivors, Saturdays at 8pm on BBC America.
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