On April 27, BBC Video released DVD sets of the 2008 television series remake Survivors which recently aired here in the U.S. on BBC America as well as the original series from the 1970’s. Both sets are full of content.
I admit when starting this review I’ve barely scratched the surface of the original Survivors DVD. This three-season show, which ran from 1975-77, consists of over 30 hours of content. I’m going to be going through this for the next few weeks. I will say from what I have seen, though, is that it’s very interesting to me. I hadn’t seen any British television drama of that era beyond Doctor Who. And of course, creator Terry Nation became famous from Doctor Who, where he created the Daleks. Director Pennant Roberts and producer Terence Dudley also ended up working on Who eventually.
The best extra on the original series set is a documentary-style featurette interviewing cast and crew from the original series.
One might argue that Terry Nation had done post-apocalyptic type stories before; Doctor Who‘s “Dalek Invasion of Earth” with its empty streets especially surely informed both this and the 2008 remake series. Nation departed after the first season (or “series”) and other cast members found their way out by series’ end.
The pacing is definitely different than what I’m used to as an American viewer whose idea of 1970’s TV is the original Rockford Files or Columbo. That’s not to say it’s bad; there’s a whole lot of atmosphere and there are a lot of characters involved. The series is definitely well before its time.
Flashing forward nearly 35 years, the 2008 reinvention of Survivors is from some of the same people who brought us Primeval. Fortunately, I loved Primeval. The production quality is on a similar level if not better; it is definitely many steps ahead of the original series. To see empty streets and that feeling of a decimated society is handled very strongly. The best kinds of science fiction, in my belief, are things that build on real-life concerns. If there was a situation where a viral pandemic killed most of the world’s population, I don’t know that we’d be able to deal. To see how some characters can and will is interesting to me. I had hoped the aborted NBC series Day One would explore these sorts of things, but it never got off the ground. Jericho also did a great job of a world without disaster but was sadly canceled before getting the chance to truly explore it. It’s a very interesting concept and I wish an American broadcaster and network could do something to the same level of quality and production value with a similar concept.
Another thing I’ve loved about the new Survivors is that I’m recognizing several actors from other programs I’ve seen. For me, seeing Freema Agyeman and Shaun Dingwall of Doctor Who in the series’ first episode was a thrill, and when I first saw this, I remember the speculation that star Paterson Joseph might be a contender to be the eleventh Doctor on that series. This DVD set includes a featurette about the making of the series and cast profiles.
Modern British television has a significant difference with American TV, however; each of the two seasons represented on this set are only 6 episodes each. That’s not a typo. That means there are only 12 episodes, but fortunately like many BBC productions they’re of a high quality. (Thankfully, this is not Demons.)
If you’re a fan of modern television, especially of the British variety, you’ll probably enjoy this. It’s a very well done show. And if you’re into classic British TV, full of atmosphere and an exercise in how different TV was 35 years ago, the original Survivors is for you. Both series are now available on DVD.
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Survivors: The Complete Original Series – Survivors: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2
