BIG FINISH ARE offering discounts of up to 80% on titles from the Survivors audio back catalogue, up until 23:59 on 21 April 2024.
Most of the early series’ boxsets are on offer for less than £10 (CD and download combos), while later sets in the range are significantly reduced in price.
Survivors audiobooks are also included – with the unabridged version of Terry Nation’s 1976 Survivors novel, read by Carolyn Seymour, currently available for less than £5.00.
All these offers are accessible through the Big Finish website.
Comprehensive reviews of each and every release in Big Finish’s Survivors audio range are freely available to read elsewhere on the Survivors: A World Away website.
CHRIS TRANCHELL (PAUL Pitman, Survivors) will be one of the guests at Fantom Events ‘April Signing Spectacular’ being held in Chiswick on 27 April 2024.
Tranchell will appear alongside Hilary Ryan, Milton Johns and Tom Kelly, in a reunion of cast members from the 1978 Doctor Who serial The Invasion of Time.
Tickets for this popular event have already sold out, but there’s an option to join a waiting list in the hope of picking up any booking cancellations.
Fantom Events – April Signing Spectacular 27 April 2024, doors open at 12:30 St Michael’s Centre, Elmwood Road, Chiswick, London W4 3DY Fantom Event information
BIG FINISH PODCAST host Nick Briggs and Benji Clifford recall the release of the third series of original Survivors audio dramas in November 2015 in the latest edition of their show.
The famous discounted title selector – the Randamoid Selectatron – chose Survivors series three as the beneficiary of this week’s 25% price discount deal deal (which expires on 7 April).
Nick Briggs: It’s the Randomoid Selectatron, where we randomly select a Big Finish release and offer you a 25% discount on it… And, as we’ve mentioned before, because the wonderful Jackie Emery is on very deserved leave, she asked me to select early, and yesterday I hit the Randomoid Selectatron button and got Survivors series three.
Benji Clifford: Great taste, great taste.
Nick Briggs: I think that’s one you particularly like, isn’t it?
Benji Clifford: One of my favourite… probably my favourite Big Finish I’ve ever worked on, I think. It means a lot… it means the most, to me, because it was a real test of my abilities as a sound designer. Like, really. I put it as one of my best bits of work, so… It’s just a great story. Great acting, great cast… I got to the exciting thing of getting to listen to your music score on its own… I was very excited about receiving that, genuinely was.
Nick Briggs: That’s because I was unable to actually compose for that one, wasn’t I?
Benji Clifford: Yeah, so I did all the editing in for that one. But it’s a ripping yarn. It’s really good, gritty, graphic… one of our darker releases at Big Finish. Just so good.
Benji Clifford: Yeah, who’s just really fantastic in the role [of Vinnie], and just… really gave it his all. It wasn’t an easy role to do by any means, especially in terms of the content and the subject matter… but he really was brilliant.
Nick Briggs: Great stuff. Well, as I mentioned earlier… it really is worth looking at the whole Survivors range. There’s been some new ones out recently, and they’ve been absolutely superb.
BRITBOX, THE STREAMING archive television platform that, in September 2020, made all three series of Survivors available to watch online through its subscription service, has now withdrawn the programme from its collection.
The move follows the expiry of the licence to stream the series agreed with the BBC.
Both series of the 2008-2010 remake of Survivors, which were also previously available through Britbox, have now been withdrawn as well.
Britbox recently announced that in future it would be delivered through the ITVX Premium platform – which would become “the new home of BritBox”.
THE ORGANISERS OF Romford Horror Festival have posted an official online recording of the audience with Ian McCulloch which took place on 2 March 2024.
In this session McCulloch plays his guitar and sings, discusses his early musical career, his work on stage and television and his appearance in three Italian horror films Zombie Flesh Eaters, Zombi Holocaust and Contamination.
Although the focus of the weekend was the horror genre, McCulloch does discuss (17ms-25ms) his role as Greg Preston in Survivors, his relationship with Terry Nation and producer Terry Dudley and the three episodes that he wrote for the series.
An audience with Ian McCulloch, Romford Horror Festival 2024
An audience with Ian McCulloch, Romford Horror Festival 2024 – Survivors section
FOLLOWING SURVIVORS MUCH deserved inclusion in a poll of the top 100 TV shows of all time, as voted for by the writers of Starburst, a four-page appreciation of the series appears in the new print edition of the magazine.
Written by the editor of this site, the feature celebrates the quality and distinctiveness of Survivors in the post-apocalyptic TV canon, delves into the show’s challenging and innovative production methods, and outlines the development of themes and storylines across all three series.
It’s intended to be both a recognition of the impact and the enduring legacy of the original TV series, and to be a useful introduction for those genre enthusiasts who have yet to connect with Survivors.
Starburst is available to buy from all good newsagents and through the magazine’s online shop.
Rich Cross. 2024. ‘Survivors’. Starburst, May, No 485, pp.48-51.
IAN McCULLOCH (Greg Preston, Survivors) will be appearing at the ‘Horrhiffic’Romford Horror Festival on Saturday 2 March 2024, taking part in two separate talks as well as a signing session.
McCulloch will join a panel of actors from celebrated horror movies, discussing different aspects of screen horror and the work of horror writers and filmmakers. Later in the afternoon, he’ll be interviewed on stage in ‘an audience with Ian McCulloch’ .
McCulloch will also be present for the screening of some pre-release footage from the upcoming The Witches of the Sands film, in which he appears. Finally, McCulloch, along with other panel guests, will hold a signing session for attendees.
Ian will be with us to discuss his career and will be doing signings on Saturday and possibly Sunday. He’ll also be present for some sneaky footage from upcoming movie The Witches Of The Sands, in which he stars.
Romford Horror Festival
‘The afternoon show’ panel discussion (15:00)
A casual afternoon panel discussion with Ian McCulloch, Cinzia Monreale, Caroline Munro and Pauline Peart. Over the course of an hour we’ll discuss a wide range of topics in the world of horror. From the classic to the modern day indie.
Romford Horror Festival, 2024
An audience with Ian McCulloch (17:00)
Ian McCulloch found demand on both British Television and Italian Horror, from the chilling BBC Sci-Fi drama Survivors in which he played the leading man for the first two seasons, Italian Horror where he starred in three controversial movies Contamination, Zombie Flesh Eaters and Zombie Holocaust and even a stint in Doctor Who. It’s sure to be a quirky hour of chat.
Romford Horror Festival, 2024
Tickets for these events (and all-day passes to all events) can be purchased in advance from the Romford Horror Festival web site.
The Romford Horror Festival takes place at Premiere Cinemas, Level 3, The Mercury Mall, Mercury Gardens, Romford RM1 3EE, between 29 February and 3 March 2024.
THE FIRST EPISODE of the new Channel 4 series Perfect Pub Walks with Bill Bailey visits several of the key Monsal Dale locations seen in the third series Survivors episode Mad Dog.
On this set of three walks across the Derbyshire Peak District, Bill Bailey is joined by fellow comedian, actor and panelist Alan Davies, for a spot of exercise and the chance to share in what could be some therapeutic personal conversation.
In the Peak District National Park, Bill and Alan Davies take the Monsal Trail to Derbyshire’s highest pub, Abney Moor and Mam Tor, and chat about the perils of ageing and the stresses of modern life
Channel 4
The episode was first broadcast on 20 February 2024, and is currently available to stream from Channel 4’s on-demand service.
REVIEWS OF ALBION, Fallout and Requiem, the final three episodes of the Survivors: New Dawn audio range have now been published on the Big Finish Survivors section of the Survivors: A World Away site.
With Big Finish indicating that no further Survivors audio releases are currently planned, the release of New Dawn 4 brings to an end Survivors life as an audio drama.
The Survivors: A World Away site has tracked the development of this unique strand of Survivors fiction since the release of the first box set back in 2014.
Over the course of nine years, this site has published synopses and reviews of all 36 episodes in the nine series original run of Survivors audios, of three Survivors audiobooks, and all twelve episodes in the four box sets of the New Dawn series.
As a result of repeated visits to the Big Finish studios, the editor of this site also carried out numerous interviews with cast members (including Carolyn Seymour, Lucy Fleming, Ian McCulloch and Richard Heffer, as well as many new actors joining the series on audio), extracts from many of which have also been published on the site.
Beyond the site itself, the editor has published reviews of the releases for Cultbox (together with the Carolyn Seymour: in Conversation spin-off release), and published regular features and reviews of the series for Starburst, both in print and online.
As the release of Survivors audios begins an indefinite pause, it’s good to be able to reflect that the series ends in such a satisfying and assured way:
Abby and Jenny begin a new phase in their own journey as listeners, many of whom have followed the series from series one released back in 2014, come to the end of theirs. It’s been a remarkable, often unsettling, and always compelling series made by a creative team who have shown time and again their determination to grasp the full dramatic potential of Terry Nation’s inspired original premise.
THE LATEST EPISODE of the TV Club strand of the Strangers in Space podcast (13 October) spends an hour reappraising the impact of Survivors.
Host J R Southall is joined by Jon Arnold, Jim Cameron and Dylan Rees, and reflects on the impact of the series at the time of its original transmission and the legacy of the series nearly five decades on.
Almost fifty years ago a nation huddled around its television sets imagining the oncoming apocalypse and wondering when it might be best to plant corn crops in the devastation that followed; our thoughts on Terry Nation and Terence Dudley’s Survivors
It’s nearly half a century since Terry Nation’s story about the aftermath of a genocidal virus, so how’s it looking in 2023?
