Survivors in SFX 'best ever' poll

By Rich Cross   Last updated on 27 December 2020, 09:19:45

Survivors in at 21 in SFX 'best ever' poll


Detail from the from cover of SFX special Best of British: Your Top 50 Greatest UK SF and Fantasy Shows

IN AUGUST 2005 Survivors came in at twenty-one in a poll of the fifty 'best ever' British science fiction and fantasy shows, as voted for by the readers of SFX magazine.

The poll results are set-out in a new SFX Collection entitled 'Best of British: Your Top 50 Greatest UK SF and Fantasy Shows'.

The one-page commentary on Survivors, although marred by a couple of small factual inaccuraries, acknowledges that the programme was an "intelligent, thought-provoking approach to post-apocalyptic fiction which took advantage of its TV (ie budget) limitations to personalise the tragedy and show the minor effects as well as the major ones."

Survivors was an intelligent, thought-provoking approach to post-apocalyptic fiction


SFX

The piece is illustrated with two BBC stills — one of Greg and Jenny at Hampton Court (from series one) and a smaller one of Charles and Pet at Whitecross (from series two). Later in the Collection, a third still, from Genesis, featuring Abby, Greg and Tom at the church, illustrates Survivors place in the British small screen sci-fi and telefantasy timeline.

The Collection also features a full-page ad from DD Home Entertainment promoting, amongst many other titles, the DVD sets of all three series of Survivors.

The top-fifty rundown also features Doomwatch, Day of the Triffids, The Last Train, The Tripods, Blakes' 7 and Edge of Darkness alongside many others. Unsurprisingly, it is Doctor Who that comes in at number one in the poll.

On its release, SFX's 'Best of British' Collection was available in newsagents at £5.99, but is now only realistically looked for on second-hand on online auction sites.


Cite this web page
29 March 2024202131 January

 Cross, R. (2021). 'Survivors in SFX 'best ever' poll,' [online] Survivors: A World Away, 31 January. Available at: https://survivors-mad-dog.org.uk/a-world-away/SFX_poll_21.php. Accessed on: 29 March 2024.

 
   

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 Site sections

Terry Nation's Survivors

 Survivors is a 38-episode, three series British post-apocalyptic TV series, created by Terry Nation, and first shown on BBC 1 between 1975 and 1977

 Two Survivors novel were published in the UK, USA and Italy in the seventies: Terry Nation's part-novelisation of the first TV series Survivors was published in 1976; with John Eyers' original follow-up Genesis of a Hero appearing the following year

 A 12-episode, two series remake of Survivors was broadcast on BBC One between 2008 and 2010

 A 36-episode, nine series run of new and original Survivors audio adventures, set in the time and place of the original programme, were released by Big Finish between 2014 and 2019

 Terry Nation's Survivors novel was released as an audiobook, voiced by Carolyn Seymour, in 2014

 Genesis of a Hero was reprinted and republished as a paperback and as a Kindle title in 2015

 A sequel to Genesis of a Hero, entitled Survivors: Salvation, was published in February 2021

 A six-episode original audio drama, Survivors: New Dawn, set two decades on from The Death was released in two three story box sets by Big Finish in November 2021 and February 2022

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ILLUSTRATOR AND ARTIST Pete Wallbank designed the covers for the Sovereign Video VHS release of series one of Survivors.