Why so much hype?

Just perfect...

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A plague wipes out 99-point-something percent of the human race and the survivors have to start again from scratch. The quality of the episodes varies but for me it was never less than good and I'd really put the best ones up there with 'I, Claudius' and the original 'Upstairs Downstairs' at the very peak of classic British TV drama - most notably an episode from the first series revolving around capital punishment and one from the third that's like a cross between a western, a horror movie and a Breughel winterscape, with philosophical interludes. It does have flaws. Some interesting characters are written out too soon, and series stars left without their characters being written out, leading to that unsatisfactory situation I remember from other 70s shows where there are rumours of sightings of them and hints that they may return eventually. Personally I liked that there was a mix of different types of stories, from adventure to character clash to ideas-based to ones based around technical ingenuity and the resolution of simple problems of coping without infrastructure, even that in the second series there were episodes or portions thereof that were almost idyllic where the major conflict was competing visions of the future. Most of the core characters were middle-class, old-school British, optimists, can-do types, planners, builders, and their belief that they could pull things together again, determination to make the best of things, even excitement at the chance for a fresh start helped make things bearable. But there's plenty of tension, menace, challenge, it's downright harrowing at times, and the deprivations the survivors undergo are a salutary lesson in not taking for granted all the things you tend to. I remember the relish with which I ate an egg after watching an episode where they're an incredible luxury. If you like (surely the wrong word) John Wyndham's apocalypses or are fascinated by Robinson Crusoe daydreams of 'What would I do if...?' this is especially for you. Avoid the remake like the plague.

With cinemas of the early to mid 70's being full of films predicting grim futures for Mankind - such as 'Zardoz' and 'Soylent Green' - it was predictable that television would get in on the act eventually. Terry Nation's 'Survivors' begins with one of the most memorably scary title sequences ever filmed; to the accompaniment of Anthony Issac's powerful theme, a Chinese scientist accidentally smashes a flask. Some time later, he collapses at an airport and dies. Within hours, the terrible plague he has inadvertently unleashed spreads across the world. Millions perish. Only a handful survive - and they band together in an attempt to rebuild civilisation...At the time of its original screening, I remember thinking: "What if this came true? Could I live in a world without electricity and all the other comforts we take for granted?". The main characters were 'Abby Grant' ( Carolyn Seymour ), a strong-willed middle-class housewife, 'Jenny Richards' ( Lucy Fleming ), secretary, and Greg Preston ( Ian McCulloch ), engineer. All were excellent. Other memorable characters to cross their paths included 'Tom Price' ( Talfryn Thomas ), a work-shy tramp, 'Ruth' ( Celia Gregory ), and 'Jimmy Garland' ( Richard Heffer ). Initially, the story lines combined action and adventure with thought-provoking drama. In the best episode of the series, 'Law & Order', a retarded man is put on trial for the murder of a young woman. His fate is to put to the vote. He is found guilty, and executed. Then its discovered that he was innocent. It remains the finest indictment of capital punishment I have come across. Another good episode was 'Something Of Value' in which a petrol tanker becomes the centre of an ownership dispute.After an excellent first series, the show went slightly downhill in the second, as Carolyn Seymour was fired by the producer. Terence Dudley was notorious for rubbing people up the wrong way - Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis took their names off his previous B.B.C. sci-fi series 'Doomwatch'. Her departure was a huge blow for the show. Denis Lill's 'Charles Vaughan' was brought in as a regular. Then Ian McCulloch left in the third, and when power was restored in the very last episode, the series ended on an upbeat note. U.K. Gold repeated it in the '90's, and in 2003, D.D. Video put it out on D.V.D. In 2008, the B.B.C. attempted a remake with Julie Graham as 'Abby' and Paterson Joseph as 'Greg', but it was an unmitigated disaster, and was dropped after only two seasons. The producers failed to grasp that 'Survivors' was about people having to get by without technology, and had characters accessing the Internet. Furthermore, the women often looked as if they had stepped straight from 'Sex & The City'. Terry Nation would have hated it.

Ultimately I do recommend it, but it is often terribly frustrating. The most serious problem is that supposedly intelligent characters are constantly doing very stupid things at the convenience of the plot and it's very heavy handed. It shoots itself in foot too often.Yet it is also thought provoking and consistently entertaining. Watch one episode and you want to see the next one.For the many people who saw this when they were young it's easy to understand why it had such an impact on them. It's an excellent show for something from 1975, but not quite as magnificent as some memories paint it. It would certainly interest anyone who has read Stephen Kings "The Stand", though it doesn't contain the supernatural element his novel does.All of that aside it is worth checking out and truly is superior to most other TV shows. ps- Why do so many British shows look so drained of color? Star Trek had its share of flaws but it was always bright and interesting to look at.

This speculative drama starts each episode with one of the greatest title sequence ever devised for television : A Chinese scientist accidentally drops a glass tube . Cut to the scientist collapse at an airport where planes are arriving then taking off again then the camera focuses on passports of Moscow , Madrid , Madrid , Paris and London being stamped as the picture dissolves . It doesn`t sound very exciting and it`s probably not but it is very very effective because it`s so simple . The whole premise of the series and its consequences of a lab borne virus escaping and being carried around the world sums up what has happened to humanity - the survivors - in the opening credits . Not a lot of programmes do that . And credit too for Anthony Isaacs title music which is understated , bleak and haunting Written by Terry Nation the first couple of episodes introduce us to the main characters of Abby Grant , Jenny Richards and Greg Preston , three people who have survived a superflu like virus that has wiped out 99 % of the world`s population . The trio meet more characters on their travels , not all of them good . One thing season one was good at was showing us that a worldwide calamity will not bring out the best in people and in some episodes like " Garland`s war " and " Something of value " that people may have to turn to violence if they want to survive at all . One outstanding episode " Law and order " centres around the premise of how will people deal with someone within in the group who harms another person in the sanctum Unfortunately as soon as Nation left to create BLAKES 7 at the end of the first season he took many of his Wyndham / Christopher inspired ideas with him . Seasons two and three are far less interesting than the first . Charles Vaughn who wouldn`t be out of place on a hippy or Greenpeace commune becomes the central character and SURVIVORS becomes a sort of BBC post apocalypse rival of EMMERDALE FARM with the only episodes worth watching being " Lights of London " , " Mad dog " and the absolutely outstanding " Last laugh " All in all a fairly good mature intelligent drama series but it should have been an unforgettable masterpiece from the golden age of British television. And if only Terry Nation had been given more control I`m certain it would have been . So if you`re going to watch SURVIVORS make sure you watch the whole of the first season and the episodes I mentioned above . Ignore the rest