survivors

Survivors was originally created by legendary TV script-writer Terry Nation. Having started his career writing scripts for comedian Tony Hancock, Nation created one of TV's most iconic science fiction monsters when in 1963 he wrote the second ever 'Doctor Who' serial and launched the Daleks onto an unsuspecting public. Later, Nation would work on famous shows such as The Avengers, The Persuaders!, The Protectors, The Saint and MacGuyver. In the 1970s, Nation created two hugely successful TV sci-fi series - Blake's 7 and Survivors. The 1970s version of Survivors lasted for 38 episodes over three series.

In 2008, the BBC resurrected Survivors, feeling that the time was right to tackle the subject of how a few people might cope in the aftermath of a major disaster. The creator, Executive Producer and writer on the new series was Adrian Hodges, the man behind the Billie Piper dramas 'The Ruby in the Smoke' and 'The Shadow in the North', and creator and producer of dinosaur action-adventure series Primeval.

While researching the programme, Adrian Hodges decided to speak to leading virologists about how a disease like this could spread. Speaking in early 2008, Hodges said that virologists are "absolutely convinced there will be a pandemic one day, but not sure exactly how bad it will be, and they're also convinced there will only be a limited amount we can do about it when it happens." Of course, in 2009, the Swine Flu pandemic was officially announced by the World Health Organisation.

The idea of how humanity would react to a major pandemic wasn't the only thing that interested Hodges - he was also particularly keen to explore the reliance that we all have nowadays on high technology, pre-packaged food and our creature comforts. "I'm convinced it would be harder to survive [nowadays]", he said. We're more helpless than perhaps we've ever been at any point in history."

Starring as Abby Grant is Scottish actress Julie Graham. She's had a long and varied TV career, starting off in 1986 with an episode of Taggart. Prior to Survivors, Graham was perhaps best-known to UK viewers for her roles in comedy-drama 'At Home With The Braithwaites', starring opposite Martin Clunes in romantic drama 'William and Mary', and as daredevil archaeologist Gillian Magwilde in 'Bonekickers'.

Max Beesley plays the "charming sociopath" Tom Price. Max's first major TV role was as the title character in the 1997 version of 'The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'. He's been a famous face ever since - not least during the time when he dated Mel B of the Spice Girls. In recent years, Beesley has starred in the critically-acclaimed BBC Three medical drama 'Bodies', and in the glamourous and glossy drama 'Hotel Babylon' as hotel manager Charlie Edwards. In fact, Beesley left Hotel Babylon in order to take up the role of Tom Price.

Fans of the original series of Survivors were left more than a little bit surprised by the death of one of the characters in the first episode of the new series. SPOILER ALERT if you haven't yet watched Episode 1!!! Back in the 1970s, Jenny (played by Lucy Fleming, daughter of actress Celia Johnson and niece of James Bond creator Ian Fleming) was the only character to appear all the way through the entire series. When it was announced that Doctor Who actress Freema Agyeman was to play Jenny, most people assumed that she was going to be one of the show's leading characters. In a neat twist, of course, Jenny died from the virus in the first episode - and Freema Agyeman went on to play the lead in 'Law & Order: UK'.

The city where most of the initial sequences of Survivors was filmed was the Northern English town of Manchester. Although it's never specifically referred to in the programme itself, a lot of the landmarks used in the series would be familiar to anyone who's visited Manchester. Oddly, filming for the second series of Survivors (due on BBC TV towards the end of 2009/early 2010) has relocated to Birmingham in the English Midlands.

The self-sustainable community established in the series by politician Samantha Willis was in fact a real-life 'Earth Centre' near the Yorkshire city of Doncaster. Built on the location of a disused coal mine, the Earth Centre was sadly closed down in 2004 because of falling visitor numbers. Since Survivors used the location for filming, it has recently been purchased by a company specialising in adventure-skirmish events. The eerie sequences on the abandoned Motorway were filmed at the Jaguar Cars' test track near Nuneaton in Warwickshire.