Survivors Series 02

Welcome back to the Company's most adult and terrifying series as we embark on the second series of Survivors. After the meteoric success of the first year that managed to not only capture the fatalism and despair of the TV series but also transfer it to audio and make it sophisticated in a whole new way is there any way they can replicate that kind of triumph in series two? The answer is yes and no, because what you get is pretty much more of the same but it manages to continue to be just as well written, acted and executed with just as many disturbing moments and a feeling of disquiet that simply isn't there with other ranges. It appears there is a scattershot approach to the storytelling this time around (where the first set very much felt like a continuing story) but by the time you get to the last story it is tying up elements that were introduced in the first and it does feel like a coherent story. The cleverest part of this is episodes two and three which tell different stories at the same time and feature all the female characters in one story and all the male in the other and explores the different kinds of stories you can tell with a certain gender at the helm. 

Dark Rain by Ken Bentley kicks off the set in suitably intense style and features the two strongest of the original characters, Jackie (Louise Jameson) and Daniel (John Banks) having to fight for their lives and being rattled by the experience. It's a great way to catch up with the characters and remind us what their fears and motivations are and this is effectively one of those submarine stories where the water rises up around their waists and the characters no that they are going to die. Jameson and Banks deserve massive kudos for the work they do here, I have seen this situation played out loads of times before but never quite as raw and as real as it feels here. We spend a nice amount of time with our regulars from the TV series too, and this box set really integrates both extremely well (without ever going back to The Grange because the TV series is currently occurring there) and the search for Abby's son Peter is the focus, and Jenny, who is pregnant with Greg's baby. The most shocking moment in this story was Jackie's confession about her children and how she feels she doesn't deserve to die. I think she is the most uncomfortable character to be around because she is so kind and gentle and yet is clearly suffering from PTSD in a massive way. 

Mother's Courage by Louise Jameson is a lot of peoples favourite from the set and I can see why because it takes a very simple idea (what would happen if there was a refuge run completely by women in a post apocalyptic world) and forces our characters to face the consequences of that. I was hard on the Eighth of March set and this story goes someway to explaining why because it is a much more mature celebration of women working in Big Finish; a smart script, hard hitting themes of motherhood, friendship and female strength and terrific performances from the actresses involved. My two complaints about this story are that the idea of a community that rejects men to such an extent that it would kill Jenny's child if it was a son isn't taken quite far enough (I almost wish that the pregnancy was further along so she did have the baby and we could have all the suspense of what the sex is) and so this is all talk and no action. But also that this is very similar to the story that played out last year with our heroes stuck in a twisted community that could offer them salvation if they leave their morality to one side. However, the reactions of all the characters to this set up is excellent, the dialogue is frequently hard hitting and Jenny and Abby really come off brilliantly in this, as strong as they ever were on TV. It somehow manages to be a celebration of men and everything they bring to society, and a firm reminder of their evils too. Thoughtful stuff. 

My personal favourite of the year was The Hunted by Ken Bentley and that seems to be for all the reasons that other people didn't like it so much. It has a thin plot - the men of the group are hunted out in the woods by a wild animal and meet up with a hunter who can help them track it down - but it soon becomes the equivalent of a horror movie as it transpires a group of survivors are taking advantage of the hunt and posing as animals in the dark to murder people. This really scared me (my other half can attest to that who had to hold my hand for the whole second half) as the boys face the laughter and mockery of murderers out there in the dark. There's a beautiful conversation between Tim Treloar's Russell and Daniel that leads to a horrific murder scene and from that point on it plays out like the horror movie Them with a life or death struggle. I genuinely was uncertain if our regulars would get out of this, even though I knew Greg couldn't be killed. The idea that people might take advantage of the collapse of society and the absence of rules to play with people and kill them really struck a chord with me. I really appreciated Ken Bentley's use of sound in the direction, and how he trusted the audience to keep up with the action without having to explain what is going on in awkward dialogue. It means you are there in this situation with Greg and Daniel, and the threat is all around you. Bernard Holley's voice is unforgettable, and he will get a bigger role in the next story. I can't remember a Big Finish that put me through the wringer more than this in quite some time. 

Savages by Matt Fitton brings this set to a close and is probably the biggest endorsement of the 'not suitable for children' tag that this range gets on the Big Finish website. Before I say the few things that let this down I want to say this is a strong conclusion to the set, once again featuring set pieces that set me on edge, brilliant performances and some character conclusions (Daniel finally makes a choice that crosses a line and Molly's attempted suicide is understandable, inevitable and very dramatic) that will need dealing with in the future. What made the murderers so scary in the last story was that they seemed to be enjoying themselves and the fact that there was nobody to stop them. Fitton (probably wisely) gives George Ridley a motive for why he has turned to cannibalism and because it was an act of desperation that has become a need makes him much less frightening. I can't say I felt empathy for the man (he's played a little broadly like a villain too) but his backstory, and giving him a murderer pal who does all the dirty work before he gets the pots boiling takes the edge of the violent chaos of the promise of these monstrous characters. I got strong Countrycide vibes from Torchwood, and this plays out in as vicious and unpleasant a manner. You actually hear characters eating human flesh so prepare yourselves for that. Also, the ending where both the killer and the butcher are killed means the series gets to duck away from the riveting question of what to do with these people in a society with no rules. We could have had our audio equivalent of Law and Order. 

I might have more complaints than the previous set but the standard is still very high. Big Finish has caught something very dramatic and vivid with this series. I'm in awe of the convincing performances and sound design. It makes me weep that I have head back to silly old Doctor Who at some point. This is real audio drama: 8/10 

Survivors - Series 01

Result: A plausibly real and graphic series depicting the take down of the human race by a virus that ravages the world and murders a huge chunk of the population. That absolutely should resonate with the bulk of the population of this planet. Of course this first series was pre-pandemic, which makes it chillingly aware of where things are going and just how disturbing things could have ended up. Terry Nation often had his finger on the pulse. There is an air of disquiet throughout this releases that automatically elevates it above the majority of Big Finish's other ranges, a sense that this could actually happen. That the desperation of the human race to behave in appalling ways if the basic structure of society and law and order fell apart is chillingly accurate. The tension is palpable. Especially in first episode, Revelation by Matt Fitton, which is essentially a remake of the original pilot of TV series but introduces us to a whole new set of regulars (and brilliantly, not ALL the regulars, which means people come and go in these pockets of survivors, just as would happen in real life) and people still have a sense of hope that this illness will sweep through the population and life can be resumed once it has done its work. We know where this is heading and that life will never be the same again and so much of the tension is waiting for the other characters to catch up. There's a swift pace to this episodes, the deaths of the characters friends and family comes fairly rapidly and whilst it is contained to England there is still a real sense of spread to the setting. There is definitely a sense of don't get too close to anybody because if the sickness doesn't get them, the human beings exploiting it will. Chase Masterson and Terry Molloy make the strongest impression here, trapped in an airport with the sick and trying to figure out the scale of the situation. 

Exodus by Jonathan Morris ups the ante considerably in turns of character drama and doesn't have the purpose of introducing the concept of the series and can just show people reacting to the situation they have found themselves in. I thought it was the strongest of the four, and the one that truly revealed the depths of horror and emotion of the scenario that goes above and beyond the norm of BF's Doctor Who releases. Jackie Burchall is memorably introduced caring for her family (who we never hear talk) and I was just waiting for the moment when the episode told us that her husband and children are already dead and there was a frightening inevitability to that expectation. Louise Jameson's raw and devastated reaction to hearing the words said aloud is something that you will never forget. She's the strongest of an incredible cast that has bought into the reality of this horror completely. The twist later that she killed them herself to spare them from the plague and committed suicide never expecting to wake up is bleak in a way that Terry Nation excelled at. It feels like a very real reaction to a horrible situation, but is shocking operatic drama at the same time. I had goose bumps. Two characters that you think might be regulars are wiped out here too, as a community that has risen up out of the nightmare and is prepared to go to any lengths to ensure that their way of life isn't threatened. Having our heroes find salvation only to have it snatched away as they realise that a new kind of terrifying martial law a hold of this community with a chilling figure at its core, James Gillison, who will go to any lengths to keep control and things working his way. As two characters that we thought were regulars are shot in the back and one barely gets away with her life you realise that nobody is safe anymore. This is the most overtly scary instalment. I genuinely feared for the characters lives. 

Gillison gets real focus in Judges by Andrew Smith, a drama that brings characters from the TV series into the fold. He's astonishingly played by Adrian Lukis, who gives him a sense of moral righteousness and true belief that he is right to behave in the way that he is. I absolutely believe that this kind of egomaniac would seize control if this scenario played out, that somebody would wind a community around their finger and murder anybody that threatened to even doubt it let alone act out against it. The communities in England are exchanging food and Gillison suspects that the group they are trading with are trying to poison them and thus begins as tense sequence where he goes to trade with a plan to wipe them all out. The Survivors need to try and warn them and a plan is hatched to try and stop the raid. Just who reveals to Gillison what they are planning might surprise you. It shows that this show isn't going to take the easy route. The raid takes place and lots of people die and I realised this wasn't Doctor Who territory where things tend to end well. I thought this was the weakest of the four - it wasn't setting up the story, it didn't have any overtly interesting character work (although this does flesh out Gillison more) and it doesn't have the claustrophobia of the finale - but it is still a brilliant listen. Let that be an endorsement of how good the set is as a whole. This also where they successfully integrate the new audio characters with the TV ones and it feels like a perfectly natural fit. I'm pleased they left it this long to allow the original characters to bed in. 

Things come to a head in Esther by John Dorney, where the Survivors (both old and new) are trapped within Gillison's community and facing execution. Essentially this is an hour of this nightmare within a nightmare and it looks like nobody is going to get out alive. Gillison is willing to go without a fight and I really liked how the series refused to salvage the character, whilst it still gave him a motivation for why he was behaving so appallingly. Sometimes people have gone too far and they cannot be brought back to edge. 

There's something palpably exciting about a first series that gets things as right as this that means that that excitement can never quite be captured again and Survivors starts on such a strong and unforgettable series of stories I cannot see how they will top this for sheer drama in the future. Ken Bentley deserves huge kudos for his bravura direction of this piece. He has executed so many Doctor Who's at this point that he understands the medium completely but this is a cut above even his very best work elsewhere. There's a conviction to the sound design, a willingness to deliver this in as a real a fashion as possible with minimal (and well chosen) music and a willingness to cast outside of the box. Chase Masterson shows know signs of Vienna as Maddie Price, Louise Jameson couldn't be further from Leela as the tortured Jackie Burchall but the standout turn for me was Adrian Lukis, who injects Gillison with real steel and believability. That could have been a ranting villain role and he is chillingly real. 

Bravo to everybody concerned, this is brave in a way I haven't seen from Big Finish in years: 9/10 (8/10, 10/10, 7/10, 9/10 respectively)