Editor Reports: Survivors axe is no shock
The axing of Survivors by the BBC comes as no surprise says editor Doug Lambert in the latest ATV Reports.
The original series – which ran for three years in the 1970s – was the product of Terry Nation who gave the world Daleks and Blakes 7. Although Nation left Survivors after its first season the original show still continued to deliver good stories to audiences even if it was criticised for being too middle-class and more “The Good Life” than action orientated.
Even watching the original series now you can tell the quality behind the show; the first run of episodes is hard hitting, disturbing at times and bleak – but the characters are interesting and engaging.
I watched the “re-imaging” of Survivors with great hope. Like Blakes 7 it’s a series that can so easily be adapted for modern audiences especially given all the health scares we’ve had lately.
Given the Battlestar Galactica treatment the series could have been so good. Instead what we got was a pale imitation of the original series with bland, un-likeable characters that you just couldn’t engage or sympathise with. Is it any wonders that viewers switched off in their droves? Survivors should have been great but it wasn’t – the “re-imaging” was a wasted opportunity.
