With the award nominated first season of Survivors, Big Finish produced a widely praised but grim masterpiece, blending new characters with those from the original 1970s TV series.
June 2015 sees the release of Season 2; does this maintain the high standards, and how will it evolve whilst keeping in touch with the essences of the original?
Like the first run, this comprises four full-length stories and fills four CDs. Where the first season has a set of biblical titles, this season reserves the biblical for the many forces that plague the heroes in a dark, post-apocalyptic Britain we recognise but increasingly fear. Matt Fitton, who wrote the first episode of Season 1, returns to close this set, and the other three stories are shared between director Ken Bentley who sandwiches a Louise Jameson tale (Louise also stars in the audio Survivors).
There is a balance of characters: three classic figures – Abby Grant (Carolyn Seymour), Jenny Richards (Lucy Fleming) and Greg Preston (Ian McCulloch); two returning Big Finish creations – Jackie Burchall (Louise Jameson) and Daniel Connor (John Banks); and a range of newcomers.
There are two broad themes running through the four stories. Most immediate is the ability of nature to threaten survival ranging from various animals to the weather (Ken Bentley’s story Dark Rain starts the various story threads and sets the mood for much of what follows).
Most horrifying is the gravest threat – humanity and the depths to which supposedly ordinary people quickly sink. In many ways this makes Lord of the Flies seem more like tea in the park and the violence matches the harsh treatment frequently handed out in John Christopher’s 1956 novel The Death of Grass.
As a set of stories the writers have kept themes from the TV series (Abby’s quest for her son Peter, Greg and Jenny’s relationship) and also given their new characters purpose (and more back story in the case of John Bank’s Daniel). The new characters have also experienced much since the end of civilisation and this adds depth to the story telling.
The four stories also stand alone well and combine to produce a complete narrative far more than other boxsets – various story lines are introduced in each episode and culminate in later episodes rather than simply all building to the final few scenes.
The sound effects are a large part of the story (particularly the weather and various bouts of screaming) and Big Finish has dealt with the lack of incidental music in the original TV series by marking scene breaks with short sounds in the style of effects used in the theme music. These seemed more prominent in this season, almost becoming incidental music.
From talking to Ken Bentley and producer David Richardson, this is an area where a lot of care has been taken – Nick Briggs created the music for both seasons so it may be Big Finish deemed the amount needed tweaking.
Like the first season, this comes with a warning of adult material making it unsuitable for younger listeners. This is true in no small measure and, in some ways, this is even more difficult listening in places. Many listeners may find they need to pace themselves. The effort will be more than rewarded.
Extras: Each disc comes with fifteen minutes of behind the scenes interviews with various members of the cast and writers.
Released on Tuesday 2 June 2015 by Big Finish.