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->''"Every new person feels like a gift."''
-->-- '''Abby Grant''', ''Survivors'' (2008)
''Survivors'' was a post-apocalyptic drama created by Creator/TerryNation for Creator/TheBBC. It ran for three seasons (the second and third without Nation's involvement) from 1975 to 1977. In 2008, it was "re-imagined" and re-launched, this time lasting two seasons before being cancelled in 2010. Officially, the new series was based on an original series novelization which Nation wrote. In 2014, Creator/BigFinish Productions started producing an audio drama series based on and taking place alongside the 1975 series, including crossovers with the original cast.
Both versions are set in the then-present day and depict the aftermath of a virulent [[ThePlague disease]] that wiped out 99% of the human race. It was generally just called 'The Death' in the original but was identified in the remake as 'European Flu'-being released from a laboratory. A disparate band of [[TheImmune survivors]] is thrown together and must now face the struggle of a dangerous life with no society, police or government. However, in both versions, there eventually appear people who have ideas about re-establishing a form of government.
[[BlackComedy Well, look on the bright side. Global warming's not going to be a problem any more...]]
There is a [[{{Characters/Survivors}} character sheet]] for the remake, though it may contain spoilers.
Not to be mistaken for ''Series/{{Survivor}}''.
----
!!Both series provides examples of:
* AfterTheEnd: In the aftermath of a devastating plague, the people who were immune struggle to survive.
* ApocalypseHow: Level One and a high one at that, but the existence of human knowledge in book form keeps it from a Level Two.
* CelebritySurvivor:
** In the original series episode "Genesis", Abby meets Arthur Wormley, who was the national president of a major trade union before the outbreak.
** In the 2008 series, Samantha Willis is the only surviving governmental official, having been the Junior Minister in charge of overseeing the government's media response to the outbreak.
* CosyCatastrophe: More so in the first version.
* DeadStarWalking:
** Creator/FreemaAgyeman was heavily involved in the promotion of the remake. She dies halfway through the first episode. To add to the impact, the character she played was, in the original, the only one to survive for the entire show.
** The original did this as well, casting the well-known Peter Bowles as the husband to Abby (played by relative unknown Carolyn Seymour) who stays healthy while she collapses with the plague. However, towards the end of the first episode, she is the one who wakes up, to find his dead body, after he succumbs off-screen. With no actors listed in the opening titles and some very careful scripting, it was probably a big shock to viewers at the time. This was repeated in the remake, with Abby's husband played by Shaun Dingwall. Paul's death near the start of the second season is also a good one - half the Season 1 cast had just been written out after a big format change and the show seemed settled on a new direction, only to promptly kill off another first series star within a couple of episodes.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Played with heavily. In a world where there is no definitive law or government, most of the human race is dead, and survival by whatever means is the order of the day, normal rules do not apply. Stuff which might normally be considered stealing, applying the death penalty (either for minor crimes like stealing or poaching, or at all), general tyranny justified to preserve safety or law and order, looking out for number one/your own instead of being a good Samaritan, sleeping with as many people as possible to preserve the human race, and all sorts. Often leads to [[ShadesOfConflict differences between characters and groups, who many have their own ideas and motivations for doing what they do.]]
* DepopulationBomb: Both versions involve a plague that wipes out more than 99% of the world's population. In the original series episode "Corn Dolly", Charles estimates that only 1 person in every 5,000 survived.
* {{Determinator}}: Abby desperately searches for her son Peter. [[spoiler: In Terry Nation's novelisation of several Season One episodes of the 1975 version, Peter, a member of a gang of wandering youths, kills Abby as he does not recognise her. In the 2008 version, Abby is reunited with him in the {{Cliffhanger}} ending to Season Two.]]
* TheImmune: In the original, some survivors never got sick, others fell ill but pulled through. In the remake, Abby is the only one whose body managed to fight off the virus. [[spoiler:However, we later learn that some of humanity has managed to escape exposure, in the form of a virus research facility.]]
* ThePlague: As noted, in both versions it is released from a laboratory. In the original, the viewer only learns this from the opening title sequence, and it never becomes significant plot-wise.
* SurvivedTheBeginning: The first episode involves introducing several characters and then watching most of them die off into the tiny handful that would make up the cast for the rest of the series, as a plague which wipes out 90 percent of the world hits.
* TheVamp: Both versions feature a woman who plies her seductive wiles to attract and keep male protectors.
----
!!The 1975 series provides examples of:
* TheAce: In "Garland's War", Abby meets Jimmy Garland, an aristocratic GentlemanAdventurer who went on expeditions all over the world before the plague hit. As the the fourth son of the 13th Earl of Waterhouse, he was never expected to inherit the title so he indulged his passion for travel and adventure by going on these trips as well as joining the Army. Abby says that he should have been born 200 years earlier but Jimmy tells her that he is ideally suited to the post-plague world and that he could not have invented a situation more to his liking.
* AchillesInHisTent: In "A Beginning", Abby is feeling the burden of leadership since everyone looks to her for guidance due to her pivotal role in establishing the settlement. Over the last few weeks, her depression has grown because she misses Peter and she feels that she has no one with whom she can discuss her problems. As such, she decides to leave the community and find Jimmy Garland, whom she previously met in "Garland's War". Her intention is to resume her search for Peter with Jimmy's assistance. However, Abby ultimately elects to return to the Grange as she realises that they need her too much.
* AnyoneCanDie: For just three years on the air, the show had quite the cast turnover. Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards) is the only cast member to remain with the series throughout its entire run, appearing in both the first and last episodes.
* ApocalypseAnarchy: In "The Fourth Horseman", Jenny is harassed and almost assaulted by three young men looting shops on a UsefulNotes/{{London}} high street.
* BabyFactory: In "Corn Dolly", Charles believes that the British Isles' post-plague population, which he estimates at approximately 10,000, is so small that they may all die out within two or three generations. To prevent this from happening, he impregnates four of the women in his community, Lorraine, Isla, Tessa and Florence, and wants to do the same to Abby. Abby, Jenny and Greg are appalled and decide to leave and never come back. Charles tries to convince Jenny to remain and have a baby with Greg or any other man. He is desperate as Tessa and Florence both died from eating diseased fish and he is not certain whether Lorraine and Isla's pregnancies will be viable but his pleas fall on deaf ears.
* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler: Greg in Season Three, essentially. He appears in only two widely-spaced episodes, and in the second contracts smallpox and dies.]]
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: The only one who appears in the entire series is introduced [[spoiler: dying of smallpox.]]
* {{Bookends}}: The series begins and ends with scenes of [[spoiler: a couple eating dinner by candlelight.]]
* BurnTheWitch: A second-season episode gets [[IdiotBall dangerously close]] to this.
* TheCameo: Creator/PatrickTroughton makes a one-scene appearance in one episode. [[spoiler: His character is then killed off-screen.]]
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Minor characters often disappeared with little or no explanation.
* {{Commune}}: In "Spoil of War", Paul Pittman, a new arrival at the Grange, tells Abby and Jenny that he was a member of a self-sufficient agricultural commune before the plague hit. He uses his extensive knowledge of farming techniques to substantially improve the running of the Grange estate.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Season Three may be the most literal example of this ever.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: In "Gone Away", while obtaining food and other vital supplies from a supermarket, Abby, Greg and Jenny discover the body of a man who has seemingly been hanged on display. The body has a sign reading "Looter" stuck to it and as such is intended to serve as a warning. Dave Long, a lackey of Arthur Wormley whom Abby previously met in "Genesis", says that they didn't actually kill him, having merely found the body down the road. He notes that it is a more effective deterrent than putting up a "Keep Out" sign.
* DemotedToExtra: Jenny, as Season One progresses. She begins to come back into prominence in Season Two, then stars in Season Three as she [[spoiler: fruitlessly chases Greg around the countryside]]. Demoted in her place is everyone who carried over from Season Two besides her, Charles and Hubert.
* DisasterScavengers: Tom Price is the most prominent example of several in Season One. In "Genesis", he takes expensive clothes from an upmarket shop and a Rolls Royce from a showroom.
* DownerEnding: In "Law and Order", Barney is executed for the murder of Wendy while Abby and Greg let the actual murderer, Tom, go unpunished as they believe that the truth would destroy their burgeoning community.
* FeudalOverlord:
** In "Genesis", the trade unionist Arthur Wormley has established a small community and has declared himself the ruler of the general area surrounding it. His ultimate goal is make contact with other settlements throughout Britain. His compound will be the central hub through which all of these settlements will be administered. Abby compares it to the way in which feudal barons ruled. Wormley counters that feudalism eventually led to the development of the British system of government, which he considers the best in the world. He later claims that the government declaration of martial law gives him the authority to execute a retired colonel who led an attack on his compound, which resulted in the death of one of his men.
** In "Garland's War", Knox tells Abby that Jimmy Garland has set numerous conditions when it comes to taking back his ancestral home Waterhouse and becoming leader of their community. He wants everyone to move out of the main house, take up residence in the cottages on the estate, pay him rent and swear their loyalty to him as lord of the manor. As she did in "Genesis", Abby compares this to the feudal system. In reality, however, Jimmy merely wants Waterhouse to be a functioning estate again with him as an arbiter as opposed to a ruler. He assures Abby that everyone would have a say in the running of the community. It is later revealed in "A Beginning" that Jimmy got his wish. Knox was killed in an accident one day while out hunting for him. The other members of the community soon came to Jimmy for assistance.
* TheFoodPoisoningIncident: In "Corn Dolly", eight of the eleven members of Charles' community die after eating fish that they had caught in a lake the day before. Charles speculates that it may have been caused by industrial waste, bacteria or a new virus created as a byproduct of the plague.
* FromTheMouthsOfBabes:
** In "The Future Hour", Bernard Huxley learns that his heavily pregnant [[CommonLawMarriage common law wife]] Laura Foster is hiding in the Grange when John tells him one of his men that he felt the baby kicking.
** In "Revenge", Vic discovers that Anne Tranter (who left him for dead in "Genesis") has arrived at the Grange when John and Lizzie tell him that they had met her. The adults had been trying to keep her presence a secret. Vic then tries to kill Anne.
* FunnyForeigner: Emma and Daniella are mild examples of this.
* GodIsDispleased: In "Gone to the Angels", Jack, Robert and Matthew are three religious men who intended to form a [[TheArk new Noah's Ark]] in the mountains in the months before the outbreak. They believe that the plague is {{God}}'s way of punishing humanity for its evil ways.
* GuiltByCoincidence: In "Law and Order", the Grange has a party in celebration of May Day. Almost all of the adult members of the community, in particular Tom and the intellectually impaired Barney, drink heavily. Throughout the night, Barney is very attentive towards Wendy, which some of the others see as pestering. As she goes up to bed, Tom tries to force himself on her. When she runs away, he follows her into her room. The next morning, she is found dead, having been stabbed. The murderer is Tom, who hides a knife under a floorboard, but the chief suspect is Barney, who is hunting in the forest. Greg, Tom, Paul and Arthur search for him. Tom manages to find him first and warns him that he must get away as fast as possible since the others think that he killed Wendy. However, he is caught by Greg and Paul and blurts out that he didn't do it, which is taken to mean that he did not kill Wendy. As far as any of the others knew, the only way that he could have know that Wendy was dead was if he had killed her. Furthermore, he is found with a bloodied arrow in his possession. He used it to kill a rabbit but the others suspect that the blood belongs to Wendy. The nine remaining adults (including Tom) put him on trial. By a margin of six to three, he is found guilty with diminished responsibility. After the verdict, the community considers banishing him but Greg argues that he must be executed. The group then votes on these two options. Greg, Paul, Vic and Arthur vote for execution while Jenny, Emma, Charmian and the guilt-ridden Tom vote for banishment. Having the deciding vote, Abby votes for his execution. The five men draw straws to decide who shall shoot him. Greg gets the short straw. After Barney's death, Tom can no longer contain his guilt and shows Abby and Greg the knife. Greg nearly kills Tom but Abby stops him. The two of them decide to keep Tom's guilt a secret from the others, both because they think that Tom would be lynched and because they need every remaining hand.
* HeelFaceTurn: Charles, sort of. He makes a rather creepy appearance in the first-season episode "Corn Dolly" but repents and in the other two seasons becomes a series regular following [[spoiler: Abby and Greg's departure/deaths.]]
* HopeSpot: The last episode of Season One retroactively turned into this, when production-crew turmoil led to [[spoiler: Abby disappearing for good and many of the remaining characters dying in a settlement-destroying fire.]]
* HostageSituation: In "Something of Value", Robert Lawson, Jim Buckmaster and Thorpe take first Lizzie and later Lucy hostage as part of their attempt to steal the Grange community's tanker, which contains about 1,000 gallons of petrol.
* ImperiledInPregnancy: In "The Future Hour", the heavily pregnant Laura Foster runs away from the community led by her [[CommonLawMarriage common law husband]] Bernard Huxley. He intends to give away her baby, who was conceived before the plague outbreak, as he doesn't want to raise another man's child. With the help of her friend Norman, Laura makes her way to the Grange and is given sanctuary. However, Huxley finds out that she is there and says that he and his men will launch an attack if Laura is not returned to him by 10 o'clock the following morning. Laura and Norman sneak out of the Grange in the middle of the night but they don't get very far as she goes into labour. Greg brings her back to the house, where the baby is safely delivered.
* ImportantHaircut: At the end of "The Fourth Horseman", Abby cuts her hair. This signifies the end of her old life.
* JerkAss: Hubert in Season Two, although he shows ''some'' improvement in Season Three.
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Wendy]] in "Law and Order".
* LowerClassLout: Anyone who was lower-class before the Death tends to be, at best, dirty, surly and unhelpful.
* MercyKill: In "Corn Dolly", Charles procures morphine from a hospital and injects the dying members of his community with it in order to end their suffering.
* MissedHimByThatMuch:
** In "The Fourth Horseman", Jenny hears Abby's car driving by and tries in vain to get her attention.
** [[spoiler: Greg and everyone else]] all though Season Three.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Lawson]] in "Something of Value."
* NoBikesInTheApocalypse: Subverted, if only for one episode; by the third season, the characters are mostly riding horses.
* OneManArmy: In "Garland's War", Jimmy Garland leads a one man war against Knox and his followers in order to reclaim his ancestral home Waterhouse.
* ThePigPen: Hubert again.
* PostApocalypticDog:
** In "Corn Dolly", Charles mentions that dogs are hunting in packs.
** In "Gone to the Angels", John and Lizzie adopted a stray dog that they named Ben. At one point, he runs off when he hears other dogs barking but he returns. When Lincoln threatens Lizzie with a scissors, Ben attacks him in order to save Lizzie.
** In "Starvation", the survivors come across a pack of dogs in the middle of the road. Abby wants to chase them away but Greg warns that they may be rabid. They eventually run away when they hear something and Ben goes with them. John and Lizzie want to find him but Greg says that he will be happy with his new friends. Jenny and Abby warn the children not to play with Ben if he does return as he may have rabies. However, Greg tells them that it is alright since Barney, who was bitten by one of them, would be the showing symptoms of rabies by now. Ben rejoins the survivors at the end of the episode.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Abby in Season Two; the characters aren't able to confirm it, but the strong implication is that eventually she died.]]
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: In "The Future Hour", [[spoiler: only one episode after he killed Wendy and allowed Barney to take the blame for it in "Law and Order", Tom Price shoots Bernard Huxley so that his [[CommonLawMarriage common law wife]] Laura Foster does not have to give up her newborn baby. Tom is promptly shot dead by Huxley's men.]]
* SexForServices: In "Starvation", Tom Price tells both Abby and Wendy that he will obtain food for them in exchange for payment. It is never stated outright that he means sex. However, the starving Wendy's refusal of his offer and the mock seductive way in which Abby speaks to Tom during her successful attempt to trick him into entering his van make it abundantly clear what Tom was talking about.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: A minor character gets ADayInTheLimelight, with an episode devoted to his [[spoiler: deciding to resume his pre-Death duties as a vicar.]] Two episodes later [[spoiler: he is casually gunned down by a thug.]]
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A second-season episode deals with the heroes' realization that as (mostly) a bunch of former suburbanites, they really have no clue how to run a functioning farm. Plus an episode where they also realize that just because they survived the The Death, that doesn't make them immune to ''other'' diseases.
* TyphoidMary: In "Gone to the Angels", Abby, Greg and Jenny discover that they and by extension everyone else who was immune to the plague are nevertheless carriers for it. Several days after meeting Abby, Jack, Robert and Matthew, who had been completely isolated in the mountains since before the plague struck, die from it. As a result, Abby, Greg and Jenny decide to avoid anyone else who had never come into contact with the plague.
* VideoInsideFilmOutside: A notable aversion; about a third of the show's run was shot entirely on location, a first for the BBC and a considerable undertaking for the time. Most of the camera work ended up being carried out by the Outside Broadcast team, who normally covered sports fixtures or concerts.
* VikingFuneral:
** A slight variation. In the final scene of "The Fourth Horsemen", Abby burns down her house with her husband David's body inside.
** Similarly, in "Garland's War", Jimmy Garland burned down a barn on the Waterhouse estate so that it could serve as a funeral pyre for his deceased family members and servants.
----
!!The 2008 series provides examples of:
* AssholeVictim: Those killed by Abby's group are never entirely innocent. The old man [[spoiler: Al]] accidentally kills in the beginning was threatening to beat Naj because he was helping himself to ''sweets'' in his shop. The man killed by [[spoiler: Tom]] had basically kidnapped one of Abby's group.
* BadassInDistress: Tom ends up getting [[spoiler: sold into slavery]] and the others must rescue him.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Despite fighting to survive in a world without running water and electricity, the women have perfectly sleeked hair and wear make up, Tom is always freshly shaved, and everybody has clean, smooth clothes.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Tom Price. We know he's a hardened criminal and habitual liar who is willing to casually murder in cold blood when he feels it's worth it, but sometimes holds back and displays some loyalty to the group. Exactly what motivates him seems unclear.
* BrandX:
** Nearly totally {{averted}}-a looter is seen hanged in a Netto and the logos of many a major UK shop are to be seen.
** In one episode, a kid retrieves cooking oil from a congealed pool of it in the fryer of a [=MacDonalds=], where there's a decomposing corpse. You want to conclude that joke or shall I?
** There is no reluctance in calling Greg's Land Rover a Land Rover, to the point where Billy raves about how awesome they are.
* CliffHanger: The last episode of both seasons.
* CoolCar: The Land Rover Defender.
* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: Craig, an adult who operates a street gang of kids in a mostly abandoned city district, often denies the children food and precious "arcade" time if they don't do a satisfactory job of looting throughout the day.
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Al in the Season Two opener.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Dr. James Whitaker, a biochemist leading research into the virus, is the second season's main antagonist who uses increasingly unethical practices (i.e. [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate human guinea pigs with no consent]]) in doing so. However, he's also desperate to protect his wife and son, whom he's kept secure within the research facility (violating protocol).
* TheFagin: Craig, who runs a gang of street children who loot the city for supplies and rewards them time using an arcade if they do well (or denies that assuming they don't).
* FreeRangeChildren: Naj does this in the second series when waiting for Abby. {{Justified}} as due to the post-apocalyptic situation, rules are a little different.
* GoodIsNotNice: Tom, who is ''very'' morally questionable despite being in Abby’s group. Also, Samantha, the last remaining [[spoiler: (or is she?)]] government official. Good? Arguably. Nice? Not always.
* HearingVoices: In the first season, Naj brings home a group of people following John, a "preacher" who hears God/Mother Nature ever since the epidemic, which he sees as [[{{GaiasVengeance}} Gaia's revenge]]. After someone he cares for has a brush with death, he becomes [[spoiler: paranoid, and Anya works out that he's schizophrenic and has been off his medication since everything went down]]. This is particularly bad as his wife is about to give birth, and he may be dangerous...
* IgnoredConfession: In episode two, Abby asks Tom what he did before the pandemic, and he says "I robbed things. Killed a few people." She thinks he's joking, and says it's not funny. Later she finds out that's the truth.
* KangarooCourt: Samantha Willis runs this as a matter of course. In the first case, she convicts and sentences to death a looter without even hearing any evidence, then immediately shoots her. Next, when Tom's the one on trial, again no actual evidence gets heard-Abby, who's acting as his lawyer, is not allowed to question the sole witness against him. She's already arranged it so enough jurors will vote him guilty beforehand for a majority verdict, but when this doesn't work, Willis just dismisses them and convicts Tom anyway. He's then {{made a slave}} as punishment.
* LighterAndFluffier: As much as a show with its premise can be.
* MadeASlave: Tom, who gets this treatment as punishment for a murder he committed. Greg too, for trying to help him escape.
* MustMakeAmends: In the season 2 opener, [[spoiler: Anya and Al]] are buried alive when a burning hospital collapses on top of them. Turns out the building was set on fire by locals who wanted to get rid of the hundreds of bodies and thus of the contagion risk. When they find out there are casualties, the locals team up to try and save them.
* PreClimaxClimax: Believing everyone may die resolves two seasons of sexual tension for Anya and Tom, as she decides to have sex with him as a result.
* QueerEstablishingMoment: Anya reveals she's bisexual through stating that her deceased female friend, who'd died from the pandemic, was previously her girlfriend. Tom, her male LoveInterest, was listening as she said this and is disgusted at first, but they get over his reaction.
* RedundantRescue: The group goes out to rescue [[spoiler: Tom from enslavement]], only to realize once they get there that he's already escaped.
* RousingSpeech: Several of these are given by Abby throughout the series, especially when trying to convince the group that they need to stick together.
-->"Everything we ever knew has been ripped away from us. Our old life is ''dead''. Now we have to build a new one... but we can't build it ''alone''. Now there is only one choice, we either stand together or die."-]
* SecondaryAdaptation: A disclaimer in the credits said it was based in Terry Nation's novelization of the original series to avoid copyright problems.
* ShootTheDog: Or rather the looter, as the former government minister has to prevent a large-scale loss of authority in her commune.
* ShowerOfAngst: A ''cold'' and brief one, taken by Abby after waking up from her virus attack. It's brief as the water cuts out after about fifteen seconds.
* SlaveLiberation: In the fourth episode of the second season, after they're freed by the main cast.
* TokenReligiousTeammate: Naj is the only member of the main group who's shown to be religious (he's devoutly Muslim-he was praying at the mosque as the virus struck, with everyone else inside dying).
* TwoPersonPoolParty: Abby has casual sex with a guy in a pond at one point.
%%* TrueCompanions: Abby's group of survivors.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Anya and Tom have this for most of the series, having a clear mutual attraction which they don't act on. Finally, [[TheirFirstTime they sleep together]] when everyone seems about to die.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Dexter attempts to use the line on Tom, who's got him at his mercy. [[NeckSnap It doesn't work.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Two of them: Samantha Willis, willing to do whatever it takes to restore order and Whitaker, willing to kill in the search for a cure.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: This is toyed with between Anya and Tom. They finally do near the end of the second season when they think everyone may die.
----
->''"Every new person feels like a gift."''
-->-- '''Abby Grant''', ''Survivors'' (2008)
''Survivors'' was a post-apocalyptic drama created by Creator/TerryNation for Creator/TheBBC. It ran for three seasons (the second and third without Nation's involvement) from 1975 to 1977. In 2008, it was "re-imagined" and re-launched, this time lasting two seasons before being cancelled in 2010. Officially, the new series was based on an original series novelization which Nation wrote. In 2014, Creator/BigFinish Productions started producing an audio drama series based on and taking place alongside the 1975 series, including crossovers with the original cast.
Both versions are set in the then-present day and depict the aftermath of a virulent [[ThePlague disease]] that wiped out 99% of the human race. It was generally just called 'The Death' in the original but was identified in the remake as 'European Flu'-being released from a laboratory. A disparate band of [[TheImmune survivors]] is thrown together and must now face the struggle of a dangerous life with no society, police or government. However, in both versions, there eventually appear people who have ideas about re-establishing a form of government.
[[BlackComedy Well, look on the bright side. Global warming's not going to be a problem any more...]]
There is a [[{{Characters/Survivors}} character sheet]] for the remake, though it may contain spoilers.
Not to be mistaken for ''Series/{{Survivor}}''.
----
!!Both series provides examples of:
* AfterTheEnd: In the aftermath of a devastating plague, the people who were immune struggle to survive.
* ApocalypseHow: Level One and a high one at that, but the existence of human knowledge in book form keeps it from a Level Two.
* CelebritySurvivor:
** In the original series episode "Genesis", Abby meets Arthur Wormley, who was the national president of a major trade union before the outbreak.
** In the 2008 series, Samantha Willis is the only surviving governmental official, having been the Junior Minister in charge of overseeing the government's media response to the outbreak.
* CosyCatastrophe: More so in the first version.
* DeadStarWalking:
** Creator/FreemaAgyeman was heavily involved in the promotion of the remake. She dies halfway through the first episode. To add to the impact, the character she played was, in the original, the only one to survive for the entire show.
** The original did this as well, casting the well-known Peter Bowles as the husband to Abby (played by relative unknown Carolyn Seymour) who stays healthy while she collapses with the plague. However, towards the end of the first episode, she is the one who wakes up, to find his dead body, after he succumbs off-screen. With no actors listed in the opening titles and some very careful scripting, it was probably a big shock to viewers at the time. This was repeated in the remake, with Abby's husband played by Shaun Dingwall. Paul's death near the start of the second season is also a good one - half the Season 1 cast had just been written out after a big format change and the show seemed settled on a new direction, only to promptly kill off another first series star within a couple of episodes.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Played with heavily. In a world where there is no definitive law or government, most of the human race is dead, and survival by whatever means is the order of the day, normal rules do not apply. Stuff which might normally be considered stealing, applying the death penalty (either for minor crimes like stealing or poaching, or at all), general tyranny justified to preserve safety or law and order, looking out for number one/your own instead of being a good Samaritan, sleeping with as many people as possible to preserve the human race, and all sorts. Often leads to [[ShadesOfConflict differences between characters and groups, who many have their own ideas and motivations for doing what they do.]]
* DepopulationBomb: Both versions involve a plague that wipes out more than 99% of the world's population. In the original series episode "Corn Dolly", Charles estimates that only 1 person in every 5,000 survived.
* {{Determinator}}: Abby desperately searches for her son Peter. [[spoiler: In Terry Nation's novelisation of several Season One episodes of the 1975 version, Peter, a member of a gang of wandering youths, kills Abby as he does not recognise her. In the 2008 version, Abby is reunited with him in the {{Cliffhanger}} ending to Season Two.]]
* TheImmune: In the original, some survivors never got sick, others fell ill but pulled through. In the remake, Abby is the only one whose body managed to fight off the virus. [[spoiler:However, we later learn that some of humanity has managed to escape exposure, in the form of a virus research facility.]]
* ThePlague: As noted, in both versions it is released from a laboratory. In the original, the viewer only learns this from the opening title sequence, and it never becomes significant plot-wise.
* SurvivedTheBeginning: The first episode involves introducing several characters and then watching most of them die off into the tiny handful that would make up the cast for the rest of the series, as a plague which wipes out 90 percent of the world hits.
* TheVamp: Both versions feature a woman who plies her seductive wiles to attract and keep male protectors.
----
!!The 1975 series provides examples of:
* TheAce: In "Garland's War", Abby meets Jimmy Garland, an aristocratic GentlemanAdventurer who went on expeditions all over the world before the plague hit. As the the fourth son of the 13th Earl of Waterhouse, he was never expected to inherit the title so he indulged his passion for travel and adventure by going on these trips as well as joining the Army. Abby says that he should have been born 200 years earlier but Jimmy tells her that he is ideally suited to the post-plague world and that he could not have invented a situation more to his liking.
* AchillesInHisTent: In "A Beginning", Abby is feeling the burden of leadership since everyone looks to her for guidance due to her pivotal role in establishing the settlement. Over the last few weeks, her depression has grown because she misses Peter and she feels that she has no one with whom she can discuss her problems. As such, she decides to leave the community and find Jimmy Garland, whom she previously met in "Garland's War". Her intention is to resume her search for Peter with Jimmy's assistance. However, Abby ultimately elects to return to the Grange as she realises that they need her too much.
* AnyoneCanDie: For just three years on the air, the show had quite the cast turnover. Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards) is the only cast member to remain with the series throughout its entire run, appearing in both the first and last episodes.
* ApocalypseAnarchy: In "The Fourth Horseman", Jenny is harassed and almost assaulted by three young men looting shops on a UsefulNotes/{{London}} high street.
* BabyFactory: In "Corn Dolly", Charles believes that the British Isles' post-plague population, which he estimates at approximately 10,000, is so small that they may all die out within two or three generations. To prevent this from happening, he impregnates four of the women in his community, Lorraine, Isla, Tessa and Florence, and wants to do the same to Abby. Abby, Jenny and Greg are appalled and decide to leave and never come back. Charles tries to convince Jenny to remain and have a baby with Greg or any other man. He is desperate as Tessa and Florence both died from eating diseased fish and he is not certain whether Lorraine and Isla's pregnancies will be viable but his pleas fall on deaf ears.
* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler: Greg in Season Three, essentially. He appears in only two widely-spaced episodes, and in the second contracts smallpox and dies.]]
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: The only one who appears in the entire series is introduced [[spoiler: dying of smallpox.]]
* {{Bookends}}: The series begins and ends with scenes of [[spoiler: a couple eating dinner by candlelight.]]
* BurnTheWitch: A second-season episode gets [[IdiotBall dangerously close]] to this.
* TheCameo: Creator/PatrickTroughton makes a one-scene appearance in one episode. [[spoiler: His character is then killed off-screen.]]
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Minor characters often disappeared with little or no explanation.
* {{Commune}}: In "Spoil of War", Paul Pittman, a new arrival at the Grange, tells Abby and Jenny that he was a member of a self-sufficient agricultural commune before the plague hit. He uses his extensive knowledge of farming techniques to substantially improve the running of the Grange estate.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Season Three may be the most literal example of this ever.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: In "Gone Away", while obtaining food and other vital supplies from a supermarket, Abby, Greg and Jenny discover the body of a man who has seemingly been hanged on display. The body has a sign reading "Looter" stuck to it and as such is intended to serve as a warning. Dave Long, a lackey of Arthur Wormley whom Abby previously met in "Genesis", says that they didn't actually kill him, having merely found the body down the road. He notes that it is a more effective deterrent than putting up a "Keep Out" sign.
* DemotedToExtra: Jenny, as Season One progresses. She begins to come back into prominence in Season Two, then stars in Season Three as she [[spoiler: fruitlessly chases Greg around the countryside]]. Demoted in her place is everyone who carried over from Season Two besides her, Charles and Hubert.
* DisasterScavengers: Tom Price is the most prominent example of several in Season One. In "Genesis", he takes expensive clothes from an upmarket shop and a Rolls Royce from a showroom.
* DownerEnding: In "Law and Order", Barney is executed for the murder of Wendy while Abby and Greg let the actual murderer, Tom, go unpunished as they believe that the truth would destroy their burgeoning community.
* FeudalOverlord:
** In "Genesis", the trade unionist Arthur Wormley has established a small community and has declared himself the ruler of the general area surrounding it. His ultimate goal is make contact with other settlements throughout Britain. His compound will be the central hub through which all of these settlements will be administered. Abby compares it to the way in which feudal barons ruled. Wormley counters that feudalism eventually led to the development of the British system of government, which he considers the best in the world. He later claims that the government declaration of martial law gives him the authority to execute a retired colonel who led an attack on his compound, which resulted in the death of one of his men.
** In "Garland's War", Knox tells Abby that Jimmy Garland has set numerous conditions when it comes to taking back his ancestral home Waterhouse and becoming leader of their community. He wants everyone to move out of the main house, take up residence in the cottages on the estate, pay him rent and swear their loyalty to him as lord of the manor. As she did in "Genesis", Abby compares this to the feudal system. In reality, however, Jimmy merely wants Waterhouse to be a functioning estate again with him as an arbiter as opposed to a ruler. He assures Abby that everyone would have a say in the running of the community. It is later revealed in "A Beginning" that Jimmy got his wish. Knox was killed in an accident one day while out hunting for him. The other members of the community soon came to Jimmy for assistance.
* TheFoodPoisoningIncident: In "Corn Dolly", eight of the eleven members of Charles' community die after eating fish that they had caught in a lake the day before. Charles speculates that it may have been caused by industrial waste, bacteria or a new virus created as a byproduct of the plague.
* FromTheMouthsOfBabes:
** In "The Future Hour", Bernard Huxley learns that his heavily pregnant [[CommonLawMarriage common law wife]] Laura Foster is hiding in the Grange when John tells him one of his men that he felt the baby kicking.
** In "Revenge", Vic discovers that Anne Tranter (who left him for dead in "Genesis") has arrived at the Grange when John and Lizzie tell him that they had met her. The adults had been trying to keep her presence a secret. Vic then tries to kill Anne.
* FunnyForeigner: Emma and Daniella are mild examples of this.
* GodIsDispleased: In "Gone to the Angels", Jack, Robert and Matthew are three religious men who intended to form a [[TheArk new Noah's Ark]] in the mountains in the months before the outbreak. They believe that the plague is {{God}}'s way of punishing humanity for its evil ways.
* GuiltByCoincidence: In "Law and Order", the Grange has a party in celebration of May Day. Almost all of the adult members of the community, in particular Tom and the intellectually impaired Barney, drink heavily. Throughout the night, Barney is very attentive towards Wendy, which some of the others see as pestering. As she goes up to bed, Tom tries to force himself on her. When she runs away, he follows her into her room. The next morning, she is found dead, having been stabbed. The murderer is Tom, who hides a knife under a floorboard, but the chief suspect is Barney, who is hunting in the forest. Greg, Tom, Paul and Arthur search for him. Tom manages to find him first and warns him that he must get away as fast as possible since the others think that he killed Wendy. However, he is caught by Greg and Paul and blurts out that he didn't do it, which is taken to mean that he did not kill Wendy. As far as any of the others knew, the only way that he could have know that Wendy was dead was if he had killed her. Furthermore, he is found with a bloodied arrow in his possession. He used it to kill a rabbit but the others suspect that the blood belongs to Wendy. The nine remaining adults (including Tom) put him on trial. By a margin of six to three, he is found guilty with diminished responsibility. After the verdict, the community considers banishing him but Greg argues that he must be executed. The group then votes on these two options. Greg, Paul, Vic and Arthur vote for execution while Jenny, Emma, Charmian and the guilt-ridden Tom vote for banishment. Having the deciding vote, Abby votes for his execution. The five men draw straws to decide who shall shoot him. Greg gets the short straw. After Barney's death, Tom can no longer contain his guilt and shows Abby and Greg the knife. Greg nearly kills Tom but Abby stops him. The two of them decide to keep Tom's guilt a secret from the others, both because they think that Tom would be lynched and because they need every remaining hand.
* HeelFaceTurn: Charles, sort of. He makes a rather creepy appearance in the first-season episode "Corn Dolly" but repents and in the other two seasons becomes a series regular following [[spoiler: Abby and Greg's departure/deaths.]]
* HopeSpot: The last episode of Season One retroactively turned into this, when production-crew turmoil led to [[spoiler: Abby disappearing for good and many of the remaining characters dying in a settlement-destroying fire.]]
* HostageSituation: In "Something of Value", Robert Lawson, Jim Buckmaster and Thorpe take first Lizzie and later Lucy hostage as part of their attempt to steal the Grange community's tanker, which contains about 1,000 gallons of petrol.
* ImperiledInPregnancy: In "The Future Hour", the heavily pregnant Laura Foster runs away from the community led by her [[CommonLawMarriage common law husband]] Bernard Huxley. He intends to give away her baby, who was conceived before the plague outbreak, as he doesn't want to raise another man's child. With the help of her friend Norman, Laura makes her way to the Grange and is given sanctuary. However, Huxley finds out that she is there and says that he and his men will launch an attack if Laura is not returned to him by 10 o'clock the following morning. Laura and Norman sneak out of the Grange in the middle of the night but they don't get very far as she goes into labour. Greg brings her back to the house, where the baby is safely delivered.
* ImportantHaircut: At the end of "The Fourth Horseman", Abby cuts her hair. This signifies the end of her old life.
* JerkAss: Hubert in Season Two, although he shows ''some'' improvement in Season Three.
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Wendy]] in "Law and Order".
* LowerClassLout: Anyone who was lower-class before the Death tends to be, at best, dirty, surly and unhelpful.
* MercyKill: In "Corn Dolly", Charles procures morphine from a hospital and injects the dying members of his community with it in order to end their suffering.
* MissedHimByThatMuch:
** In "The Fourth Horseman", Jenny hears Abby's car driving by and tries in vain to get her attention.
** [[spoiler: Greg and everyone else]] all though Season Three.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Lawson]] in "Something of Value."
* NoBikesInTheApocalypse: Subverted, if only for one episode; by the third season, the characters are mostly riding horses.
* OneManArmy: In "Garland's War", Jimmy Garland leads a one man war against Knox and his followers in order to reclaim his ancestral home Waterhouse.
* ThePigPen: Hubert again.
* PostApocalypticDog:
** In "Corn Dolly", Charles mentions that dogs are hunting in packs.
** In "Gone to the Angels", John and Lizzie adopted a stray dog that they named Ben. At one point, he runs off when he hears other dogs barking but he returns. When Lincoln threatens Lizzie with a scissors, Ben attacks him in order to save Lizzie.
** In "Starvation", the survivors come across a pack of dogs in the middle of the road. Abby wants to chase them away but Greg warns that they may be rabid. They eventually run away when they hear something and Ben goes with them. John and Lizzie want to find him but Greg says that he will be happy with his new friends. Jenny and Abby warn the children not to play with Ben if he does return as he may have rabies. However, Greg tells them that it is alright since Barney, who was bitten by one of them, would be the showing symptoms of rabies by now. Ben rejoins the survivors at the end of the episode.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Abby in Season Two; the characters aren't able to confirm it, but the strong implication is that eventually she died.]]
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: In "The Future Hour", [[spoiler: only one episode after he killed Wendy and allowed Barney to take the blame for it in "Law and Order", Tom Price shoots Bernard Huxley so that his [[CommonLawMarriage common law wife]] Laura Foster does not have to give up her newborn baby. Tom is promptly shot dead by Huxley's men.]]
* SexForServices: In "Starvation", Tom Price tells both Abby and Wendy that he will obtain food for them in exchange for payment. It is never stated outright that he means sex. However, the starving Wendy's refusal of his offer and the mock seductive way in which Abby speaks to Tom during her successful attempt to trick him into entering his van make it abundantly clear what Tom was talking about.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: A minor character gets ADayInTheLimelight, with an episode devoted to his [[spoiler: deciding to resume his pre-Death duties as a vicar.]] Two episodes later [[spoiler: he is casually gunned down by a thug.]]
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A second-season episode deals with the heroes' realization that as (mostly) a bunch of former suburbanites, they really have no clue how to run a functioning farm. Plus an episode where they also realize that just because they survived the The Death, that doesn't make them immune to ''other'' diseases.
* TyphoidMary: In "Gone to the Angels", Abby, Greg and Jenny discover that they and by extension everyone else who was immune to the plague are nevertheless carriers for it. Several days after meeting Abby, Jack, Robert and Matthew, who had been completely isolated in the mountains since before the plague struck, die from it. As a result, Abby, Greg and Jenny decide to avoid anyone else who had never come into contact with the plague.
* VideoInsideFilmOutside: A notable aversion; about a third of the show's run was shot entirely on location, a first for the BBC and a considerable undertaking for the time. Most of the camera work ended up being carried out by the Outside Broadcast team, who normally covered sports fixtures or concerts.
* VikingFuneral:
** A slight variation. In the final scene of "The Fourth Horsemen", Abby burns down her house with her husband David's body inside.
** Similarly, in "Garland's War", Jimmy Garland burned down a barn on the Waterhouse estate so that it could serve as a funeral pyre for his deceased family members and servants.
----
!!The 2008 series provides examples of:
* AssholeVictim: Those killed by Abby's group are never entirely innocent. The old man [[spoiler: Al]] accidentally kills in the beginning was threatening to beat Naj because he was helping himself to ''sweets'' in his shop. The man killed by [[spoiler: Tom]] had basically kidnapped one of Abby's group.
* BadassInDistress: Tom ends up getting [[spoiler: sold into slavery]] and the others must rescue him.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Despite fighting to survive in a world without running water and electricity, the women have perfectly sleeked hair and wear make up, Tom is always freshly shaved, and everybody has clean, smooth clothes.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Tom Price. We know he's a hardened criminal and habitual liar who is willing to casually murder in cold blood when he feels it's worth it, but sometimes holds back and displays some loyalty to the group. Exactly what motivates him seems unclear.
* BrandX:
** Nearly totally {{averted}}-a looter is seen hanged in a Netto and the logos of many a major UK shop are to be seen.
** In one episode, a kid retrieves cooking oil from a congealed pool of it in the fryer of a [=MacDonalds=], where there's a decomposing corpse. You want to conclude that joke or shall I?
** There is no reluctance in calling Greg's Land Rover a Land Rover, to the point where Billy raves about how awesome they are.
* CliffHanger: The last episode of both seasons.
* CoolCar: The Land Rover Defender.
* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: Craig, an adult who operates a street gang of kids in a mostly abandoned city district, often denies the children food and precious "arcade" time if they don't do a satisfactory job of looting throughout the day.
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Al in the Season Two opener.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Dr. James Whitaker, a biochemist leading research into the virus, is the second season's main antagonist who uses increasingly unethical practices (i.e. [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate human guinea pigs with no consent]]) in doing so. However, he's also desperate to protect his wife and son, whom he's kept secure within the research facility (violating protocol).
* TheFagin: Craig, who runs a gang of street children who loot the city for supplies and rewards them time using an arcade if they do well (or denies that assuming they don't).
* FreeRangeChildren: Naj does this in the second series when waiting for Abby. {{Justified}} as due to the post-apocalyptic situation, rules are a little different.
* GoodIsNotNice: Tom, who is ''very'' morally questionable despite being in Abby’s group. Also, Samantha, the last remaining [[spoiler: (or is she?)]] government official. Good? Arguably. Nice? Not always.
* HearingVoices: In the first season, Naj brings home a group of people following John, a "preacher" who hears God/Mother Nature ever since the epidemic, which he sees as [[{{GaiasVengeance}} Gaia's revenge]]. After someone he cares for has a brush with death, he becomes [[spoiler: paranoid, and Anya works out that he's schizophrenic and has been off his medication since everything went down]]. This is particularly bad as his wife is about to give birth, and he may be dangerous...
* IgnoredConfession: In episode two, Abby asks Tom what he did before the pandemic, and he says "I robbed things. Killed a few people." She thinks he's joking, and says it's not funny. Later she finds out that's the truth.
* KangarooCourt: Samantha Willis runs this as a matter of course. In the first case, she convicts and sentences to death a looter without even hearing any evidence, then immediately shoots her. Next, when Tom's the one on trial, again no actual evidence gets heard-Abby, who's acting as his lawyer, is not allowed to question the sole witness against him. She's already arranged it so enough jurors will vote him guilty beforehand for a majority verdict, but when this doesn't work, Willis just dismisses them and convicts Tom anyway. He's then {{made a slave}} as punishment.
* LighterAndFluffier: As much as a show with its premise can be.
* MadeASlave: Tom, who gets this treatment as punishment for a murder he committed. Greg too, for trying to help him escape.
* MustMakeAmends: In the season 2 opener, [[spoiler: Anya and Al]] are buried alive when a burning hospital collapses on top of them. Turns out the building was set on fire by locals who wanted to get rid of the hundreds of bodies and thus of the contagion risk. When they find out there are casualties, the locals team up to try and save them.
* PreClimaxClimax: Believing everyone may die resolves two seasons of sexual tension for Anya and Tom, as she decides to have sex with him as a result.
* QueerEstablishingMoment: Anya reveals she's bisexual through stating that her deceased female friend, who'd died from the pandemic, was previously her girlfriend. Tom, her male LoveInterest, was listening as she said this and is disgusted at first, but they get over his reaction.
* RedundantRescue: The group goes out to rescue [[spoiler: Tom from enslavement]], only to realize once they get there that he's already escaped.
* RousingSpeech: Several of these are given by Abby throughout the series, especially when trying to convince the group that they need to stick together.
-->"Everything we ever knew has been ripped away from us. Our old life is ''dead''. Now we have to build a new one... but we can't build it ''alone''. Now there is only one choice, we either stand together or die."-]
* SecondaryAdaptation: A disclaimer in the credits said it was based in Terry Nation's novelization of the original series to avoid copyright problems.
* ShootTheDog: Or rather the looter, as the former government minister has to prevent a large-scale loss of authority in her commune.
* ShowerOfAngst: A ''cold'' and brief one, taken by Abby after waking up from her virus attack. It's brief as the water cuts out after about fifteen seconds.
* SlaveLiberation: In the fourth episode of the second season, after they're freed by the main cast.
* TokenReligiousTeammate: Naj is the only member of the main group who's shown to be religious (he's devoutly Muslim-he was praying at the mosque as the virus struck, with everyone else inside dying).
* TwoPersonPoolParty: Abby has casual sex with a guy in a pond at one point.
%%* TrueCompanions: Abby's group of survivors.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Anya and Tom have this for most of the series, having a clear mutual attraction which they don't act on. Finally, [[TheirFirstTime they sleep together]] when everyone seems about to die.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Dexter attempts to use the line on Tom, who's got him at his mercy. [[NeckSnap It doesn't work.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Two of them: Samantha Willis, willing to do whatever it takes to restore order and Whitaker, willing to kill in the search for a cure.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: This is toyed with between Anya and Tom. They finally do near the end of the second season when they think everyone may die.
----
to:
->''"Every new person feels like a gift."''
-->-- '''Abby Grant''', ''Survivors'' (2008)
''Survivors'' was a post-apocalyptic drama created by Creator/TerryNation for Creator/TheBBC. It ran for three seasons (the second and third without Nation's involvement) from 1975 to 1977. In 2008, it was "re-imagined" and re-launched, this time lasting two seasons before being cancelled in 2010. Officially, the new series was based on an original series novelization which Nation wrote. In 2014, Creator/BigFinish Productions started producing an audio drama series based on and taking place alongside the 1975 series, including crossovers with the original cast.
Both versions are set in the then-present day and depict the aftermath of a virulent [[ThePlague disease]] that wiped out 99% of the human race. It was generally just called 'The Death' in the original but was identified in the remake as 'European Flu'-being released from a laboratory. A disparate band of [[TheImmune survivors]] is thrown together and must now face the struggle of a dangerous life with no society, police or government. However, in both versions, there eventually appear people who have ideas about re-establishing a form of government.
[[BlackComedy Well, look on the bright side. Global warming's not going to be a problem any more...]]
There is a [[{{Characters/Survivors}} character sheet]] for the remake, though it may contain spoilers.
Not to be mistaken for ''Series/{{Survivor}}''.
----
!!Both series provides examples of:
* AfterTheEnd: In the aftermath of a devastating plague, the people who were immune struggle to survive.
* ApocalypseHow: Level One and a high one at that, but the existence of human knowledge in book form keeps it from a Level Two.
* CelebritySurvivor:
** In the original series episode "Genesis", Abby meets Arthur Wormley, who was the national president of a major trade union before the outbreak.
** In the 2008 series, Samantha Willis is the only surviving governmental official, having been the Junior Minister in charge of overseeing the government's media response to the outbreak.
* CosyCatastrophe: More so in the first version.
* DeadStarWalking:
** Creator/FreemaAgyeman was heavily involved in the promotion of the remake. She dies halfway through the first episode. To add to the impact, the character she played was, in the original, the only one to survive for the entire show.
** The original did this as well, casting the well-known Peter Bowles as the husband to Abby (played by relative unknown Carolyn Seymour) who stays healthy while she collapses with the plague. However, towards the end of the first episode, she is the one who wakes up, to find his dead body, after he succumbs off-screen. With no actors listed in the opening titles and some very careful scripting, it was probably a big shock to viewers at the time. This was repeated in the remake, with Abby's husband played by Shaun Dingwall. Paul's death near the start of the second season is also a good one - half the Season 1 cast had just been written out after a big format change and the show seemed settled on a new direction, only to promptly kill off another first series star within a couple of episodes.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Played with heavily. In a world where there is no definitive law or government, most of the human race is dead, and survival by whatever means is the order of the day, normal rules do not apply. Stuff which might normally be considered stealing, applying the death penalty (either for minor crimes like stealing or poaching, or at all), general tyranny justified to preserve safety or law and order, looking out for number one/your own instead of being a good Samaritan, sleeping with as many people as possible to preserve the human race, and all sorts. Often leads to [[ShadesOfConflict differences between characters and groups, who many have their own ideas and motivations for doing what they do.]]
* DepopulationBomb: Both versions involve a plague that wipes out more than 99% of the world's population. In the original series episode "Corn Dolly", Charles estimates that only 1 person in every 5,000 survived.
* {{Determinator}}: Abby desperately searches for her son Peter. [[spoiler: In Terry Nation's novelisation of several Season One episodes of the 1975 version, Peter, a member of a gang of wandering youths, kills Abby as he does not recognise her. In the 2008 version, Abby is reunited with him in the {{Cliffhanger}} ending to Season Two.]]
* TheImmune: In the original, some survivors never got sick, others fell ill but pulled through. In the remake, Abby is the only one whose body managed to fight off the virus. [[spoiler:However, we later learn that some of humanity has managed to escape exposure, in the form of a virus research facility.]]
* ThePlague: As noted, in both versions it is released from a laboratory. In the original, the viewer only learns this from the opening title sequence, and it never becomes significant plot-wise.
* SurvivedTheBeginning: The first episode involves introducing several characters and then watching most of them die off into the tiny handful that would make up the cast for the rest of the series, as a plague which wipes out 90 percent of the world hits.
* TheVamp: Both versions feature a woman who plies her seductive wiles to attract and keep male protectors.
----
!!The 1975 series provides examples of:
* TheAce: In "Garland's War", Abby meets Jimmy Garland, an aristocratic GentlemanAdventurer who went on expeditions all over the world before the plague hit. As the the fourth son of the 13th Earl of Waterhouse, he was never expected to inherit the title so he indulged his passion for travel and adventure by going on these trips as well as joining the Army. Abby says that he should have been born 200 years earlier but Jimmy tells her that he is ideally suited to the post-plague world and that he could not have invented a situation more to his liking.
* AchillesInHisTent: In "A Beginning", Abby is feeling the burden of leadership since everyone looks to her for guidance due to her pivotal role in establishing the settlement. Over the last few weeks, her depression has grown because she misses Peter and she feels that she has no one with whom she can discuss her problems. As such, she decides to leave the community and find Jimmy Garland, whom she previously met in "Garland's War". Her intention is to resume her search for Peter with Jimmy's assistance. However, Abby ultimately elects to return to the Grange as she realises that they need her too much.
* AnyoneCanDie: For just three years on the air, the show had quite the cast turnover. Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards) is the only cast member to remain with the series throughout its entire run, appearing in both the first and last episodes.
* ApocalypseAnarchy: In "The Fourth Horseman", Jenny is harassed and almost assaulted by three young men looting shops on a UsefulNotes/{{London}} high street.
* BabyFactory: In "Corn Dolly", Charles believes that the British Isles' post-plague population, which he estimates at approximately 10,000, is so small that they may all die out within two or three generations. To prevent this from happening, he impregnates four of the women in his community, Lorraine, Isla, Tessa and Florence, and wants to do the same to Abby. Abby, Jenny and Greg are appalled and decide to leave and never come back. Charles tries to convince Jenny to remain and have a baby with Greg or any other man. He is desperate as Tessa and Florence both died from eating diseased fish and he is not certain whether Lorraine and Isla's pregnancies will be viable but his pleas fall on deaf ears.
* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler: Greg in Season Three, essentially. He appears in only two widely-spaced episodes, and in the second contracts smallpox and dies.]]
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: The only one who appears in the entire series is introduced [[spoiler: dying of smallpox.]]
* {{Bookends}}: The series begins and ends with scenes of [[spoiler: a couple eating dinner by candlelight.]]
* BurnTheWitch: A second-season episode gets [[IdiotBall dangerously close]] to this.
* TheCameo: Creator/PatrickTroughton makes a one-scene appearance in one episode. [[spoiler: His character is then killed off-screen.]]
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Minor characters often disappeared with little or no explanation.
* {{Commune}}: In "Spoil of War", Paul Pittman, a new arrival at the Grange, tells Abby and Jenny that he was a member of a self-sufficient agricultural commune before the plague hit. He uses his extensive knowledge of farming techniques to substantially improve the running of the Grange estate.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Season Three may be the most literal example of this ever.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: In "Gone Away", while obtaining food and other vital supplies from a supermarket, Abby, Greg and Jenny discover the body of a man who has seemingly been hanged on display. The body has a sign reading "Looter" stuck to it and as such is intended to serve as a warning. Dave Long, a lackey of Arthur Wormley whom Abby previously met in "Genesis", says that they didn't actually kill him, having merely found the body down the road. He notes that it is a more effective deterrent than putting up a "Keep Out" sign.
* DemotedToExtra: Jenny, as Season One progresses. She begins to come back into prominence in Season Two, then stars in Season Three as she [[spoiler: fruitlessly chases Greg around the countryside]]. Demoted in her place is everyone who carried over from Season Two besides her, Charles and Hubert.
* DisasterScavengers: Tom Price is the most prominent example of several in Season One. In "Genesis", he takes expensive clothes from an upmarket shop and a Rolls Royce from a showroom.
* DownerEnding: In "Law and Order", Barney is executed for the murder of Wendy while Abby and Greg let the actual murderer, Tom, go unpunished as they believe that the truth would destroy their burgeoning community.
* FeudalOverlord:
** In "Genesis", the trade unionist Arthur Wormley has established a small community and has declared himself the ruler of the general area surrounding it. His ultimate goal is make contact with other settlements throughout Britain. His compound will be the central hub through which all of these settlements will be administered. Abby compares it to the way in which feudal barons ruled. Wormley counters that feudalism eventually led to the development of the British system of government, which he considers the best in the world. He later claims that the government declaration of martial law gives him the authority to execute a retired colonel who led an attack on his compound, which resulted in the death of one of his men.
** In "Garland's War", Knox tells Abby that Jimmy Garland has set numerous conditions when it comes to taking back his ancestral home Waterhouse and becoming leader of their community. He wants everyone to move out of the main house, take up residence in the cottages on the estate, pay him rent and swear their loyalty to him as lord of the manor. As she did in "Genesis", Abby compares this to the feudal system. In reality, however, Jimmy merely wants Waterhouse to be a functioning estate again with him as an arbiter as opposed to a ruler. He assures Abby that everyone would have a say in the running of the community. It is later revealed in "A Beginning" that Jimmy got his wish. Knox was killed in an accident one day while out hunting for him. The other members of the community soon came to Jimmy for assistance.
* TheFoodPoisoningIncident: In "Corn Dolly", eight of the eleven members of Charles' community die after eating fish that they had caught in a lake the day before. Charles speculates that it may have been caused by industrial waste, bacteria or a new virus created as a byproduct of the plague.
* FromTheMouthsOfBabes:
** In "The Future Hour", Bernard Huxley learns that his heavily pregnant [[CommonLawMarriage common law wife]] Laura Foster is hiding in the Grange when John tells him one of his men that he felt the baby kicking.
** In "Revenge", Vic discovers that Anne Tranter (who left him for dead in "Genesis") has arrived at the Grange when John and Lizzie tell him that they had met her. The adults had been trying to keep her presence a secret. Vic then tries to kill Anne.
* FunnyForeigner: Emma and Daniella are mild examples of this.
* GodIsDispleased: In "Gone to the Angels", Jack, Robert and Matthew are three religious men who intended to form a [[TheArk new Noah's Ark]] in the mountains in the months before the outbreak. They believe that the plague is {{God}}'s way of punishing humanity for its evil ways.
* GuiltByCoincidence: In "Law and Order", the Grange has a party in celebration of May Day. Almost all of the adult members of the community, in particular Tom and the intellectually impaired Barney, drink heavily. Throughout the night, Barney is very attentive towards Wendy, which some of the others see as pestering. As she goes up to bed, Tom tries to force himself on her. When she runs away, he follows her into her room. The next morning, she is found dead, having been stabbed. The murderer is Tom, who hides a knife under a floorboard, but the chief suspect is Barney, who is hunting in the forest. Greg, Tom, Paul and Arthur search for him. Tom manages to find him first and warns him that he must get away as fast as possible since the others think that he killed Wendy. However, he is caught by Greg and Paul and blurts out that he didn't do it, which is taken to mean that he did not kill Wendy. As far as any of the others knew, the only way that he could have know that Wendy was dead was if he had killed her. Furthermore, he is found with a bloodied arrow in his possession. He used it to kill a rabbit but the others suspect that the blood belongs to Wendy. The nine remaining adults (including Tom) put him on trial. By a margin of six to three, he is found guilty with diminished responsibility. After the verdict, the community considers banishing him but Greg argues that he must be executed. The group then votes on these two options. Greg, Paul, Vic and Arthur vote for execution while Jenny, Emma, Charmian and the guilt-ridden Tom vote for banishment. Having the deciding vote, Abby votes for his execution. The five men draw straws to decide who shall shoot him. Greg gets the short straw. After Barney's death, Tom can no longer contain his guilt and shows Abby and Greg the knife. Greg nearly kills Tom but Abby stops him. The two of them decide to keep Tom's guilt a secret from the others, both because they think that Tom would be lynched and because they need every remaining hand.
* HeelFaceTurn: Charles, sort of. He makes a rather creepy appearance in the first-season episode "Corn Dolly" but repents and in the other two seasons becomes a series regular following [[spoiler: Abby and Greg's departure/deaths.]]
* HopeSpot: The last episode of Season One retroactively turned into this, when production-crew turmoil led to [[spoiler: Abby disappearing for good and many of the remaining characters dying in a settlement-destroying fire.]]
* HostageSituation: In "Something of Value", Robert Lawson, Jim Buckmaster and Thorpe take first Lizzie and later Lucy hostage as part of their attempt to steal the Grange community's tanker, which contains about 1,000 gallons of petrol.
* ImperiledInPregnancy: In "The Future Hour", the heavily pregnant Laura Foster runs away from the community led by her [[CommonLawMarriage common law husband]] Bernard Huxley. He intends to give away her baby, who was conceived before the plague outbreak, as he doesn't want to raise another man's child. With the help of her friend Norman, Laura makes her way to the Grange and is given sanctuary. However, Huxley finds out that she is there and says that he and his men will launch an attack if Laura is not returned to him by 10 o'clock the following morning. Laura and Norman sneak out of the Grange in the middle of the night but they don't get very far as she goes into labour. Greg brings her back to the house, where the baby is safely delivered.
* ImportantHaircut: At the end of "The Fourth Horseman", Abby cuts her hair. This signifies the end of her old life.
* JerkAss: Hubert in Season Two, although he shows ''some'' improvement in Season Three.
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Wendy]] in "Law and Order".
* LowerClassLout: Anyone who was lower-class before the Death tends to be, at best, dirty, surly and unhelpful.
* MercyKill: In "Corn Dolly", Charles procures morphine from a hospital and injects the dying members of his community with it in order to end their suffering.
* MissedHimByThatMuch:
** In "The Fourth Horseman", Jenny hears Abby's car driving by and tries in vain to get her attention.
** [[spoiler: Greg and everyone else]] all though Season Three.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Lawson]] in "Something of Value."
* NoBikesInTheApocalypse: Subverted, if only for one episode; by the third season, the characters are mostly riding horses.
* OneManArmy: In "Garland's War", Jimmy Garland leads a one man war against Knox and his followers in order to reclaim his ancestral home Waterhouse.
* ThePigPen: Hubert again.
* PostApocalypticDog:
** In "Corn Dolly", Charles mentions that dogs are hunting in packs.
** In "Gone to the Angels", John and Lizzie adopted a stray dog that they named Ben. At one point, he runs off when he hears other dogs barking but he returns. When Lincoln threatens Lizzie with a scissors, Ben attacks him in order to save Lizzie.
** In "Starvation", the survivors come across a pack of dogs in the middle of the road. Abby wants to chase them away but Greg warns that they may be rabid. They eventually run away when they hear something and Ben goes with them. John and Lizzie want to find him but Greg says that he will be happy with his new friends. Jenny and Abby warn the children not to play with Ben if he does return as he may have rabies. However, Greg tells them that it is alright since Barney, who was bitten by one of them, would be the showing symptoms of rabies by now. Ben rejoins the survivors at the end of the episode.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Abby in Season Two; the characters aren't able to confirm it, but the strong implication is that eventually she died.]]
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: In "The Future Hour", [[spoiler: only one episode after he killed Wendy and allowed Barney to take the blame for it in "Law and Order", Tom Price shoots Bernard Huxley so that his [[CommonLawMarriage common law wife]] Laura Foster does not have to give up her newborn baby. Tom is promptly shot dead by Huxley's men.]]
* SexForServices: In "Starvation", Tom Price tells both Abby and Wendy that he will obtain food for them in exchange for payment. It is never stated outright that he means sex. However, the starving Wendy's refusal of his offer and the mock seductive way in which Abby speaks to Tom during her successful attempt to trick him into entering his van make it abundantly clear what Tom was talking about.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: A minor character gets ADayInTheLimelight, with an episode devoted to his [[spoiler: deciding to resume his pre-Death duties as a vicar.]] Two episodes later [[spoiler: he is casually gunned down by a thug.]]
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A second-season episode deals with the heroes' realization that as (mostly) a bunch of former suburbanites, they really have no clue how to run a functioning farm. Plus an episode where they also realize that just because they survived the The Death, that doesn't make them immune to ''other'' diseases.
* TyphoidMary: In "Gone to the Angels", Abby, Greg and Jenny discover that they and by extension everyone else who was immune to the plague are nevertheless carriers for it. Several days after meeting Abby, Jack, Robert and Matthew, who had been completely isolated in the mountains since before the plague struck, die from it. As a result, Abby, Greg and Jenny decide to avoid anyone else who had never come into contact with the plague.
* VideoInsideFilmOutside: A notable aversion; about a third of the show's run was shot entirely on location, a first for the BBC and a considerable undertaking for the time. Most of the camera work ended up being carried out by the Outside Broadcast team, who normally covered sports fixtures or concerts.
* VikingFuneral:
** A slight variation. In the final scene of "The Fourth Horsemen", Abby burns down her house with her husband David's body inside.
** Similarly, in "Garland's War", Jimmy Garland burned down a barn on the Waterhouse estate so that it could serve as a funeral pyre for his deceased family members and servants.
----
!!The 2008 series provides examples of:
* AssholeVictim: Those killed by Abby's group are never entirely innocent. The old man [[spoiler: Al]] accidentally kills in the beginning was threatening to beat Naj because he was helping himself to ''sweets'' in his shop. The man killed by [[spoiler: Tom]] had basically kidnapped one of Abby's group.
* BadassInDistress: Tom ends up getting [[spoiler: sold into slavery]] and the others must rescue him.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Despite fighting to survive in a world without running water and electricity, the women have perfectly sleeked hair and wear make up, Tom is always freshly shaved, and everybody has clean, smooth clothes.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Tom Price. We know he's a hardened criminal and habitual liar who is willing to casually murder in cold blood when he feels it's worth it, but sometimes holds back and displays some loyalty to the group. Exactly what motivates him seems unclear.
* BrandX:
** Nearly totally {{averted}}-a looter is seen hanged in a Netto and the logos of many a major UK shop are to be seen.
** In one episode, a kid retrieves cooking oil from a congealed pool of it in the fryer of a [=MacDonalds=], where there's a decomposing corpse. You want to conclude that joke or shall I?
** There is no reluctance in calling Greg's Land Rover a Land Rover, to the point where Billy raves about how awesome they are.
* CliffHanger: The last episode of both seasons.
* CoolCar: The Land Rover Defender.
* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: Craig, an adult who operates a street gang of kids in a mostly abandoned city district, often denies the children food and precious "arcade" time if they don't do a satisfactory job of looting throughout the day.
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Al in the Season Two opener.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Dr. James Whitaker, a biochemist leading research into the virus, is the second season's main antagonist who uses increasingly unethical practices (i.e. [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate human guinea pigs with no consent]]) in doing so. However, he's also desperate to protect his wife and son, whom he's kept secure within the research facility (violating protocol).
* TheFagin: Craig, who runs a gang of street children who loot the city for supplies and rewards them time using an arcade if they do well (or denies that assuming they don't).
* FreeRangeChildren: Naj does this in the second series when waiting for Abby. {{Justified}} as due to the post-apocalyptic situation, rules are a little different.
* GoodIsNotNice: Tom, who is ''very'' morally questionable despite being in Abby’s group. Also, Samantha, the last remaining [[spoiler: (or is she?)]] government official. Good? Arguably. Nice? Not always.
* HearingVoices: In the first season, Naj brings home a group of people following John, a "preacher" who hears God/Mother Nature ever since the epidemic, which he sees as [[{{GaiasVengeance}} Gaia's revenge]]. After someone he cares for has a brush with death, he becomes [[spoiler: paranoid, and Anya works out that he's schizophrenic and has been off his medication since everything went down]]. This is particularly bad as his wife is about to give birth, and he may be dangerous...
* IgnoredConfession: In episode two, Abby asks Tom what he did before the pandemic, and he says "I robbed things. Killed a few people." She thinks he's joking, and says it's not funny. Later she finds out that's the truth.
* KangarooCourt: Samantha Willis runs this as a matter of course. In the first case, she convicts and sentences to death a looter without even hearing any evidence, then immediately shoots her. Next, when Tom's the one on trial, again no actual evidence gets heard-Abby, who's acting as his lawyer, is not allowed to question the sole witness against him. She's already arranged it so enough jurors will vote him guilty beforehand for a majority verdict, but when this doesn't work, Willis just dismisses them and convicts Tom anyway. He's then {{made a slave}} as punishment.
* LighterAndFluffier: As much as a show with its premise can be.
* MadeASlave: Tom, who gets this treatment as punishment for a murder he committed. Greg too, for trying to help him escape.
* MustMakeAmends: In the season 2 opener, [[spoiler: Anya and Al]] are buried alive when a burning hospital collapses on top of them. Turns out the building was set on fire by locals who wanted to get rid of the hundreds of bodies and thus of the contagion risk. When they find out there are casualties, the locals team up to try and save them.
* PreClimaxClimax: Believing everyone may die resolves two seasons of sexual tension for Anya and Tom, as she decides to have sex with him as a result.
* QueerEstablishingMoment: Anya reveals she's bisexual through stating that her deceased female friend, who'd died from the pandemic, was previously her girlfriend. Tom, her male LoveInterest, was listening as she said this and is disgusted at first, but they get over his reaction.
* RedundantRescue: The group goes out to rescue [[spoiler: Tom from enslavement]], only to realize once they get there that he's already escaped.
* RousingSpeech: Several of these are given by Abby throughout the series, especially when trying to convince the group that they need to stick together.
-->"Everything we ever knew has been ripped away from us. Our old life is ''dead''. Now we have to build a new one... but we can't build it ''alone''. Now there is only one choice, we either stand together or die."-]
* SecondaryAdaptation: A disclaimer in the credits said it was based in Terry Nation's novelization of the original series to avoid copyright problems.
* ShootTheDog: Or rather the looter, as the former government minister has to prevent a large-scale loss of authority in her commune.
* ShowerOfAngst: A ''cold'' and brief one, taken by Abby after waking up from her virus attack. It's brief as the water cuts out after about fifteen seconds.
* SlaveLiberation: In the fourth episode of the second season, after they're freed by the main cast.
* TokenReligiousTeammate: Naj is the only member of the main group who's shown to be religious (he's devoutly Muslim-he was praying at the mosque as the virus struck, with everyone else inside dying).
* TwoPersonPoolParty: Abby has casual sex with a guy in a pond at one point.
%%* TrueCompanions: Abby's group of survivors.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Anya and Tom have this for most of the series, having a clear mutual attraction which they don't act on. Finally, [[TheirFirstTime they sleep together]] when everyone seems about to die.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Dexter attempts to use the line on Tom, who's got him at his mercy. [[NeckSnap It doesn't work.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Two of them: Samantha Willis, willing to do whatever it takes to restore order and Whitaker, willing to kill in the search for a cure.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: This is toyed with between Anya and Tom. They finally do near the end of the second season when they think everyone may die.
----
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* SurvivedTheBeginning: The first episode involves introducing several characters and then watching most of them die off into the tiny handful that would make up the cast for the rest of the series, as a plague which wipes out 90 percent of the world hits.
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* QueerEstablishingMoment: Anya reveals she's bisexual through stating that her deceased female friend, who'd died from the pandemic, was previously her girlfriend. Tom, her male LoveInterest, was listening as she said this and is disgusted at first, but they get over his reaction.
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''Survivors'' was a post-apocalyptic drama created by Creator/TerryNation for Creator/TheBBC. It ran for three seasons (the second and third without Nation's involvement) from 1975 to 1977. In 2008, it was "re-imagined" and re-launched, this time lasting two seasons before being canceled in 2010. Officially, the new series was based on an original series novelization which Nation wrote. In 2014, Creator/BigFinish Productions started producing an audio drama series based on and taking place alongside the 1975 series, including crossovers with the original cast.
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''Survivors'' was a post-apocalyptic drama created by Creator/TerryNation for Creator/TheBBC. It ran for three seasons (the second and third without Nation's involvement) from 1975 to 1977. In 2008, it was "re-imagined" and re-launched, this time lasting two seasons before being canceled cancelled in 2010. Officially, the new series was based on an original series novelization which Nation wrote. In 2014, Creator/BigFinish Productions started producing an audio drama series based on and taking place alongside the 1975 series, including crossovers with the original cast.
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* UnresolvedSexualTension: Anya and Tom have this for most of the series, having a clear mutual attraction which they don't act on. Finally {{they do}} sleep together when everyone seems about to die.
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* UnresolvedSexualTension: Anya and Tom have this for most of the series, having a clear mutual attraction which they don't act on. Finally {{they do}} Finally, [[TheirFirstTime they sleep together together]] when everyone seems about to die.
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* AbsenteeActor: Often happens; almost every episode in Season Two has one character or another "off gathering salt".
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* TheCameo: Creator/PatrickTroughton makes a one-scene appearance in one episode. [[spoiler: His character is then killed off-screen.]]
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* SecondaryAdaptation: A disclaimer in the credits said it was based in Terry Nation's novelization of the original series to avoid copyright problems.
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* SpecialGuestStar: Among those who made guest appearances were Creator/BrianBlessed and Creator/PatrickTroughton.
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* SpecialGuestStar: Among those who made guest appearances were Creator/BrianBlessed and Creator/PatrickTroughton.SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A second-season episode deals with the heroes' realization that as (mostly) a bunch of former suburbanites, they really have no clue how to run a functioning farm. Plus an episode where they also realize that just because they survived the The Death, that doesn't make them immune to ''other'' diseases.
* SecondaryAdaptation: A disclaimer in the credits said it was based in Terry Nation's novelization of the original series to avoid copyright problems.
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* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A second-season episode deals with the heroes' realization that as (mostly) a bunch of former suburbanites, they really have no clue how to run a functioning farm. Plus an episode where they also realize that just because they survived the The Death, that doesn't make them immune to ''other'' diseases.
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** [-"Everything we ever knew has been ripped away from us. Our old life is ''dead''. Now we have to build a new one... but we can't build it ''alone''. Now there is only one choice, we either stand together or die."-]
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* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A second-season episode deals with the heroes' realization that as (mostly) a bunch of former suburbanites, they really have no clue how to run a functioning farm. Plus an episode where they also realize that just because they survived the The Death, that doesn't make them immune to ''other'' diseases.
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* TrueCompanions: Abby's group of survivors.
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* RealityEnsues: A second-season episode deals with the heroes' realization that as (mostly) a bunch of former suburbanites, they really have no clue how to run a functioning farm. Plus an episode where they also realize that just because they survived the The Death, that doesn't make them immune to ''other'' diseases.
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* UnresolvedSexualTension: Anya and Tom have this for most of the series.
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* UnresolvedSexualTension: Anya and Tom have this for most of the series. series, having a clear mutual attraction which they don't act on. Finally {{they do}} sleep together when everyone seems about to die.
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* SecondaryAdaptation: A disclaimer in the credits said it was based in Terry Nation's novelization of the original series to avoid copyright problems.
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* DeadStarWalking: Creator/FreemaAgyeman was heavily involved in the promotion of the remake. She dies halfway through the first episode. To add to the impact, the character she played was, in the original, the only one to survive for the entire show.
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* DeadStarWalking: DeadStarWalking:
** Creator/FreemaAgyeman was heavily involved in the promotion of the remake. She dies halfway through the first episode. To add to the impact, the character she played was, in the original, the only one to survive for the entire show.
** Creator/FreemaAgyeman was heavily involved in the promotion of the remake. She dies halfway through the first episode. To add to the impact, the character she played was, in the original, the only one to survive for the entire show.
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* DeadStarWalking: In both, a high-profile actor (PeterBowles and Creator/FreemaAgyeman, respectively) appeared in the first episode, only for their character to die unexpectedly.
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* DeadStarWalking: In both, a high-profile actor (PeterBowles and Creator/FreemaAgyeman, respectively) appeared Creator/FreemaAgyeman was heavily involved in the promotion of the remake. She dies halfway through the first episode. To add to the impact, the character she played was, in the original, the only one to survive for the entire show.
** The original did this as well, casting the well-known Peter Bowles as the husband to Abby (played by relative unknown Carolyn Seymour) who stays healthy while she collapses with the plague. However, towards the end of the first episode, she is the one who wakes up, to find his dead body, after he succumbs off-screen. With no actors listed in the opening titles and some very careful scripting, it was probably a big shock to viewers at the time. This was repeated in the remake, with Abby's husband played by Shaun Dingwall. Paul's death near the start of the second season is also a good one - half the Season 1 cast had just been written out after a big format change and the show seemed settled on a new direction, onlyfor their character to die unexpectedly.promptly kill off another first series star within a couple of episodes.
** The original did this as well, casting the well-known Peter Bowles as the husband to Abby (played by relative unknown Carolyn Seymour) who stays healthy while she collapses with the plague. However, towards the end of the first episode, she is the one who wakes up, to find his dead body, after he succumbs off-screen. With no actors listed in the opening titles and some very careful scripting, it was probably a big shock to viewers at the time. This was repeated in the remake, with Abby's husband played by Shaun Dingwall. Paul's death near the start of the second season is also a good one - half the Season 1 cast had just been written out after a big format change and the show seemed settled on a new direction, only
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''Survivors'' was a post-apocalyptic drama created by Creator/TerryNation for Creator/TheBBC. It ran for three seasons (the second and third without Nation's involvement) from 1975 to 1977. In 2008, it was "re-imagined" and re-launched, this time lasting two seasons before being canceled in 2010. Officially, the new series was based on an original series novelization which Nation wrote. In 2014, Big Finish Productions started producing an audio drama series based on and taking place alongside the 1975 series, including crossovers with the original cast.
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''Survivors'' was a post-apocalyptic drama created by Creator/TerryNation for Creator/TheBBC. It ran for three seasons (the second and third without Nation's involvement) from 1975 to 1977. In 2008, it was "re-imagined" and re-launched, this time lasting two seasons before being canceled in 2010. Officially, the new series was based on an original series novelization which Nation wrote. In 2014, Big Finish Creator/BigFinish Productions started producing an audio drama series based on and taking place alongside the 1975 series, including crossovers with the original cast.
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* SpecialGuestStar: Among those who made guest appearances were Creator/BrianBlessed and Creator/PatrickTroughton.
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* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Dr. James Whitaker, a biochemist leading research into the virus, is the second season's main antagonist who uses increasingly unethical practices (i.e. [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate human guinea pigs with no consent]]) in doing so. However, he's also desperate to protect his wife and son, whom he's kept secure within the research facility (violating protocol).
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* ShowerOfAngst: A ''cold'' and brief one, taken by Abby after waking up from her virus-attack. It's brief as the water cuts out after about fifteen seconds.
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* ShowerOfAngst: A ''cold'' and brief one, taken by Abby after waking up from her virus-attack.virus attack. It's brief as the water cuts out after about fifteen seconds.
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* TokenReligiousTeammate: Naj is the only member of the main group who's shown to be religious (he's devoutly Muslim-he was praying at the mosque as the virus struck, with everyone else inside dying).
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* WillTheyOrWontThey: This is toyed with between Anya and Tom. [[spoiler: They finally do near the end of the second season when they think everyone may die]].
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* WillTheyOrWontThey: This is toyed with between Anya and Tom. [[spoiler: They finally do near the end of the second season when they think everyone may die]].die.
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* WillTheyOrWontThey: This is toyed with between Any and Tom. [[spoiler: They finally do near the end of the second season when they think everyone may die]].
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* WillTheyOrWontThey: This is toyed with between Any Anya and Tom. [[spoiler: They finally do near the end of the second season when they think everyone may die]].
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* PreClimaxClimax: Believing everyone may die resolves two seasons of sexual tension for Anya and Tom, as she decides to have sex with him as a result.
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* UnresolvedSexualTension: Anya and Tom have this for most of the series.
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* WillTheyOrWontThey: This is toyed with between Any and Tom. [[spoiler: They finally do near the end of the second season when they think everyone may die]].
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* TheFagin: Craig, who runs a gang to street children who loot the city for supplies and rewards them time using an arcade if they do well (or denies that assuming they don't).
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* TheFagin: Craig, who runs a gang to of street children who loot the city for supplies and rewards them time using an arcade if they do well (or denies that assuming they don't).
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* TwoPersonPoolParty: Abby has casual sex with a guy in a pond at one point.
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Moved to Characters.
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* BiTheWay: Anya. It turns out that she was more than just "college roommates" with her doctor friend who dies at the beginning.
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* BiTheWay: Anya. It turns out that she was more than just "college roommates" with her doctor friend who dies at the beginning.
* TheFagin: Craig, who runs a gang to street children who loot the city for supplies and rewards them time using an arcade if they do well (or denies that assuming they don't).
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* NoBisexuals: Averted. Ooooh... So they were more than just "college roommates"...
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* AchillesInHisTent: Abby at the end of Season One.
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* AchillesInHisTent: In "A Beginning", Abby at is feeling the end burden of Season One.leadership since everyone looks to her for guidance due to her pivotal role in establishing the settlement. Over the last few weeks, her depression has grown because she misses Peter and she feels that she has no one with whom she can discuss her problems. As such, she decides to leave the community and find Jimmy Garland, whom she previously met in "Garland's War". Her intention is to resume her search for Peter with Jimmy's assistance. However, Abby ultimately elects to return to the Grange as she realises that they need her too much.
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** In "Garland's War", Knox tells Abby that Jimmy Garland has set numerous conditions when it comes to taking back his ancestral home Waterhouse and becoming leader of their community. He wants everyone to move out of the main house, take up residence in the cottages on the estate, pay him rent and swear their loyalty to him as lord of the manor. As she did in "Genesis", Abby compares this to the feudal system. In reality, however, Jimmy merely wants Waterhouse to be a functioning estate again with him as an arbiter as opposed to a ruler. He assures Abby that everyone would have a say in the running of the community.
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** In "Garland's War", Knox tells Abby that Jimmy Garland has set numerous conditions when it comes to taking back his ancestral home Waterhouse and becoming leader of their community. He wants everyone to move out of the main house, take up residence in the cottages on the estate, pay him rent and swear their loyalty to him as lord of the manor. As she did in "Genesis", Abby compares this to the feudal system. In reality, however, Jimmy merely wants Waterhouse to be a functioning estate again with him as an arbiter as opposed to a ruler. He assures Abby that everyone would have a say in the running of the community. It is later revealed in "A Beginning" that Jimmy got his wish. Knox was killed in an accident one day while out hunting for him. The other members of the community soon came to Jimmy for assistance.
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* HostageSituation: In "Something of Value", Robert Lawson, Jim Buckmaster and Thorpe take first Lizzie and later Lucy hostage as part of their attempt to steal the Grange community's tanker, which contains about 1,000 gallons of petrol.
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Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: Two episodes in a row, the heroes would have been a ''lot'' better off if they had locked the resident kids up somewhere for a few hours..
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* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: Two episodes FromTheMouthsOfBabes:
** In "The Future Hour", Bernard Huxley learns that his heavily pregnant [[CommonLawMarriage common law wife]] Laura Foster is hiding ina row, the heroes would have been a ''lot'' better off if Grange when John tells him one of his men that he felt the baby kicking.
** In "Revenge", Vic discovers that Anne Tranter (who left him for dead in "Genesis") has arrived at the Grange when John and Lizzie tell him that they hadlocked the resident kids up somewhere for met her. The adults had been trying to keep her presence a few hours..secret. Vic then tries to kill Anne.
** In "The Future Hour", Bernard Huxley learns that his heavily pregnant [[CommonLawMarriage common law wife]] Laura Foster is hiding in
** In "Revenge", Vic discovers that Anne Tranter (who left him for dead in "Genesis") has arrived at the Grange when John and Lizzie tell him that they had
