History Main / Survivors

This is a disambiguation page. You are looking for one of these two works:

* {{Series/Survivors}}: A British LiveActionTelevision Series.
* {{Literature/Survivor|Dogs}}s: A series of novels by Creator/ErinHunter.

* {{Literature/Survivors}}: A series of novels by Creator/ErinHunter.

* {{Literature/Survivors}}: A series of novels by ErinHunter.

* {{Series/Survivors}}: A British Series.

->''Every new person feels like a gift.''
-->— Abby Grant, version 2.0

Originally a 1975 post-apocalyptic drama created by TerryNation for TheBBC. It ran for three seasons (the second and third without Nation's involvement), then was "re-imagined" and re-launched in 2008, this time lasting two seasons before being canceled. Officially, the new series was based a original-series novelization which Nation wrote.

Both versions are set in the then-present day and depict the aftermath of a virulent [[ThePlague disease]] — generally just called 'The Death' in the original, identified in the remake as 'European Flu' - being released from a laboratory and wiping out 99% of the human race. 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. (Although in both versions there eventually appear people who Have Ideas about that last one..)

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.

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!!Both series provides examples of:
* AfterTheEnd: Virus version
* ApocalypseHow: Level One and a high one at that, but the existence of human knowledge in book form keeps it from a Level Two
* CosyCatastrophe: More so in the first version.
* DeadStarWalking: In both, a high-profile actor (PeterBowles and FreemaAgyeman, respectively) appeared in the first episode, only for their character to die unexpectedly.
* DepopulationBomb
* TheDeterminator: Abby searching for her son.
* FightingForSurvival
* 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.
* TheVamp: Both versions feature a woman who plies her seductive wiles to attract and keep male protectors.

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!!The 1975 series provides examples of:
* AbsenteeActor: Often happens; almost every episode in season two has one character or another "off gathering salt".
* TheAce: Jimmy Garland in season one.
* AchillesInHisTent: Abby at the end of season one.
* AnyoneCanDie: For just three years on the air, the show had quite the cast turnover.
* 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.]]
* BurnTheWitch: A second-season episode gets [[IdiotBall dangerously close]] to this.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Minor characters often disappeared with little or no explanation.
* DarkerAndGrittier: Season three may be the most literal example of this ever.
* 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.
* DownerEnding: More than one. The episode "Law and Order" in particular.. ouch.
* FunnyForeigner: Emma and Daniella are mild examples of this.
* 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..
* 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.]]
* ImportantHaircut: Abby at the end of the first episode.
* JerkAss: Hubert in season two, although he shows ''some'' improvement in season three.
* MissedHimByThatMuch: Abby and Jenny early on, then, somewhat infamously, [[spoiler: Greg and everyone else]] all though season three.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Lawson]] in "Something of Value."
* OneSceneWonder: ''Lots'' of people quickly come and go, but [[Series/DoctorWho Patrick Troughton]] stands out in his one-scene turn as a [[spoiler:doomed]] river-barge operator.
* TheOtherDarrin: At least three characters were played by two different actors, in one case because the original had a nervous breakdown.
* ThePigPen: Hubert again.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Abby in season two; the characters aren't able to confirm it, but the strong implication is that eventually [[DiedOnABus she died]].]]
* RealLifeRelative: Both John and Lizzie were played by children of members of the show's production crew.
* TheScrounger: Tom Price is the most prominent example of several in season one.
* 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.]]
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!!The 2008 series provides examples of:
* 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. (As opposed to ''Series/DoctorWho'', also made by TheBBC, where they're inexplicably and incorrectly referred to as jeeps.)
* 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]]
* 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.
* FridgeLogic: Why are characters limiting themselves to pistols and shotguns? There's entire military arsenals out there
** If Britain's gone off air, have the [[http://grayee.blogspot.com/2008/12/letters-of-very-last-resort.html letters of last resort]] on the [[UltimateDefenceOfTheRealm UK's nuclear missile submarines]] been opened? If so, what's happened?
*** Since the plague played out over time the nuclear subs would have been able to monitor the progress of the plague through public broadcasts and dispatches from their command authority. Doubtless the same would have happened with the SSBN fleets of the United States, Russia and any other navy operating such submarines.
* 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.
* HeyItsThatGuy: Hey, it's the [[NeverWhere Marquis de Carabas]]! And [[Series/DoctorWho Martha Jones]]! And [[{{Glitter}} Dice]], even though he would like to forget that...
* LighterAndFluffier: As much as a show with its premise can be. Also, in this day and age guys like [[{{Gonk}} Talfryn Thomas]] and [[ThePigPen John Abineri]] couldn't land a role in this sort of show if their life depended on it.
* {{Nakama}}: Abby's group of survivors
* NoBisexuals: Averted. Ooooh... So they were more than just ''college roomates''...
* RousingSpeech: Several of these are given by Abby throughout the series, especially when trying to convince the group that they needed 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."-]
* ShootTheDog: Or rather the looter, as the former government minister has to prevent a large-scale loss of authority in her commune
* ShowerOfAngst: ''cold'' and brief one, taken by Abby after waking up from her virus-attack. It's brief as the water packs up after about fifteen seconds.
* TooSoon: the second season was somewhat delayed because of swine flu.
* 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.
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* OneSceneWonder: ''Lots'' of people quickly come and go, but [[DoctorWho Patrick Troughton]] stands out in his one-scene turn as a [[spoiler:doomed]] river-barge operator.

** There is no reluctance in calling Greg's Land Rover a Land Rover, to the point where Billy raves about how awesome they are. (As opposed to DoctorWho, also made by TheBBC, where they're inexplicably and incorrectly referred to as jeeps.)

* HeyItsThatGuy: Hey, it's the [[NeverWhere Marquis de Carabas]]! And [[DoctorWho Martha Jones]]! And [[{{Glitter}} Dice]], even though he would like to forget that...

* TheScrappy: [[strike:possibly]] 11-year-old kid Naj

* ShootTheDog: Or rather the looter, as the former government minister has do to prevent a large-scale loss of authority in her commune

* UnfortunateImplications: The one white male main character is an escaped murderer and potential rapist.

* CompleteMonster: Kane in the episode "Parasites".

* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Tom Price]] crosses this, and then conveniently [[RedemptionEqualsDeath pays]].

* SeasonalRot: Arguably; the three seasons are certainly very different from each other. [[YourMileageMayVary Each has its fans]].

* UnfortunateImplications: Characters who were economically lower-class before the Death tend to be, at best, [[WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons dirty, surly and unhelpful]].

* UnfortunateImplications: Characters who were economically lower-class before the Death tend to be, at best, dirty, surly and unhelpful.

* ShowerOfAngst: ''cold'' and brief one, taken by Abby after discovering her husband's corpse. It's brief as the water packs up after about fifteen seconds.