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Survivors cover art

Survivors

By: Terry Nation
Narrated by: Carolyn Seymour
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Summary

A deadly virus spreads across the world as quickly as the passenger jets that encircle it. Within weeks most of the global population is dead. The human race is thrown back into the dark ages. The few left alive must rely on the most basic skills to survive one day to the next.

Abby Grant ventures out into a strange new England, her husband dead, the fate of her son unknown. Jenny Richards flees London. Engineer Greg Preston arrives from abroad. Desperate lone travellers come together, their instincts to form a community, even if that means rebuilding civilisation from scratch.

But not all who are left have such high ideals.... And while she has the chance of a new beginning, Abby cannot settle until she knows the truth. Has her son survived?

©1976 Terry Nation (P)2014 Big Finish Productions

What listeners say about Survivors

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Almost ruined by the Americanisation of the text

Would you listen to Survivors again? Why?

Probably not. I mainly wanted to hear it because I remember the original TV series clearly. It does a good job of telling the story. It is quite dark in places, which suits the post-apocalyptic story. The narrator was, I think, one of the leads in that so I like the idea of her reading it but her narration sometimes lacks the performance element that can bring the text alive.

Any additional comments?

Why on earth has the text either been written, or edited, for American English? This story is based on a BBC series set in London and rural England and is I think a very English-style story. It therefore jars really badly when the text is littered with references to windshields, sidewalks and worst of all panty hose and "toward" when we would say "towards" , both especially grating. That means for me that it loses 2 stars.

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Pleasant Nostalgia

For me personally I think this was only ever going to work as a piece of nostalgia. This was a plot limited by the BBC's budget, etiquette and ambitions, as such it was a quintessentially English post-apocalypse story.

So, the fact that Carolyn Seymour does the narration was a real plus, as the original Abbey who is the lead character in the story her voice certainly helped take me back to watching the original TV series as a child. As others have mentioned quite why she ended up being saddled with Americanisms such as sidewalk and sedan instead of pavement and saloon is anyone's guess. It just sounds bizarre in this context.

To anyone who doesn't remember the TV series then it's a decent enough yarn but the genre now has many more stirring tales spun by better authors without the constraints of a seventies BBC production.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, well told.

Any additional comments?

Having recently just watched the BBC TV box set of the three 'Survivors' series, I enjoyed the re-telling of a slightly darker version of the story. Only spoiled by the unnecessary 'Americanisation' of the text. Sidewalks for pavements, sedan for saloon, gas for petrol, intersection for crossroads etc.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A classic

NOT the same plot as the original 1970s TV series but an altogether more adult and darker story as Terry Nation always intended. Carolyn Seymour is as talented as she is beautiful. A feast for the ears

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

surprisingly good story

I wasn't sure when I first started but I really got into the story.
End of the world novels seem to be all the rage at the moment and this one is not bad at all.
didn't see the ending coming until the a few minutes before it actually happened.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

At last!

The original Abby Grant reads us this book and does a great at it too!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Let's hope the real post epidemic world is so tame

This is the story of the world after a flu-like plague wipes out most of the population. It's the story of a handful of survivors who are decidedly middle class with middle class issues. Everything comes easy to the people portrayed in the novel, there is little hell, violence or disaster- even when gangs roam around. The most dramatic thing I can recall is the rabbits eating their new crops. I didn't expect zombies or silliness but a bit of genuine fear and dramatic episodes would've been welcome. As it was, this made for a dull listen.

The narrator did a good job and made it sound like a radio play, which picked up the narrative. She varied voices a little but it was tricky to distinguish between characters in the early chapters. So if you want to spend a few hours listening to a family friendly end of the world saga then this is for you. I wanted more realism. Average 2.5 to 3 stars.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A really thought-provoking post-apocalipse story!

Although this is a post-apocalipse story, and there are many such that are rubbish, I think this is a very good one. It was written in the 70s and it deals with so many interesting questions to do with the practicalities of rebuilding the world with such a reduced population. Who is in charge? How many things from the old world can we now manage to re-build? Does gold have any value anymore? These any many other really pertinent questions come through in this book, and Abbey, one of the main characters, is truly believable and quite marvellous.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Don't bother.

This is competently written, and performed, so why is it such a bad book? I've been thinking about this, and it's actually quite interesting. Stories about the apocalypse rely on pulling apart a recognisable society piece by piece. The society in this book (1970s) is now so far removed from us, that I found all the characters infuriating idiots who made totally (to me) incomprehensible decisions. On the other hand, Day of the Triffids was written in the 50s, and still works, so maybe Terry Nation just wasn't a very good writer?

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A good flash back to 70's Scifi.

I really enjoyed this one and it took me straight back to my childhood. A good story and well read.

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1 person found this helpful