BBC Survivors intro 70s

[laspilly]

I was four years old and this show creeped the hell out of me

[lawrence1099]

Loved it

[drutgat2]

I loved that series.

I wonder if there is another version of the theme music, another mix or something, as I remember the melody being the same, but I could have sworn that it was 'voiced' in a different way.

I was surprised that the 2008 series used the American spelling for the title, and am even more surprised to see here that they left a 'u' out originally, too.

Thanks for posting this.

[MrShortbus3]

Fantastico sceneggiato inglese.

[Professor6871]

The original came out when Britain was in a financial crisis oh were in one now aren't we? . Who said history doesn't repeat itself.

[thebladerunner11]

Scary because it could be real...the main problem with the first 2 series was that people were too clean!!!!

[crankin7504]

that show changed my life. am 47 now and not a day goes by when i dont think about it. how i wish it was real/ dream about it.

[fabrys2000]

Wonderful! I was a child and I'll never forget The Survivors....

[dramaticguy]

I was really miffed when the fantastic Abby didn't come back after season1 of the orginal classic,series.

[bugoosoogoo]

ORLY

orly now.

[Tracypuk]

Ooh this used to scare me....!!!

[theoldgalah]

When I was a little bloke I was always glad that none of the passport stamps said Australia...............;o) I figured we would be right

[theoldgalah]

The worst thing that can happen to an old but good British story is to have a bloody American remake it. The BBC's original version is far and away better than any of the new one and don't get me started on what Spielberg did to war of the worlds.........

[Professor6871]

@theoldgalah Yeah right about when Hollywood gets hold of a good story like Survivors it usely ruins it.

[theoldgalah]

@Professor6871 yes indeed i am not sure that i have actually ever seen an American version of a British tv show/movie that was better than the original.They generally just don't have the finesse /subtlety or timing of the British versions.

[TheDogrobber]

We call be cool about this now but as a small boy the opening credits chilled me to the bone. In fact having seen and heard it again it still does. Was going to put it on my favourites as it is cool but it still frightens me way too much to deal with on a regular basis

[dazzyboy6969]

@TheDogrobber agreed 100%. i was about 5 or 6 watching this before the watershed....convinced i was gonna die somewhere foreign, russia probably!

[jvforever72]

the Walking Dead is ripping on this show something fierce. I never said that was a bad thing :)

[CarrieOnScreaming]

I loved this series, and I loved the new Survivors, but in different ways Carrie

[Wombat1965]

Very good TV show. One of the first I can recall without "happy happy endings", but which showed it as hard and tough, very realistic. Brits have always done this though...look at the difference between, say, American Zombie and sci-fi movies and British ones, they're more charachter driven than outright special effects bonanzas.

[EalaDubh]

This is a bit typical of Terry Nation and his sci-fi obsession with plague weapons; humanity can invent a viral culture that can wipe out the world's population, but not a laboratory quarantine procedure in the opening credits.

[oldbag699]

is this the one were they the survivors meet up and they gather ppl ont the way and in the end she has a baby and that signals the new world ?

[jodiefostersarmy]

Just got this on DVD, it's a very compelling drama series with good acting and interesting plots. Great opening and closing music as well.

[grahame200]

@jodiefostersarmy yes agreed with you i have all 3 series on dvd and frequently watch them excellent drama.... and no silly music all the way through ! the new series was rubbish!!

[CarrieOnScreaming]

@grahame200 I agree about the music. The new series were 'Americanised'. The older ones were more realistic, in that there was no music playing all the time, or most of the time.

[RobertHartlepool]

I wish they would show this again, instead of the updated crap they've decided to screen instead.

[gordongate]

I agree, its a telling state of affairs regarding the film and tv industry when they stop creating new ideas and resort to remaking old ones for a quick buck

in the majority of cases, the remakes rely more on CGI eye candy than the original context and concept.

The remake of whicker man and the day the earth stood still are a travesty, everyone involved in that rape of good films wants stringing up with barbed wire.

simple rule for everything is

If it aint broke, dont fix it!

[Daisycutt3r]

yay they are remaking the blob! *sarcasm

[markieb59]

@gordongate same goes for the recycling of pop and rock music by mediocre performers... if you cant create something of your own.. then don't bother

[gordongate]

@markieb59 . There is an abyss of difference between influences and experimentation within those influences in music, particularly in the electronic music arena and the churning out of samey cash cow chewing gum for the ears.

I create my own music using sofware apps and i use samples in and out of original context, but my tunes can be put into the many genre pigeon holes that now exist.

I take it you mean the crap played on the radio during daytime hours.

[markieb59]

@gordongate I was referring specuifically to "re-makes". ... people like sean combs, puff daddy.. or whatever he calls himself these days, blatantly re-hashing other peoples music, and weaving it into their own mediocre material...Wycliff Jean would be another example

[gordongate]

@markieb59 Ahhhh, you mean what the studio professionals call "turd polishing". Agree with you totally. The cult of celebrity which requires that you do whatever it takes to make money and be famous, even if you have to turn your life into a public car crash or stand on stage in some TV karaoke competition with the words "got talent" in its name and eventually bastardising good music to fuel the fame addiction.

[Glenn1967ful]

@gordongate

Hear, hear, I'm A Celebrity, Celebrity Big Brother, etc, just a refuge for talentless has beens. Same as The X Factor is a rigged talent contest where only the blandest music is allowed.

[doctorw2]

this intro is the best it gives me chills up and down my spine, the new series should have kept this intro, but honestly the new series is 100% better than the old series better acting and better character development.

[Glenn1967ful]

The new one made mention in the last episode of the virus starting in China, which was a nod to the intro of the original, same as Abby burning the body of Sarah was a nod to the original, where she burns her dead husband.

[stretchmonkey]

Chilling title sequence and the music make me want to curl into a little ball and whimper. Could be something to do with the fact that i started watching it when i was 9. Funnily enough I was convinced for years that the flask that gets dropped was actually AN EGG YOLK. Maybe our tv was a bit cronk.

[weav8060]

I saw the series as a pre-teen in Switzerland in the 70s. Wonderful memories

[DaveBTHunt]

That made me feel quite Kim Jong Ill.

[polegateman]

Brilliant theme music

[VinnyMonster1]

@polegateman It was a brilliant show!

[BumbleBeeInABluebell]

I remember whatching this series when it was on in the 70s - it was brilliant. any idea where I can find the whole thing?

[theoldgalah]

I bought the whole set on ebay the other day for not much..brand new too.

[BumbleBeeInABluebell]

I found it on Amazon - the price was a bit steep. But I daren't even get started on Ebay, or I'd be bidding on everything from wooden legs to rocking-horses.

[copifo]

Good tv-series and high quality.

[asubjectiveopinion]

The remake.

All I can say is that they cast Julie Graham...so it was obviously going to be shit. In the end it was more ITV than ITV is.

The scripting was diabolical. The "acting" made it seem like they had filmed the rehearsals and then screened it by mistake..

No wonder no-one owns a TV anymore.

Perhaps the BBC could experiment with hiring actual actors rather than the advert-level talent that they use these days.

Anyone remember when they used to hire real theatrically trained actors?

[donnyab]

Wrong, wrong, and wrong...the series is excellent (Graham is a bit wooden though) other characters are all totally believable and "normal"...what type of luvvies do you want, it's not King Lear - it's a disaster series !

[asubjectiveopinion]

Well, what I really want, if the truth were told, is dialogue that amounts to more than just exposition.

That would be a good start.

[Thelistener60]

Its about tens times better than that BBC 1 remake that was aired last year.  A travesty of the higest mark.

[TK42138]

Well said!

[Ashworth6]

Did it say "swine flu" on that round-bottomed flask?

[turner681]

No I must of missed that I'll have to freeze frame it to see it.

[SniffTheHedgehog]

Swine Flu (which is a misnomer if ever there was one) is symptom's are only moderately severe ... it won't kill a majority of those infected (this time around) ... but it is spreading like a wildfire ... FYI Channel 4 carried an interview with a woman who has recovered from this moderately severe virus, said stated that she was in so much pain, everywhere in her body, that she couldn't move, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat - by day 3 she simply wanted to die ... later on her interview was removed

[9thprotocol]

'she was in so much pain, everywhere in her body, that she couldn't move, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat - by day 3 she simply wanted to die'

.....and you call that only moderately severe?....sounds more like coffin material to me!

[SniffTheHedgehog]

Have to agree with you about the coffin material ... CDC sources indicate there are over 20 people in a Toronto Hospital (to be confirmed) on ventilators due to the effects of an H1N1 infection, a variant which seems to target the lungs ... Problem with this virus is it is evolving faster than we can counteract our own complacency ... Good news though UK govt has plans in-hand to temporarily quarantine most severely population centres (no idea how) ... and ration supplies of Tamiflu!

[asubjectiveopinion]

Sounds like the symptoms I experienced when I tried to watch the first series of Big Brother.

[theoldgalah]

This new flu  reminds me of survivors

[maxwellmovies]

same here, but i have not seen this old version.

[turner681]

There were quite few episodes on You Tube but they were removed for copyright reasons. I've got all 3 of the series on DVD and the two novels based on series.

[stennerjs]

I have used the original 70s opening episode and compared it with the updated 2009 politically correct version with 11 year olds in the English classroom - they can all spot the phoney misrepresentation of race in the UK, and the rather sad game being played by the media establishment. There is hope that the whole PC/Multiculturalism miasma will dissipate if even young children can see through its twisted agenda. PASS THIS ON: ONLY 7% OF THE UK'S POPULATION IS NOT INDIGENOUS!

[ancientraver19881989]

@stennerjs well said it makes much of today's output unwatchable

[turner60]

The openping is one of the most chilling of any TV dramas. Its images stick in the mind with the braking of the flask with virus in it, the Asian scientist being infected and then colapsing at the airport and the ever present ominous music in the background, telling us that the plague is on its way via air travel across the globe.

[werf4]

Fucking muslim shitskins started it.

[ianclivewright]

Ref the new series

Well there are two characters who are Muslim, one who's black, and a couple of women.

Typical Left Wing Drivel. It's really a wish fulfilment fantasy by the Marxist nuts who have robbed the BBC of any credibility.

It's coded message is at last we can have women and ethnic minorities running the world, of course we might have to deal with a odd vicious white murdering rapist, but we'll get through it.

They must be getting desperate, they really must.

Drivel, and badly done.

[brendel99]

You're taking it the wrong way ianclivewright. Yes the new series is a bit 'right on' but that's just media bias, the media's in certain big cities and they're cosmopolitan places. Notice how it's mainly city folk trying to survive. Plenty of people live in rural areas and they'd survive without any trouble, but it probably wouldn't be v dramatic!

[ianclivewright]

Well, allow me to disagree brendel99.

"A bit", it's totally "right on", in fact it pushes it to past Pluto somewhere in terms of credibility.

The basic plot premise is that a multi cultural fantasy virus wipes out all the white people (the vicious and nasty aside) and leaves an enriched ethnic mix.

Not only does it do that, but it favours Muslims(the BBC's favourite martyrs) and apparently does in the Chinese and Hindus too.

Has the disabled lesbian turned up yet?

[Jingo2000]

One thing that annoys me about this sequence is that guy looks like he deliberately pushes the flask. Unless he had a deathwish it is a case of bad editing.

[theoldgalah]

Jingo2000 you better get your eyes checked I think.

[JAYROX1969]

Dream on, the original kicks ass! The new one is a load of BBC PC shit!!

[elxGrandmasterxP]

No Guys Wtf , new series ROCK , beautiful episodes of 1 hour non-stop ( without commercial breaks) , I saw 5 episodes yet and I hope there is more to come!

[englishoap]

The 70's version was much more chilling. I watched it avidly and the performers were far superior to the new version AND believeable.

[ianclivewright]

Yes but it never explained who was mending the roads, trimming the hedges and cutting the grass.

[Adamuzi]

Oh come on...Have to disagree there. Nothing chilling about 70's version except the theme tune. Just full of poshness really. The new version isn't chilling either but it beats the original just by taking on more social issues and developing the characters more.

[vidpop]

In the new version only pretty and young people survive the plague.I lost interest in the dull plodding dialogue after the first episode

[Crouchienv]

Whereas in the 1970s version most of the survivors were wealthy and/or had BBC English accents!

[JAYROX1969]

At least the old series didn't throw a load of PC muslim propaganda down our throats!

[Adamuzi]

There is no muslim propaganda in it at all, just one character who is a muslim and doesn't ram it down anyones throat...For what it's worth he could represent any religion.

[JAYROX1969]

Yeah right!

[ianclivewright]

It was probably Mulsims who released the virus, so he's a bit embarrassed at having survived. I'd try and fade into the background after a balls up like that.

[ianclivewright]

Well it's entirely possible that young people would survive on the whole. Pretty people would be more desirable, who wants ugly people to repopulate the word, yuk.

[Adamuzi]

Ugliness is not just visual Ian...

[ianclivewright]

Well I don't remember saying it was?

But pretty people are nicer to look at.

[Professor6871]

@vidpop In the orginal it was only the middle classes who were the majority that survived the plague.

[amylNRG]

The new version is shockingly poor by comparison with the original. And painfully polically-correct.

[KnockoffNigeI]

The latest series to be remade by people with no talent or ideas of their own. Stealing the legacies of classic series to flog their crap. Doctor Who - vile, Postman Pat - trash, Survivors - dull.

What next Andy Pandy becomes a good-muslim and only beats looby loo twice a week?

[ianclivewright]

I think the new Dr Who is good, a remake for a new Century.

Must agree about Postman Pat though, what were they thinking.

The Survivors was pretty bad back then, it doesn't surprise me that the remake is pretty bad too.

[turner60]

Don't give the Beeb ideas about Andy Pandy?

[JAYROX1969]

New series is shit, the original is much better.

[digitalbroadcaster]

Oops! I meant:

However, even though I have since SEEN the new version,

[it's late and I'm tired]

[digitalbroadcaster]

Oddly enough though, I can remember every note of the original Survivors score. However, even though I have since the new version, I cannot even remember the first or any notes from the new score. Ooer! Composers take note.

[digitalbroadcaster]

The original version is better in my opinion. There again, the young generation will see THIS new series as we older generation saw the old series. Funny how the names have remained the same in the new series, but with Greg Preston now being black and Abby being well known from other TV shows. Still, at least there is still a Land Rover used. The remake will never have the same interest to me though as that what nostalgia is all about.

[cylon6]

I'm enjoying the new Survivors but their titles are nowhere near as good as these original ones. If you never saw the show from the first episode you'd still know what it was about through the titles, it tells the story of the outbreak in 50 seconds. Very clever. And this theme is better than the new one.

[cjoe94]

lol funny cos its blaming the virus on communism

[zaohad1]

r#new series out excellent stuff!

look up bbc iplayer on a search to watch tv on compUter its all free! it saves all BBC progs freely available to watch or download for 1 week then recycles. type survivors in the box, so far episode 1 and 2 are on there.

[turner60]

The first episode of the New Survivors on the BBC was so rubbish it looked a remake of 'Shaun of the Dead.' The acting was apalling from a second rate Tv actors. Max Beasley as Tom Price whos credits are Hotel Babalon a really cutting tv drama that is. The orginal is far better than this sorry miss. What is it with this secret bunker rubbish and more importantly, what was the point of remaking it after all these years?

[JAYROX1969]

The original and best!

[oasis856]

The new series is politically correct crap. I wouldn't expect anything else from the BBC.

[googajoob7]

yeah i do have some misgivings about that assuming 99 percent (or whatever it is)of britains population are dead its quite odd how the 3 of the central character as asian or black . 4 if jenny is alive which would nt add up . that aside i like it and personally i dont care if they are sky blue pink . i dont like patterson joseph as greg he has zero presence and really is nt for the part wrong man for the doctor too .

[wig3]

Any proportion of survivors according to race would be possible due to the laws of chance. Do you know how unlikely it is that you should exist to type into your keyboard at this moment in time? Yet you do exist, and I don't hear anyone shouting about how annoyed they are that we all exist on planet Earth, do you?

[turner60]

It's because its politically correct to a Asian and black to survive the plague. Demographically they have on average more children than whites. There would be more of a possible to have children that would be immune to the virus. After the epidemic there'd be more of them than white people. So Islam would in the end I hope not giving Bin Laden any ideas.

[googajoob7]

two asians :P

[turner60]

There taking the piss out of it!

[googajoob7]

i thought it was pretty good , interesting twist that jenny died in the first episode in the remake so it was nt as pc as all that .the only thing i would say is the new greg just does nt seam like the leader he became in the original still things may take a different course this time around .

[ahhhnooo1]

i think jenny is still alive. because it never confirmed that she is actually dead. she might just recover like abbie did.

[WackyMacky66]

I thought it was good too. Loved Julie Graham as Abby Grant and loved how some of the old lines were slotted in- verymuch similar to the old one but also very different at the same time. I see they are going to have the same storylines such as the supermarket drama in the next episode. I hope they have the episode when Wendy was murdered by Tom Price and the group had to decide if Barney (I think his name was that)should be put to death.

[googajoob7]

i kind ve missed tom price being a villianous old tramp . the new version is nt bad it ll be interesting to see how it goes . think is if they did do the barney storyline i cant see this tom price being let off in the way they did in the 70s . this ones far to dangerous and much more evil when his predessesor was just a bit sad and weak.abby is far less annoying in this series than she was in the 70s version julie garham did a bang up job.

[mike44wo]

Survivors

Sunday 23 November

9:00pm - 10:30pm

BBC1

New six-part post-apocalyptic drama, based on the Terry Nation novel.

[vidpop]

Any chance of seeing the original on BBC4 ?.

[zaohad1]

If you have a compuer ANYONE ON EARTH! (LOL, pretty wide audience) type bbc iplayer in a search it saves all bbc progs for 1 week and you can watch it then, type survivors in the search box.

You can also Download it too but I havent tried it, suspect you might have to pay or it might be pretty slow.

[digitalbroadcaster]

Zaohad1, it only works on PC's though and not for us Mac users.  Yet.

[2LukeLOL]

pleasent

[vidpop]

When someone said the BBC were going to redo this I thought they were joking.I hate to be a wet blanket but I think the new series will be a pale immitation of Terry Nations original.

[londonsmoker]

i am dreading the remake as it sounds, from the article in the latest sfx magazine, that they are going to fudge the grim nature of the story. i suppose we should be grateful that russell davies is having nothing to do with it after seeing what he did to doctor who.

[bluesbrother37]

Me too, Greg and Jenny are now black, how PC is that!

[ianclivewright]

I was always puzzled by who was cutting the hedges and keeping the grass mowed. It must have been a bi product of the virus. It did the gardening as a form of apology.

[Loftier]

I can't believe people are actually saying they liked this. Typical BBC rubbish where the good guys were all frightfully middle class and the bad guys were rough working class types (see also Blake's 7, Day Of The Tryffids, Hitchhiker's Guide ect). Adult comic Viz once gave away the entire boxed set of this show, describing it as their "shittest prize ever" in a competition. I'm inclined to agree.

[ianclivewright]

Communism, National Socialism, all working class movements at heart, all lead to a murder factory of immense proportions.

Guess the makers were trying to tell us something: the lower cognitive classes are crueller and more capricious than the higher cognitive classes, perhaps?

Compare a council estate's rubbish ridden, graffiti infested mess of drunk/drug taking wife beaters, to a middle class district of neat lawns and good values.

Fiction reflecting reality I'd say, wouldn't you?

[hugobear1]

You are absolutely spot on.

[Loftier]

I thought it was only the proletariat who were capable of such class hatred. In defence of the denizens of council estates I would say that many of them are decent, hard working folk. I have also visited many middle class, well educated people who live in the most dreadful squalor. Remember, council estates were an idea of the so-called higher thinkers as, I imagine, would be the creation of a devestating worldwide plague.

[ThePeoplesPalace]

Here here. To 'ianclivewright' who thinks that National Socialism was a working class movement: what a simplistic view of society and indeed of cognition itself, believing that intelligence is actually class based?! We are all the same species after all, and your class of birth is not based on 'cognition'. In actual fact the real beneficiaries of the 3rd Reich were IG Farben, Krupps, Heinkel et al - the industrial business class, the educated and the privileged.

[doomlordindrag]

Whilst I'm sure they'll do a great job in remaking the series I doubt It will have such a powerful opening sequence as this. Chilling!

[davidgrahamscott]

Guarantee that despite all the CGI and special effects the new series will be crap!

[doomlordindrag]

I think it must just be me getting older that TV doesn't move me in the same way anymore.

[digitalbroadcaster]

That sound track is just so magical. Perfect Nation flavour. I hope to get around to also buying the entire set of DVD's soon. I just keep forgetting.

[theoldgalah]

I bought the whole set on Ebay for around $90.00 I love it.Fashions and cars etc take me waaay back.But the story is still as good now and still relevant.Love the beginning.

[turner60]

They should have kept with Tery Nation's novel of 'Survivors'? The ending is shocking but brillant where Abi gets shot by her own son.

[googajoob7]

the new survivors series is to air this autumn on the bbc . apparently its going to be more in keeping with the ideas in the book . also its been reported today on scifi wire that the bbc have already commissioned a second series for next year . so survivors is well and truly back .

[airdriver]

Excellent. The big question for me is whether or not it'll be broadcast here in the U.S. I hope Sci Fi Channel will show it although that would interfere with their ongoing marathons of Stargate SG-1 and the 40th rebroadcast of Boa Vs. Python and Atomic Twister.

[googajoob7]

i m sure you ll get it at somepoint over there . scifi picked up the latest series of dr who so i would lay odds on that they ll do the same with this .

[Johnnyeyebrows]

Well there's a book I don't have to bother reading. Thanks a lot, turner60...

[turner60]

Don't be silly read it anyway. If you've seen any of the Survivors docus then you'd know that they have mentioned about Terry Nation's novel and that Abby Grant dose get shot at the end of the novel by her son Peter.

[wig3]

Fuck you! Turner60, for not putting a spoiler warning into your post about the book!

[Johnnyeyebrows]

Never saw the original, or any of the docus. Let's hope the remake doesn't end the way of the book- or I might have to hunt you down and punch you in the snotter...

[Cerebus660]

Thanks for posting this! On that recent BBC "Cult Of Survivors" documentary they only showed about 2 seconds of this title sequence and talked all over it. Idiots! When I watched this as a kid I thought it was the scariest thing going, especially the rabies episode. Should be interesting to see what the remake will be like.

[mruresm8]

Hi everyone, as with so many others on here, I have great memories of this truly fantastic series, probably the first and third seasons were my personal favourite's, the third season being very ''gritty'' indeed!!

[fulcrum100]

WEll done, TVinsider4.... I came looking for this, and here it is. Fantastic intro, and great series. Was a lot of it shot around Oxfordshire, does anyone know?

[googajoob7]

series 4s being made as we speak

[beckenbauers]

I saw all 3 series this summer on youtube. It was great, because Dansish tv never wanted to repeat it. Havent seen Survivors since I was 10. A shame for the people who missed the series that someone removed it.

Thanks again to the guy for uploading.

[dbirdwell]

Youtube had the episodes up, then I guess the BBC complained. Where can we get the DVD's?

[Gayunderweather]

That's typical of the Beeb to ruin our fun.

[turner60]

Somebody put them back on again. Bloody BBC who do they think they are anyway?

[benlu123]

It was a good series but on looking again it is absolutely ludicrous how clean everyone is.People on the move for weeks at a time would very quickly become smelly and grubby!!Only in series 3 did the producers make things more realistic.

[airdriver]

That being said, a friend of mine loaned me the DVDs of the series. Unlike a lot of my childhood favourites, this show holds up well after thirty(OUCH!) years.

[airdriver]

Wow! When I watched this show back in the 70's, I always wondered why they showed a water balloon hitting the camera lense in the beginning. That's the result of seeing the show before digital cable on a portable B&W TV with tinfoil on the antenna.

[ATVmidlands5581]

great series and a great intro. wonderful sunday night viewing on BBC1 during the late 1970's like the early season the best. had a real haunting feel to it. cheers for posting

[moomintroll1963]

wow i also watched this in my childhood,it would be great if they showed re-runs.

[ABZORBALOFF]

Fantastic. This had me shit scared as a boy. A brilliant series; best episode 'The last laugh'. Please update Russel T Davies. You would do it brilliantly.