Years after the events of the first Big Finish series, Abby Grant comes home.

This new version of Survivors hits the ground running and revels in taking our expectations about post-apocalyptic narratives, and Survivors itself, and turning them on their head. That’s a truth at the core of the whole set but arguably series opener ‘Tethered’ by Andrew Smith, in particular.

Abby’s main drive in the original series changes drastically here, and we find that out as she finds out how things have changed back home. The opening incident, with her approached on the road by John Bedwell (Clive Hayward) is such vintage Survivors the show even comments on it. That makes Bedwell’s betrayal all the harsher, and doubly so when the slave trade at the core of the episode is revealed. Carolyn Seymour’s Abby remains a profoundly principled point of stillness in the show. That leads directly to conflict here. Conflict with Prime Minister Celia Tate, played in a barnstorming turn by Belinda Lang. Tate isn’t a villain, quite, but she’s certainly a ruthless antagonist and absolutely convinced she’s the protagonist of the story. She even has Jenny Richards on her side. At first.

Lucy Fleming is such an inherently reassuring and sincere presence in the show that she does for us what she does for Tate: presents an acceptable face for the government as the Law Minister. Just as Abby’s plot revolves around the good fight she’s been handed, Jenny’s becomes about realizing she’s on the wrong side of it. Not just because of her friend either but because of Tate’s other choices.  Peter Bankolé as Ranger Zack  Bakare is at the core of this plot as we find out Tate’s plan to bring back a very familiar and at the same time deeply unnecessary part of the old world. Bankolé’s grounded, stoical ranger feels a lot like a future leading character and he and Tate both turn in excellent work and present as characters we’ll be seeing again.

‘My Generation’ builds on this combination of old and new. Katherine Armitage’s script picks up with Abby on the run and closes with her in even worse trouble. In between, Jackie Burchall (Louise Jameson) reappears, and we get more hints of how the world has changed. There are planes now, cars. A government. Also the simmering wounds of a barely over civil war and an absolutely fascinating axis of discrimination. In this new Britain, the age limit is raised to the point where anyone who didn’t live through the Death can’t vote and they’re sick of not being heard. Arthur, played by James MacCallum, is an activist who, along with his boyfriend, becomes a key part of this struggle and is instantly likable. Again, he feels like a future protagonist and I’d be fascinated to hear him return or at least hear how he gets on. Lucy Fleming is especially good here too, as Abby finds her job and her ethics begin to diverge and demand she pick a side. For the first time, she really is fighting the Good Fight, the consequences of which power the ending.

Closing out the set, ‘Behind You’ by Roland Moore may be the most interesting play the series has ever produced. Abby, drifting in and out of consciousness, is nursed back to health by an old acquaintance. Leonard Cross (Jonathan Rigby) was a terrible children’s entertainer who entranced Peter at his last birthday before the Death. Now, he’s a knight in shining armour. At first.

Cross is a monster, played with Farage-ian bonhomie by Rigby to the point where you actually recoil a little. He’s bold, arrogant, terrified, tragic and ultimately very dangerous and as Abby revisits the past and slowly gets her senses back that becomes apparent. All of which leads to a confrontation that’s as tragic as it is inevitable and in one of the smartest directorial moments I’ve heard in a long time, a character death that takes place ‘behind’ a scene. It’s a quietly remarkable moment, tragic and small scale even as the performances at the front go very very big indeed and its masterful audio storytelling. Coupled with Cross’ excellent work, and Glen McCready too as fellow deeply flawed local Ulrik it closes this first act of the new Survivors in a deeply bleak and very satisfying manner.

The world is different and if anything even more dangerous and this play especially gives the series a unique and urgent new energy.

Verdict: This feels like the sort of drama we need right now and I’m honestly very excited to see where it goes next. Urgent, familiar and consistently surprising this is engrossing science fiction that sees the series return at its absolute best. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart

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