The final episode of ‘Survivors’ comes to a dramatic end, which may have repercussions on another television program close to my heart. But more about that later!
The ever-increasingly creepy government minister, Samantha Willis, appears once again, this time at the survivor’s house. She lets them know of her plan to restart the government from scratch, in her own way. In the meantime, she wants to note down the full names and occupations of everyone. To do this, she has employed the villainous Dexter, who last appeared in episode 2.
After doing nothing since her arrival, Sarah is busy this week. She gets a shock when she learns that her ‘boyfriend’ is still alive and well and Dexter says she must care for him. However, she lets slip that Anya is a doctor and she is taken instead. Furious, the men go after her whilst Abby realises that there is no turning back from here – they don’t want to be part of Samantha’s new regime. However, Naj doesn’t agree with leaving and runs away.
The boys catch up with Anya and her captors and manage to overpower them. However, Tom, with shotgun in hand, stays behind. The rest leave and Tom shoots one of the men dead and gives the other a warning to send to Samantha. Big mistake maybe?
The very rarely-seen scientists are busy trying to find Abby. With a helicopter combing the area and top of the range face-recognition software, surely it won’t be long until she is discovered?
Back at the house, Tom admits to Abby that he ‘had to’ kill the man, which he didn’t! Sarah also continues to be selfish, as she realises that Tom and Anya do have ‘a thing’ between them. Meanwhile, Greg admits to Abby that he has an ex-wife and children but she had ran off with his kids to America and he has no idea whether or not their alive.
Naj makes friends with a rather ill looking child who is a member of a scavenger gang, based at what seems to be an arcade, ran by a nasty bloke and his missus. Whilst the others are out looking for him, Naj becomes concerned at the bloke’s treatment of his new friend. Naj wants to leave when he sees that his friend is taken away in the middle of the night to whereabouts unknown. The nasty bloke takes Naj out the next day, where they run into Al. After a rather humorous confrontation, Al manages to get Naj back and break the man’s nose!
But they don’t arrive back in time, as Dexter finds the rest of the survivors and shoots Greg. Tom goes after him and a rather tense shotgun battle ensures. Meanwhile, the helicopter is coming in to land, as Abby and Anya try to treat Greg. Despite Anya saying Greg was ‘going to be okay’, it looks bleak for the survivors as Abby is snatched by armed men and dragged into the helicopter. Tom, stops his pursuit of Dexter to try to run and help them but he arrives too late, as the helicopter flies away.
It was a thrilling end to a decent series, which will be back for a second run in 2009 and quite rightly so! There is still a lot of story still left to be told, as we got a glimpse of Abby’s son at the end of the episode!
Regarding the shooting of Greg (played by Paterson Joseph), I wonder if he indeed will die as he is being heavily tipped for the role of the next Doctor in Doctor Who. He’s a great actor who hasn’t really be used as much as he should have done, in this series. Still time will tell!
8/10
Showing posts with label max beesley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label max beesley. Show all posts
Sunday, 28 December 2008
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Survivors (2008) - Episode 5
Even though this episode is an improvement, Survivors is getting worryingly slower by the hour. One episode left and it seems everything is going to get crammed in – the mysterious scientists are now after Abby and from the trailer for episode 6 – Dexter and Samantha re-appear. Surely another series is in the pipeline – there’s only an hour left!
In this episode our survivors meet a group of travellers, lead by a ‘preacher’ who believes he hears ‘god – every god’. Naj is instantly interested but the others, bar Abby, want them to go. But when one of them is revealed to be heavily pregnant and goes into labour – it’s Anya who is made to bare all.
So with Tom still transfixed with Anya, despite having his wicked way with Sarah, he is knocked for six when he hears she had a ‘relationship with a woman’. Although after a ‘heated chat’ with her, he seems to calm down. Anya’s other secret, her being a doctor, is also out in the open as she delivers the baby and saves the life of its mother, after she almost dies of heart failure.
While all this is going on, the leader is going increasingly insane and we learn later that he is ill, or psychotic, whichever side your bread is buttered. Anya tries to help him but he takes her and his group into a nearby church and holes himself up. Later the others arrive and Tom nearly kills the leader. Only a call from Anya stops him from stabbing him! Methinks Tom is as insane as his latest would-be-victim!
Back at the lab, which we rarely see, it seems that they are rounding up people to experiment on and they have got hold of the videos of the survivors, which Samantha’s bunker had filmed. The scientists’ interest is peaked when Abby flickers onto the screen and reveals she had the virus – but survived! Looks like we’re in for an ‘Abby Hunt’ in the final episode – but where do Samantha and Dexter come in? I have a fair idea!
It was a rather slow paced episode that did drag on quite a bit. Although the story was a lot better than last week’s, I felt that the tension wasn’t quite built up as well as it could have done. The characters of Tom and especially Anya have been given more outline and it should be interesting to see how this develops – if there is a second series!
6/10
Next Time: It’s the last episode of the series and will Sarah actually do something?
In this episode our survivors meet a group of travellers, lead by a ‘preacher’ who believes he hears ‘god – every god’. Naj is instantly interested but the others, bar Abby, want them to go. But when one of them is revealed to be heavily pregnant and goes into labour – it’s Anya who is made to bare all.
So with Tom still transfixed with Anya, despite having his wicked way with Sarah, he is knocked for six when he hears she had a ‘relationship with a woman’. Although after a ‘heated chat’ with her, he seems to calm down. Anya’s other secret, her being a doctor, is also out in the open as she delivers the baby and saves the life of its mother, after she almost dies of heart failure.
While all this is going on, the leader is going increasingly insane and we learn later that he is ill, or psychotic, whichever side your bread is buttered. Anya tries to help him but he takes her and his group into a nearby church and holes himself up. Later the others arrive and Tom nearly kills the leader. Only a call from Anya stops him from stabbing him! Methinks Tom is as insane as his latest would-be-victim!
Back at the lab, which we rarely see, it seems that they are rounding up people to experiment on and they have got hold of the videos of the survivors, which Samantha’s bunker had filmed. The scientists’ interest is peaked when Abby flickers onto the screen and reveals she had the virus – but survived! Looks like we’re in for an ‘Abby Hunt’ in the final episode – but where do Samantha and Dexter come in? I have a fair idea!
It was a rather slow paced episode that did drag on quite a bit. Although the story was a lot better than last week’s, I felt that the tension wasn’t quite built up as well as it could have done. The characters of Tom and especially Anya have been given more outline and it should be interesting to see how this develops – if there is a second series!
6/10
Next Time: It’s the last episode of the series and will Sarah actually do something?
Friday, 12 December 2008
Survivors (2008) - Episode 4
Survivors doesn’t quite match the quality of the previous episodes in this, the 4 instalment of the series.
With Abby heading off to the building in which Samantha Willis believes that a number of missing children are, the rest are left to their own devices. Tom, Sarah, Al and Naj all decide to join Samantha in her own private community. But it isn’t long until Tom upsets one of her henchman and Al starts to piss about!
Abby befriends a man who is being hunted down by a group of teenagers. We learn that he is the heir to the house that they are in and he’s just trying to get it back. Abby tries to reason with the kids and even thinks one of them is her son, Peter, but she is mistaken. After quickly forgetting about her recently deceased husband, Abby has her ‘wicked way’ with the man after a nice soak. She then helps to negotiate a truce between him and kids, but not before one of the lads is stabbed. Thankfully he recovers and they all agree to live together.
Back at the house, Greg and Anya are being terrorised by two men who try and break into the house. After a struggle, Anya manages to get the better of them and her and Greg leave them in the middle of nowhere. This plotline seemed a bit pointless to be honest and probably was designed just to give them something to do. Still it should have been a lot better.
Meanwhile, Samantha has had enough of Al and tells Tom to throw him out, Naj also wants to leave but he’s kept at the bunker. Angry, Al breaks back in and gets Naj away and later Tom would clash with his new ‘friend’ who happens to be an ex-policeman and could sense that Tom has been in prison. After being questioned by Samantha, they both decide its best for him to leave and Tom and Sarah quickly join Al and Naj back at the house - where they all make friends, quite surprisingly!
It was a lightweight episode that lacked any real ‘punch’ that the previous episodes have had. We didn’t even see the scientists in the lab this time and I wonder if they’ll already got a series 2 planned – I can’t see them explaining it in just the two episodes we have left!
5/10
Next Time: Looks like there’s plenty of action next week and after this weeks episode that can only be a good thing!
With Abby heading off to the building in which Samantha Willis believes that a number of missing children are, the rest are left to their own devices. Tom, Sarah, Al and Naj all decide to join Samantha in her own private community. But it isn’t long until Tom upsets one of her henchman and Al starts to piss about!
Abby befriends a man who is being hunted down by a group of teenagers. We learn that he is the heir to the house that they are in and he’s just trying to get it back. Abby tries to reason with the kids and even thinks one of them is her son, Peter, but she is mistaken. After quickly forgetting about her recently deceased husband, Abby has her ‘wicked way’ with the man after a nice soak. She then helps to negotiate a truce between him and kids, but not before one of the lads is stabbed. Thankfully he recovers and they all agree to live together.
Back at the house, Greg and Anya are being terrorised by two men who try and break into the house. After a struggle, Anya manages to get the better of them and her and Greg leave them in the middle of nowhere. This plotline seemed a bit pointless to be honest and probably was designed just to give them something to do. Still it should have been a lot better.
Meanwhile, Samantha has had enough of Al and tells Tom to throw him out, Naj also wants to leave but he’s kept at the bunker. Angry, Al breaks back in and gets Naj away and later Tom would clash with his new ‘friend’ who happens to be an ex-policeman and could sense that Tom has been in prison. After being questioned by Samantha, they both decide its best for him to leave and Tom and Sarah quickly join Al and Naj back at the house - where they all make friends, quite surprisingly!
It was a lightweight episode that lacked any real ‘punch’ that the previous episodes have had. We didn’t even see the scientists in the lab this time and I wonder if they’ll already got a series 2 planned – I can’t see them explaining it in just the two episodes we have left!
5/10
Next Time: Looks like there’s plenty of action next week and after this weeks episode that can only be a good thing!
Monday, 8 December 2008
Survivors (2008) - Episode 3
Survivors continue to reach the high bar they’ve set themselves as we learn more about how the virus came about, in an episode which also sees the return of government minister - Samantha Willis (played by Nikki Amuka Bird).
Whilst Abby continues to search for Peter, she finds her way into an ‘Eco Bunker’ which is ran by Samantha and other survivors. With society having collapsed and being, probably the only MP left alive, Samantha tries to hold up the law.. It’s a rather interesting storyline, which concludes when she shoots dead a girl who had looted their medical supplies. Disgusted, Abby walks away but we haven’t seen the last of the murderous MP and her band of ‘hench-people’, who were in the trailer for episode 4, at the end of this episode!
Meanwhile, Tom and Greg go on a petrol run abs as they are getting into a lot of ‘male bonding’. However, it’s cut short when a firebomb is thrown at their jeep, when they arrive at what seems to be a disused farm. Of course the farm isn’t disused, it’s the home of a Dad (Neil Dudgeon) and his kids. It seems that the trio never had the virus and the Dad was pretty cagey about his kids going outside in case they caught the virus.
Later, the daughter sneaks out to talk to Tom and Greg, who when they return her home, her father believes that she is infected and refuses to take her in. But after Tom shows his softer side and gives a rousing speech from behind the backdoor, the girl is reunited with her family. It’s a very emotional story that showed the affects of the virus from the point of view from those that lived outside the towns and cities. There was also a little character development for Tom, who wasn’t his creepy self at all!
Its not as dramatic back at the house, as the rest have a laugh at Al after he attempts to build a pen for the chicken which Naj has ‘adopted’. He later redeemed himself by getting a flat-pack shed! Sarah also seems to settling in well but she seems too infatuated with Greg to really make a big impact. I expect to see a lot more of her selfish side soon!
In each episode, we have seen little snippets of two men in a lab, who are conducting experiments with the virus. In this episode, they get a little more development as the doctor tries to test himself with a vaccine but before he can, the manager of the lab overrules him and tests someone else – we dies rather horribly. I’ve not got a clue what’s going on but surely they’ve got to be behind the virus?
Overall, it was another good episode that could have easily made you slip into boredom but somehow, Survivors manages to keep you interested in listening to every single word!
8/10
Next Time: The gang go head to head with 'Team Willis' in a rather heated game of scrabble!
Whilst Abby continues to search for Peter, she finds her way into an ‘Eco Bunker’ which is ran by Samantha and other survivors. With society having collapsed and being, probably the only MP left alive, Samantha tries to hold up the law.. It’s a rather interesting storyline, which concludes when she shoots dead a girl who had looted their medical supplies. Disgusted, Abby walks away but we haven’t seen the last of the murderous MP and her band of ‘hench-people’, who were in the trailer for episode 4, at the end of this episode!
Meanwhile, Tom and Greg go on a petrol run abs as they are getting into a lot of ‘male bonding’. However, it’s cut short when a firebomb is thrown at their jeep, when they arrive at what seems to be a disused farm. Of course the farm isn’t disused, it’s the home of a Dad (Neil Dudgeon) and his kids. It seems that the trio never had the virus and the Dad was pretty cagey about his kids going outside in case they caught the virus.
Later, the daughter sneaks out to talk to Tom and Greg, who when they return her home, her father believes that she is infected and refuses to take her in. But after Tom shows his softer side and gives a rousing speech from behind the backdoor, the girl is reunited with her family. It’s a very emotional story that showed the affects of the virus from the point of view from those that lived outside the towns and cities. There was also a little character development for Tom, who wasn’t his creepy self at all!
Its not as dramatic back at the house, as the rest have a laugh at Al after he attempts to build a pen for the chicken which Naj has ‘adopted’. He later redeemed himself by getting a flat-pack shed! Sarah also seems to settling in well but she seems too infatuated with Greg to really make a big impact. I expect to see a lot more of her selfish side soon!
In each episode, we have seen little snippets of two men in a lab, who are conducting experiments with the virus. In this episode, they get a little more development as the doctor tries to test himself with a vaccine but before he can, the manager of the lab overrules him and tests someone else – we dies rather horribly. I’ve not got a clue what’s going on but surely they’ve got to be behind the virus?
Overall, it was another good episode that could have easily made you slip into boredom but somehow, Survivors manages to keep you interested in listening to every single word!
8/10
Next Time: The gang go head to head with 'Team Willis' in a rather heated game of scrabble!
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Survivors (2008) - Episode 2
Survivors settles down this week, after the mammoth episode last time, we only have an hour but it’s still as good as the first!
After getting themselves a nice house, our survivors go out hunting for food. But don’t worry, no animals were directly killed in the making of this episode – they just looted some shops!
Now, if I had the freedom of an entire town I would nick the most expensive and quality stuff, our survivors are not in that frame of mind though – as they try to get stuff from low-budget supermarket – NETTO! Oh dear!
But someone has already ‘claimed’ the supermarket and the leader, Dexter (played by Anthony Flanagan) is armed with a lovely shotgun! He threatens the survivors and tells them to stay away. But Abby can’t resist – as she believes she saw someone who looked like her missing son’s teacher, at the supermarket.
Meanwhile, Greg goes off on his own, searching and finds a massive warehouse. Unfortunately it’s already been taken by a bloke and his rather good-looking girlfriend/hostage, Sarah. After fatty hurts himself, Greg comes to the rescue and even refuses to ‘do the dirty’ with Sarah, who seems to be playing her ‘boyfriend’, in order to set up a profitable trading business with other survivors.
Al isn’t having a great day. After he ‘accidently’ killed an old shopkeeper, after he caught Najid looting it, he makes a drunken move on Anya, who we know - happens to be a lesbian! All seen of course by the murderous Tom Price, who as a thing for Anya and he later threatens Al.
Later the gang who ‘owned’ the Netto, found the warehouse and took it from Sarah, who joined the others back at the house. Meanwhile the gang found the injured man and took over the warehouse. Something tells me they’ll be back! Sarah’s character was portrayed as being rather selfish and she looks like she’ll be a great addition to this already bad and odd bunch!
Overall it was an interesting episode, which gave the main characters a bit of much needed depth and development, I can only see this series improving as time goes on.
8/10
Next Time: Will Al continue to pursue his lesbian love interest – and survive? That would be worth an episode all on its own!
After getting themselves a nice house, our survivors go out hunting for food. But don’t worry, no animals were directly killed in the making of this episode – they just looted some shops!
Now, if I had the freedom of an entire town I would nick the most expensive and quality stuff, our survivors are not in that frame of mind though – as they try to get stuff from low-budget supermarket – NETTO! Oh dear!
But someone has already ‘claimed’ the supermarket and the leader, Dexter (played by Anthony Flanagan) is armed with a lovely shotgun! He threatens the survivors and tells them to stay away. But Abby can’t resist – as she believes she saw someone who looked like her missing son’s teacher, at the supermarket.
Meanwhile, Greg goes off on his own, searching and finds a massive warehouse. Unfortunately it’s already been taken by a bloke and his rather good-looking girlfriend/hostage, Sarah. After fatty hurts himself, Greg comes to the rescue and even refuses to ‘do the dirty’ with Sarah, who seems to be playing her ‘boyfriend’, in order to set up a profitable trading business with other survivors.
Al isn’t having a great day. After he ‘accidently’ killed an old shopkeeper, after he caught Najid looting it, he makes a drunken move on Anya, who we know - happens to be a lesbian! All seen of course by the murderous Tom Price, who as a thing for Anya and he later threatens Al.
Later the gang who ‘owned’ the Netto, found the warehouse and took it from Sarah, who joined the others back at the house. Meanwhile the gang found the injured man and took over the warehouse. Something tells me they’ll be back! Sarah’s character was portrayed as being rather selfish and she looks like she’ll be a great addition to this already bad and odd bunch!
Overall it was an interesting episode, which gave the main characters a bit of much needed depth and development, I can only see this series improving as time goes on.
8/10
Next Time: Will Al continue to pursue his lesbian love interest – and survive? That would be worth an episode all on its own!
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Survivors (2008) - Episode 1
This could end up being one of the best television events of the year, or it could end up being a mess. But after watching the first episode of the new version of Terry Nation’s ‘Survivors’, I’m quietly confident this will be a hit!Starring the cream of British talent, the show tells the story of a virus that has gripped Europe, and soon – the world. One day, only (much less than) 10% of world’s population wakes up – the rest have succumbed to this mysterious virus.
We follow a number of characters. Abby Grant (Julie Graham) contracts the disease and looks like she’s about to die. But when she wakes up, she finds that she’s well and her husband (Shaun Dingwall) is dead. She hunts for her son (who is away on a trip) but is unable to locate him, or indeed his body. She eventually meets fellow survivor Greg Preston (Patterson Joseph).
We are also introduced to Dr. Anya Raczynski (Zoe Tapper) who after her ex. Girlfriend is brought in by her flatmate, Jenny (Freema Agyeman), realises that the virus can’t be cured, at least not now. Later she attempted to take her own life, after Jenny also contracted the virus.
Meanwhile murderer Tom Price (Max Beesley) breaks out of prison when everyone in there dies, all expect for another prison officer, who he kills to get out. He would later meet up with Anya, after being thrown out of a car for threatening two more survivors he had befriended.
Rich playboy Al is forced to be responsible for an 11-year-old boy, after he finds him alone, in the street playing football. After travelling for a while, they eventually meet Abby and Greg on the motorway – just as Anya is treating the injured Tom. And after the others seem reluctant to stick together, Abby gives a rousing speech about how they must remain together in order to survive. And they do!
It was an excellent introduction to the series and easily justified it’s an hour and a half timeslot. The pacing was just right and the plot was set up well, as the various people met. I’m sure there’s plenty more to come, as we had a little look at who may be behind the virus, towards the end!
The acting was very good, I enjoyed Patterson Joseph’s short role and if the rumours of him being the next Doctor Who are true, I wouldn’t mind! But for me, Max Beesley stole the show as the creepy Tom Price. Although he’s a very violent psychopathic-murderer, I couldn’t help but take great delight in his performance! What does that say about me?
I was also surprised to see them kill off Shaun Dingwall’s and (maybe) Freema’s characters, as they where given a major billing for the series. That’s makes it all the more better!
9/10
Next Time: The Survivors start to work together but which way will Tom go? And will we find out more about Greg? I’ll be glued anyway!
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