I began to get an edgy feeling when I heard the first vague, yet pointed reports of a new post-apocalypse drama being mounted by Granada TV (1999). Since SURVIVORS, there had been a few stabs at World's Ends on British TV: 'Day Of The Triffids', 'Z For Zachariah', 'Threads' etc, yet nothing had quite captured the spirit of SURVIVORS - the ultimate tv drama of global Armageddon.
As the press releases expanded on the working-titled 'Cruel Earth' project and Producer Sita Williams was quoted as saying: "The original SURVIVORS was, in a sense, the genesis for this. But now we can do it differently", my nerves began to jangle. What now of Ian McCulloch's efforts with SURVIVORS 4? Anyway, this new production would probably turn out to be a flashy, violent effort...
Thus I comforted myself that SURVIVORS would not be overshadowed by the coming of

The Last Train
As this serial reached ITV screens in April 1999, my worst fears were confirmed. Right from the word go, I was gripped. This was a class production, which had tapped into the essence of its subject. The sense of urgency and the drawing together of the main characters was excellently executed. Skilfully avoiding all the post-apocalypse clichés, the production team on Last Train took us into a world, which pulsated with mystery and fear of the unknown.
In episode one, these new survivors lay in the darkness of the railway tunnel for five seconds of blank screen. It is only as the story unfolds that we realise each of those seconds denotes the passing of ten years...
We can forgive similarities with SURVIVORS in that dog packs, starvation and a search for safety are common elements to any such scenario.
As the survivors seek the safety of a government facility in Scotland which may„gr may not still be functioning after half a century, they are pursued along the way by a band of horsemen whose purpose is unclear yet threatening. Making their way north through a ravaged post-apocalypse landscape, the main characters befriend a young, pregnant girl on the run from her own people.
The issue of fertility, and the desperate need to repopulate the country offer parallels with SURVIVORS, but again this is a standard thread to any such scenario, reaching back to the original 'Triffids'.
With wonderful set designs, solid acting and an evocative musical score, The Last Train provides an exciting, coldly realistic, tension-filled ride towards its surprising yet satisfying conclusion.
Never repeated on terrestrial tv, never released on video/dvd and never novelised, The Last Train joins the illustrious genre of tv drama which may well be forgotten due to its lack of ratings success despite the highest production merits.

Written by Matthew Graham. Directed by Alex Pillai and Stuart Orme. Set Design by Stephen Fineren. Cast: Caroline Carver, James Hazeldine, Nicola Walker, Zoe Telford, Chris Fulford, Amita Dhiiri, Treva Etienne, Janet Dale, Steve Huison, Dinita Gohill, Sacha Dahwan. (Action Co-ordinator: Andrew Bradford - the sniper in SURVIVORS episode, A FRIEND IN NEED).

Broadcast in six fifty-minute episodes, Spring 1999. Granada.
See here for details of video.


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