Picking up immediately after series 1's finale, Greg (Paterson Joseph) has been shot in the chest and the gang race to an abandoned building so that doctor Anya (Zoe Tapper) can operate to remove the bullet. Unfortunately, to complete the procedure she needs vital medical supplies and drugs, which results in a quick trip to a nearby hospital with Al (Philip Rhys) and Tom (Max Beesley). Unfortunately, the building's dangerously unstable because it's been set alight and soon collapses, trapping Al and Anya beneath the rubble. Tom organizes a desperate rescue effort with Sarah (Robyn Addison) and Najid (Chahak Patel) -- which means Greg's left alone with buckshot dangerously close to a vital artery, remembering his recent split from his wife in a fevered haze...
Elsewhere, Abby (Julie Graham) has been captured by the creepy scientists who have been protected from the pandemic inside their high-tech building, and is told by tranquil Dr. Whitaker (Nicholas Gleaves) that they need to perform various tests on her because she's a "beautiful freak" whose body was able to produce antibodies that defeated the killer 'flu. It seems reasonable that Abby should help the team create a vaccine, to prevent the extinction of mankind if the virus mutates again, but she remains uncertain about their motives... particularly when outspoken Dr. Masood (Ronny Jhutti) attempts to break her out, claiming she's being lied to.
I hd a lot of fun with this episode. Every character had a dilemma to deal with, and there was certainly some nailbiting moments for viewers. The scenes of Anya and Al trapped beneath debris were well-handled, too -- in fact, the moment when Al apparently "died", regretting that he's never been in love, was very touching. Tapper was also very good; in fact, much better than I remember her being last series, for some reason.
Sarah's subplot was less gripping, but it had its moments, as she visited a man who's in a position of power in the city and has access to specialist equipment to lift heavy masonry. Of course, the man turned out to be the clichéd scumbag who wants sexual favours in return for his "kindness", and Sarah was put into the frightening position of going through with his demands to save her friend's lives. It was a pity this story couldn't have been given a few twists, as it's such a worn-out idea, but Addison's performance just about rescued it as Sarah redeemed herself in everyone's eyes.
The mystery surrounding Greg's history was also made less opaque -- well, to us, not his fellow survivors. Thanks to flashbacks, it was explained that Greg's wife fell in love with a civil servant who works for the government, and left him. It was news Greg didn't take very well, later interrupting his wife and her new lover's meal in a fancy restaurant with an act of violence that sealed the end of their marriage.
Again, this wasn't a very unique piece of back-story in drama terms, which was quite disappointing, but it did include a few puzzling clues to a greater mystery behind Survivors: Greg received a postcard marked with a sequence of numbers on the reverse, an identical version of which was later seen on Whitaker's office desk. I'm willing to bet that the civil servant Greg's wife ran away with is linked to the company Whitaker works for, so was Greg's marriage ruined on purpose? If so, for what reason? Is it possible that the 'flu virus was engineered and released on purpose, with certain people somehow selected to survive? But if so, why can't the scientists make themselves immune? Did it mutate beyond their control?
Overall, this was a great re-introduction to the series -- primarily a character piece, but with enough action and effects to keep things balanced between introspection and crowd-pleasing. I'm also pleased to see events taking place in the city, which is a much better environment for end-of-the-world stories like this -- mainly because it's genuinely strange to see empty streets and burning hospitals. The show spent too much time in the countryside last year (perhaps for budgetary reasons), but it's less obvious that 99% of the population have died when you're in the great outdoors. But a once-bustling city, formerly home to millions of people, suddenly turned into a ghost town populated by opportunists and gun-toting maniacs? That's a far more inciting backdrop, and one the majority of viewers will enjoy seeing presented on-screen.
12 January 2010
BBC1/BBC HD, 9pm
written by: Adrian Hodges directed by: Jamie Payne starring: Julie Graham (Abby), Max Beesley (Tom), Paterson Joseph (Greg), Zoe Tapper (Anya), Philip Rhys (Al), Robyn Addison (Sarah), Chahak Patel (Najid), Ronny Jhutti (Sami Masood), Geraldine Somerville (Fiona Douglas), Nicholas Gleaves (James Whitaker), Patrick Malahide (Landry), Sarah Paul (Natalie Preston), Ray Ashcroft (Don), Simon Lenagan (Tony Johnson) & Alisa Arnah (Jill Whitaker)
