In 2008, Adrian Hodges’ harrowing
BBC series portrayed a world destroyed by a rampaging virus – but was cancelled before it could be completed
More than a few times in the past months, Adrian Hodges has been called a prophet. “I don’t think I am,” the writer shrugs. “It’s Terry Nation who should be called that.”
It was 12 years ago, in the thick of the last global financial crisis, that Hodges’ re-engineered take on Terry Nation’s savagely bleak, post-apocalyptic 1970s drama Survivors debuted on BBC One. In its first episode, audiences saw the
UK ravaged by a virus that would, before the end credits rolled, decimate 99% of the planet’s population. The following two series followed a motley band of survivors, as they navigated their way through this strange new, lawless, electricity-free world. It was, effectively, The Walking Dead before The Walking Dead.