The end of the world has been a largely American phenomenon in film and television. Sure, the Australians got their Mad Max and we got a look at England in 28 Days Later, but the usual I Am Legend, The Road, The Book of Eli and Roland Emmerich spectacles have focused on U.S. wastelands.
The BBC really gets their say with the new series Survivors. Based on a 1975 series, the 2010 version tells the story of a worldwide epidemic that leaves only a few survivors. Focusing on England, the series shows a faction of people immune to a flu virus try to pick up the pieces over empty freeways and abandoned neighborhoods.
BBC America debuted the series on Feb. 13 but it's just getting started. Abby Grant (Julie Graham) recovered from the flu to find her husband dead and her son missing. Traveling alone, she crossed paths with Greg Preston (Patterson Joseph) who planned to make a fresh start solo, on his own farm by himself. She convinced him, and a few other survivors, to join up and rebuild together. Upcoming episodes will show the gang making supply runs, fighting territorial hoarders, conflicting with an upstart new government and looking for Abby's son.
Graham and Joseph came to the states to promote the American debut of the show. Sitting outside on the deck at Pasadena, CA's Langham hotel, the Brits found themselves celebrated on a day that also featured professional wrestlers, boxers, Nickelodeon kids, animal handlers and the Simpson family (Jessica, not O.J.) There's a lot of diverse programming on cable so the Brits were happy to have a portion of the spotlight. Catching the January rays available only in southern California, the stars of Survivors actually enjoyed the peace and quiet while other personalities made a commotion in the hotel ballrooms.
Suicide Girls: What are your favorite post-apocalyptic movies or TV shows?
Julie Graham: Day of the Triffids I love. I love Day of the Triffids. I love it, I love it, I love it. Did you see the remake recently? It was really good. Yeah, it got a bit silly but then it is silly, you know, moving plants. But it's really, really well done. And I love The Road.
Patterson Joseph: I was going to say The Road. I haven't seen the movie yet and I desperately want to but the book was phenomenal, the most moving book I've ever read.
JG: The book is fantastic. Have you read the book?
SG: Yeah, I'm sort of a post-apocalyptic junkie.
JG: But also what I quite like about it is the fact that you don't know what's happened. You get glimpses of the world and what happened but you don't actually know what happened. That's what I love about it is that you don't know. You just know there's all this kind of burning and it's been roughly about 10, 12 years.
SG: How have you enjoyed your action hero moments on Survivors?
PJ: Loved it.
JG: Yeah, loved it.
PJ: And the great thing is as well is Adrian [Hodges]'s written really strong female characters as well so it's not just the blokes running around. Everybody gets a chance to run around and then I love exploding cars. Watch that again if you care to. You see me and Max [Beesley] running from that car for our lives. Just look at the faces. Don't worry about the body because we're doing everything to get away from this thing. We were so close to being burned and it was one of those days where everything had been rushed and it was raining all the time and we were running on a mud path. They set this thing alight and went, "Just hang on, guys. Hang on before it gets'" and we could hear it go tsssss as the gas came out before they sparked it up. Both of us looked at each other just like, "Run, run, run." And we went. The look on our faces is just sheer panic running for our lives. I loved it. I loved all the fighting, all the running around. It's great.
SG: Do you enjoy the guns and cars, Julie?
JG: Guns, no. Guns freak me out. I don't like them. Which is probably quite good for my acting skills because when someone points a gun at me, I do get very frightened, even though I know it's fake. But I love all the cars and the chasing, the jeopardy. Guns I don't find sexy at all.
SG: What is the appropriate level of sadness to play here? Obviously you've lost everyone, but at a certain point it wouldn't be fun if it were totally realistic.
JG: It was hard. What I didn't want to do, and the writing helped that a lot, what I was conscious of was that I didn't want her to just become this kind of crying mess at the beginning because that's not actually how people react. People react in different ways to grief but the enormity of what happens to them, you have to have moments of reflection. Some people would kind of collapse in a complete nervous breakdown but that's not really the reality. People can be quite stoic about death and destruction and all that sort of stuff. You've just got to look at what's happening in Haiti now. There's people walking around now in the streets singing, trying to support each other. I think she rises to the occasion in that way. Because she relates to other people so much, her maternal instinct is strong. She wants to support other people as well so she feels protected for instance when she meets Najid, she meets the boy on the motorway. He represents her son so she has to kind of hold it together.
PJ: Also, you do that with the characters though because some of the characters are snowed under by their grief at first which is what happens with Abby. Some of them just go, "I'm just going to cope with it. I'm just going to get through this. Everything's going to be okay. The world is not as terrible as all that. I know I've lost all that but I'm going to carry on going." I think Greg is a bit like that, sort of a swan looking quite sort of serene, but actually underneath is a whole abyss of pain that he's just floating on which eventually sinks into him."
JG: Which I guess is a very male/female thing as well.
PJ: That's a very male thing. You see the way Tom [Beesley's character]reacts. Tom is like if this is the way the world is, that suits me just fine. I'm just going to get on with it. Then there's Anya [Zoe Tapper] who gets crushed by it but then also fights back. So you get the different facets of the human condition in that situation, those who survive emotionally and those who don't in some ways.
SG: How hard was episode 4 for you Julie, when you really deal with not finding your son?
JG: I mean, it's never hard because you're supported by an amazing amount of people but I'm very protective of Abby and I always want to invest her with enough integrity. I was very aware that I didn't want her to become somebody who reacts emotionally to every single situation. But, there are moments in the series that are punctuated by intense pain and grief and I think is the stronger for it. But being with all those kids and stuff is a really difficult thing to think [about]: children being orphaned and left. Those boys, I have to say, were such good fun to work with. It was really hard to dredge up a lot of grief again but it was just a joy to work on the whole series.
SG: I was also going to ask if it was a bit of relief to have that wonderful swimming scene in the lake?
JG: It was quite good fun actually. It was fun and it's kind of nice. It's lovely that the characters get time to breathe. They go away from the group, they separate, they come back together. There's a lot of variety there. You're not just kind of stuck with one group of people together all the time. That's what's so clever about the writing is that it gives the characters opportunities to go off on their own. You kind of see what happens to them and how they relate to other people and the jeopardy they're put in.
SG: Why do you think the new government gets so strict so quickly? Would that happen after a crisis?
JG: We practically live in a police state in Britain. Everything's CCTV. People are being stopped on the street because they're taking pictures of monuments and people think they might be terrorists. I'm finding Britain more and more and more claustrophobic and 1984-ish to live in than it ever was before. So I could easily see the government going that way, especially if we get a new government who are even worse than the old government.
PJ: I felt with people who watch that episode is that they said, "I don't want to live in anarchy. Why would I want to live in a world where anybody with a gun are going to rule the roost. I want somebody to be the strong man and say you can't do this, we're going to send the army in or we're going to send the police in. I want that kind of structure. I don't want to live in chaos."
SG: How would you both fare if it all really ended?
PJ: I'd be okay because I've got all the books that they gave me the first day on survival. So I'd just look at my books and find out how to purify water, make tents and eat bark.
JG: I don't know, I've thought about this so often. I kind of think I'd like to be like Abby. I have this fantasy that I'd just be like her. Now that I've kind of been her, maybe I can rise to the occasion. Another part of me thinks that I'd sort of lock myself in a darkened room and cry a lot, just not go outside.
PJ: You would at first but then Julie, come on, you'd kick it in.
JG: It depends. Joking aside, if my family were gone, I wouldn't want to survive. I just wouldn't. I really wouldn't. I wouldn't want to be part of a world where all my family, my children weren't there. I don't think I could.
SG: Well, let's say it's you and your loved ones. I don't mean to take them away, just do you think you could make it?
JG: If it was me and my family, then I'd be fine. I really, really, all the time I was reading The Road, I just kept saying, "Just shoot your son and kill yourself." That's what I was thinking. "Just kill him and slash your wrists or something or deal with it."
Survivors airs Saturday nights on BBC America.
The BBC really gets their say with the new series Survivors. Based on a 1975 series, the 2010 version tells the story of a worldwide epidemic that leaves only a few survivors. Focusing on England, the series shows a faction of people immune to a flu virus try to pick up the pieces over empty freeways and abandoned neighborhoods.
BBC America debuted the series on Feb. 13 but it's just getting started. Abby Grant (Julie Graham) recovered from the flu to find her husband dead and her son missing. Traveling alone, she crossed paths with Greg Preston (Patterson Joseph) who planned to make a fresh start solo, on his own farm by himself. She convinced him, and a few other survivors, to join up and rebuild together. Upcoming episodes will show the gang making supply runs, fighting territorial hoarders, conflicting with an upstart new government and looking for Abby's son.
Graham and Joseph came to the states to promote the American debut of the show. Sitting outside on the deck at Pasadena, CA's Langham hotel, the Brits found themselves celebrated on a day that also featured professional wrestlers, boxers, Nickelodeon kids, animal handlers and the Simpson family (Jessica, not O.J.) There's a lot of diverse programming on cable so the Brits were happy to have a portion of the spotlight. Catching the January rays available only in southern California, the stars of Survivors actually enjoyed the peace and quiet while other personalities made a commotion in the hotel ballrooms.
Suicide Girls: What are your favorite post-apocalyptic movies or TV shows?
Julie Graham: Day of the Triffids I love. I love Day of the Triffids. I love it, I love it, I love it. Did you see the remake recently? It was really good. Yeah, it got a bit silly but then it is silly, you know, moving plants. But it's really, really well done. And I love The Road.
Patterson Joseph: I was going to say The Road. I haven't seen the movie yet and I desperately want to but the book was phenomenal, the most moving book I've ever read.
JG: The book is fantastic. Have you read the book?
SG: Yeah, I'm sort of a post-apocalyptic junkie.
JG: But also what I quite like about it is the fact that you don't know what's happened. You get glimpses of the world and what happened but you don't actually know what happened. That's what I love about it is that you don't know. You just know there's all this kind of burning and it's been roughly about 10, 12 years.
SG: How have you enjoyed your action hero moments on Survivors?
PJ: Loved it.
JG: Yeah, loved it.
PJ: And the great thing is as well is Adrian [Hodges]'s written really strong female characters as well so it's not just the blokes running around. Everybody gets a chance to run around and then I love exploding cars. Watch that again if you care to. You see me and Max [Beesley] running from that car for our lives. Just look at the faces. Don't worry about the body because we're doing everything to get away from this thing. We were so close to being burned and it was one of those days where everything had been rushed and it was raining all the time and we were running on a mud path. They set this thing alight and went, "Just hang on, guys. Hang on before it gets'" and we could hear it go tsssss as the gas came out before they sparked it up. Both of us looked at each other just like, "Run, run, run." And we went. The look on our faces is just sheer panic running for our lives. I loved it. I loved all the fighting, all the running around. It's great.
SG: Do you enjoy the guns and cars, Julie?
JG: Guns, no. Guns freak me out. I don't like them. Which is probably quite good for my acting skills because when someone points a gun at me, I do get very frightened, even though I know it's fake. But I love all the cars and the chasing, the jeopardy. Guns I don't find sexy at all.
SG: What is the appropriate level of sadness to play here? Obviously you've lost everyone, but at a certain point it wouldn't be fun if it were totally realistic.
JG: It was hard. What I didn't want to do, and the writing helped that a lot, what I was conscious of was that I didn't want her to just become this kind of crying mess at the beginning because that's not actually how people react. People react in different ways to grief but the enormity of what happens to them, you have to have moments of reflection. Some people would kind of collapse in a complete nervous breakdown but that's not really the reality. People can be quite stoic about death and destruction and all that sort of stuff. You've just got to look at what's happening in Haiti now. There's people walking around now in the streets singing, trying to support each other. I think she rises to the occasion in that way. Because she relates to other people so much, her maternal instinct is strong. She wants to support other people as well so she feels protected for instance when she meets Najid, she meets the boy on the motorway. He represents her son so she has to kind of hold it together.
PJ: Also, you do that with the characters though because some of the characters are snowed under by their grief at first which is what happens with Abby. Some of them just go, "I'm just going to cope with it. I'm just going to get through this. Everything's going to be okay. The world is not as terrible as all that. I know I've lost all that but I'm going to carry on going." I think Greg is a bit like that, sort of a swan looking quite sort of serene, but actually underneath is a whole abyss of pain that he's just floating on which eventually sinks into him."
JG: Which I guess is a very male/female thing as well.
PJ: That's a very male thing. You see the way Tom [Beesley's character]reacts. Tom is like if this is the way the world is, that suits me just fine. I'm just going to get on with it. Then there's Anya [Zoe Tapper] who gets crushed by it but then also fights back. So you get the different facets of the human condition in that situation, those who survive emotionally and those who don't in some ways.
SG: How hard was episode 4 for you Julie, when you really deal with not finding your son?
JG: I mean, it's never hard because you're supported by an amazing amount of people but I'm very protective of Abby and I always want to invest her with enough integrity. I was very aware that I didn't want her to become somebody who reacts emotionally to every single situation. But, there are moments in the series that are punctuated by intense pain and grief and I think is the stronger for it. But being with all those kids and stuff is a really difficult thing to think [about]: children being orphaned and left. Those boys, I have to say, were such good fun to work with. It was really hard to dredge up a lot of grief again but it was just a joy to work on the whole series.
SG: I was also going to ask if it was a bit of relief to have that wonderful swimming scene in the lake?
JG: It was quite good fun actually. It was fun and it's kind of nice. It's lovely that the characters get time to breathe. They go away from the group, they separate, they come back together. There's a lot of variety there. You're not just kind of stuck with one group of people together all the time. That's what's so clever about the writing is that it gives the characters opportunities to go off on their own. You kind of see what happens to them and how they relate to other people and the jeopardy they're put in.
SG: Why do you think the new government gets so strict so quickly? Would that happen after a crisis?
JG: We practically live in a police state in Britain. Everything's CCTV. People are being stopped on the street because they're taking pictures of monuments and people think they might be terrorists. I'm finding Britain more and more and more claustrophobic and 1984-ish to live in than it ever was before. So I could easily see the government going that way, especially if we get a new government who are even worse than the old government.
PJ: I felt with people who watch that episode is that they said, "I don't want to live in anarchy. Why would I want to live in a world where anybody with a gun are going to rule the roost. I want somebody to be the strong man and say you can't do this, we're going to send the army in or we're going to send the police in. I want that kind of structure. I don't want to live in chaos."
SG: How would you both fare if it all really ended?
PJ: I'd be okay because I've got all the books that they gave me the first day on survival. So I'd just look at my books and find out how to purify water, make tents and eat bark.
JG: I don't know, I've thought about this so often. I kind of think I'd like to be like Abby. I have this fantasy that I'd just be like her. Now that I've kind of been her, maybe I can rise to the occasion. Another part of me thinks that I'd sort of lock myself in a darkened room and cry a lot, just not go outside.
PJ: You would at first but then Julie, come on, you'd kick it in.
JG: It depends. Joking aside, if my family were gone, I wouldn't want to survive. I just wouldn't. I really wouldn't. I wouldn't want to be part of a world where all my family, my children weren't there. I don't think I could.
SG: Well, let's say it's you and your loved ones. I don't mean to take them away, just do you think you could make it?
JG: If it was me and my family, then I'd be fine. I really, really, all the time I was reading The Road, I just kept saying, "Just shoot your son and kill yourself." That's what I was thinking. "Just kill him and slash your wrists or something or deal with it."
Survivors airs Saturday nights on BBC America.