TV show latest victim of swine flu

Published on Saturday 9 May 2009 19:56

IT CHRONICLES the terrifying impact of a virus which sweeps the globe with devastating consequences for humanity. But a BBC drama could be a little too close to reality.

Scotland on Sunday can reveal that the cult BBC show Survivors could become a victim of the real-life swine flu crisis.

In the hit science-fiction show 90 per cent of the world's population is wiped out by an unprecedented outbreak of "European flu".

It comes as nine new cases of swine flu were confirmed in Britain yesterday, including one in Scotland, bringing the UK total to 47. The latest case in Scotland, a 19-year-old man from Greenock, brings the total number north of the Border to five.

TV chiefs are now considering shelving transmission of the second series to avoid accusations of poor taste and fear of causing unnecessary panic.

The first series, broadcast last year, showed the government and NHS failing miserably to cope with the pandemic, corpses piling up in hospitals and anarchy in the streets. The programme, which stars Scottish actress Julie Graham, was scheduled to return to screens in the coming months.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "We can confirm a second series of Survivors was commissioned last year. We are monitoring developments with regard to swine flu and no transmission date has been set."

The show gained a healthy average of six million viewers, was a hit with critics and was sold to the US, Australia, Norway and New Zealand.

Its success resulted in it being heralded as part of a BBC sci-fi renaissance alongside Doctor Who, spin-off series Torchwood and the commissioning of a remake of the John Wyndham classic Day of the Triffids.

But Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the University of Kent, felt the uncertainty over Survivors was part of a wider over-reaction to swine flu.

He said: "What is very interesting is that people are starting to regard the possibility of causing offence as a very harmful phenomenon. Any good TV programme should offend some people, otherwise it would be without content or extremely mundane.

"It sends out the signal that people are so weak and pathetic they can't engage with the challenges of everyday life."

The academic believes the response to the real-life flu situation has been overblown.

He said: "Fearmongers now speculate about hundreds of thousands, millions or even billions of casualties. Even highly prestigious journals seem incapable of resisting the temptation to spread alarmist, high-casualty scenarios.

"However, there is no evidence that so-called swine flu, which has claimed a relatively small number of lives, will turn into a pandemic."

But there is a precedent for a show having an impact on public life. The 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds allegedly caused mass panic as people across America tuned in and thought the US was being invaded by Martians.