The Last Train

This got off to a fairly good start and was willing to overlook the silly plot device of having the heroine putting the passengers into suspended animation . The scenes as the survivors gradually thaw out and search through the devestated landscape of Britain are well done , but as the series progress we have bigger and bigger " How are our heroes going to get out of this " setpieces which come across as just plain silly

I was expecting this to be along the lines of John Christopher`s THE DEATH OF GRASS or John Wyndham`s DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS or Terry Nation`s SURVIVORS . In many way`s THE LAST TRAIN does mirror SURVIVORS but the whole series seems to be a tribute to Terry Nation , especially his setpiece work on DOCTOR WHO and BLAKES 7 which means that THE LAST TRAIN is certainly entertaining but extremely uneven .

Still this show is superior to the BBC`s sci-fi blockbuster INVASION EARTH which was broadcast round about the same time

At a time when ITV was struggling to make drama that did not revolve around a rose tinted view of the fifties or was based in a medical practise in the Derbyshire hills this post apocalyptic (forgive the corny cliche) drama came as a welcome surprise. With a cast of familiar faces but no real stars this was 6 episodes of excellent well written and characterised drama. The similarity with Survivors is evident. The main character in Survivors searched for her son, in The Last Train the main character searched for her former lover. Still they both got into scrapes to entertain us.

Commendable performances from James Hazeldine and Treva Etienne and a truly moving death scene form Amita Dhiri (remember that punch in This Life) but more than this was a taut plot that had twists and turns but was still focussed.

I would hope The Last Train would be released on DVD sometime soon, It was great.

There was too much hype over this series at the start, but as the series continued there was no advertising at all. However I really quite enjoyed this series. For once it is the common British public trapped in an apocalyptic tale. From start to finish you hang on to every emotion and problem that the survivors suffer. Incredibly moving in parts and quite chilling, this story was certainly worth the £4 Million to make it, Carlton T.V.'s highest ever payment to produce a show. Great story with a number of interesting twists at the end. Definitely worth watching.

I was 10 when this was shown on ITV back in 1999. I always remember it was a good show. But being young I never understood what it was really about. It would be great to watch this show again after nearly 22 years, since it was shown on itv. Can we have this available online or even DVD or blu-ray. These days itv doesn't show good shows like The Last Train, London's Burning, Heartbeat etc. If only itv can show these shows again on itv or even itv 2. Instead of the rubbish they put on today especially game shows and so called reality TV shows!!!

This was a fascinating look into a post apocalyptic Britain. Though not a massively original concept the series was well constructed and brilliantly acted by a star studded cast of British TV worthies.