The Survivors - Miniseries

In The Survivors, a young man returns to his hometown fifteen years after a tragic accident. This causes a lot of emotions in the village. What really happened then? The story revolves around Kieran Elliot’s return to Evelyn Bay, Tasmania. Kieran returns home with his wife to introduce their baby to his grandparents. An ordinary story, you might think. But the reception is not a welcoming one and is rather wrought with pain and guilt.

Fifteen years ago, there was a heavy storm in which Kieran's very popular brother and his friend died while trying to save Kieran. Many people, including his own mother, blamed him for the accident. Kieran left with a crushing sense of guilt to Sydney to build a future there, far away from Evelyn Bay.

It turns out that the emotional wounds of the local population have hardly healed in all those years. Kieran's mother has also suffered from the loss of her son all that time. In addition, she still cannot forgive Kieran's part in the accident. Now she also loses her husband to Alzheimer's disease. Her pain is almost unbearable.

The atmosphere in the village worsens when a young investigator starts asking painful questions about a young girl who disappeared without a trace on the day of the boat accident. Her mother believes that the police investigation was not done properly at the time. For fifteen years, she has been hoping for her daughter's return every day.

The discovery of a drowning man starts a murder investigation. The viewer has already noted down a list of suspects, but a DNA test can provide a breakthrough. Kieran understands that there must be more behind the events of so long ago. And why did that backpacker want to leave so quickly? Kieran himself investigates in a race against time. This turns out to be not without danger for a number of people.



The Survivors is a slowly building mystery that shows how an accident can leave deep wounds in people's lives. People have secrets, big and small. They all have good reasons for doing and not doing things. Their selfish reasons sometimes endanger others. How people deal with that and what the consequences can be, even long after, that is what this series is about.

The series consists of six parts of 50 minutes. In my case, that translated into two evenings of watching. Every now and then I unfortunately tasted some soap, a genre I hate. There were also some illogical moments. Still, the drama certainly held me in its grip. The pain of the different mothers was almost palpable. That is mainly why I had to sit through the mystery until the end.

Despite some weak moments in the plot, there was enough tension. I found some plot twists to be very coincidental, but the humanity of the drama felt realistic. I think the makers wanted to highlight less of a mystery than its effect on the villagers. They succeeded quite well in that.

Good acting and a nicely rounded story made it worth it. A well deserved seven is my score.