The Last Train (1999) User Reviews

A great throwback to the miserable '70s

[MikeR-22 · 7/10 · 14 November 1999]

If you liked any Quartermass, Threads, Village of the Dammed or books like "After the Rain", "Chalk Giants" or anything by John Wyndham then this is one for you.

Unrelenting post-apocalypse depression that I believe only works if you grew in the U.K. in the seventies. I liked it a lot.

Big budget, a shame it was only six episodes.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 8 December 2019]

We didn't get a huge amount of science fiction in 1999, but there were snippets, the best of them I thought was the last Train. I was lucky enough to see the repeats on itv3 some years back, and it's just as I remember, bleak, imaginative and unrelenting. There were some touching scenes, as the group attempted to survive together, and there were some shocking moments also, the scene with the dogs for one.

The first time I became aware of just how wonderful Nicola Walker is, she's a terrific actress, and was great in this. It was such a disappointment at the time that it didn't return, there was more mileage here. At one stage they set it in Pontins Prestatyn, somewhere I holidayed as a youngster.

There's a review dated 1999 where someone asks for the video, twenty years later I ask for a DVD release, I imagine in another twenty years time someone else will ask for a release on whatever format is relevant.

A good, post-apocalyptic drama

[jpn · 8/10 · 10 November 1999]

This six-part mini-series does a good job of describing the journey of a group of individuals that survive an apocalyptic event in modern-day Britain. The tone is dark and depressing, and the writer develops the hopelessness of the story quite well, particularly as the main characters come to realize the brutal reality of the situation that they find themselves in. The acting is reasonable, but is generally overshadowed by the story itself.

Certainly not an uplifting story, but recommended for fans of this sort of thing.

I'll take the bus instead

[hugh1971 · 16 October 2002]

Spoilers ahead.

As a big fan of the apocalyptic genre best exploited by John Christopher and John Wyndham, I was looking forward to this series. It started off well but it soon became ludicrously unbelievable.

The train survivors at first think they have been in suspended animation for about four years, and this was just about plausible, but they later find out they have been in deep freeze for FIFTY years.

While this is not necessarily impossible, it is not reflected in the settings. For example, someone manages to start a van that has been in a garage for fifty years and drive it for hundreds of miles. We see wrecked cars littering the roads with pristine paintwork, and houses in good repair - hardly likely after fifty years, most of which was a nuclear winter! Similarly the village pub that the group stay in looks like it could win an Egon Ronay award - it is clean, tidy and well maintained, there is a well stocked bar and the juke box strikes up as if it had never been turned off!

Then at the end, the fact that the pursuers are in fact the survivors of 'Ark' is patronisingly drummed into the viewer several times. For a really good apocalyptic mini series, try Stephen King's 'The Stand' or BBC's 'Day of the Triffids' instead.

Still waiting for the video...

[OurPost · 10/10 · 27 August 1999]

I really enjoyed this. That it wasn't an original idea is beside the point. HG Wells, John Wyndham, Fred Hoyle, ...many wrote about the End of the World as it might affect the ordinary bod in the street long before such as 'Deep Impact' and other high-impact extravaganzas were made. & I've never forgotten 'Threads'... As a commuter, I can say that no train journey will ever be quite so boring again. I stumbled on this website by chance and am sending this comment in the hope that enough appreciation might persuade Granada to publish a video,

Good and Bad

[1sadbastard · 6/10 · 26 January 2005]

A good premise is let down by some occasional dodgy writing, but maybe that's to be expected with 6 50 minute episodes to fill. The "diary" of the little girl sounds very cheesy to my ears and some of the characters behaviour (the guy going back to his office, the black guy going to a lock up to get a £400 suit) is downright stupid. Take your bloody ties off for god's sake. Some of the acting is a bit dodgy too, now and again. But it has to be applauded for attempting something this ambitious and is certainly watchable. It just could have been so much better with a little more time and money - but couldn't everything? I've given it 6 out of ten.

Last Train - Worth a watch...

[james_morris-2 · 8/10 · 2 November 2005]

Watching this mini series almost 6 years after it was broadcast, didn't take anything away from what was originally intended. At a time when Lost (series 1) and the 4400 (series 2) were airing, this repeat on the SciFi Channel was a very welcome break from middle of the road, big budget American attempts at gripping SciFi.

The plot may not be as air-tight as it could be but it still has you hanging on the edge of your seat and these little things just pass by without you noticing.

What really impressed was the series' "grittyness" and it doesn't think twice about killing off main characters at the peak of their storyline.

I highly recommend this series for anyone - not just SciFi fans. Its age doesn't show at all!!

Blast from the Past

[tariqmk · 7/10 · 15 March 2023]

Good show, I remember seeing bits of this as a kid when it first aired.

The premise in captivating and the abandoned world that the characters find themselves in is enthralling.

Although the journey they take seems somewhat convenient in terms of their navigation and accuracy, we have to remember that it is a TV show after all. This show does a good job at hiding some of the things which we would normally wonder about in such a situation, such as food availability etc.

The last episode was full of so much too, it seemed like everything escalated so suddenly! Although I wish some questions were answered with regards to the Children of Ark, and why it was implied they couldn't have children of their own. I wish we had more time to learn about their story and survival.

Then turning from enemies into the hope of humanity in the last 15 mins could have been done better. And what was the point of Jonathan? He just seemed to be the magnetic north to which the compass was set. Maybe I've answered my own question...

All in all, I watched this 24 years after it first aired, it was at the back of my mind this whole time and I'm happy I finally saw it as an adult.

Good piece of TV!

How long till we can watch this again?

[metaljjbgear · 10/10 · 10 October 2021]

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!!!

Disappontingly Silly

[Theo Robertson · 6/10 · 28 June 2002]

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

More fantasy than sci-fi

[pascal-leroux · 2/10 · 29 August 2023]

One of the qualities sci-fi should have is hinging on the probable whilst avoiding the impossible.

Watching the first episode, my first dose of the impossible was the means to the passengers being frozen in time, which was a cannister that, once released, would allow for absolute zero to occur.

Ridiculous.

But I could fathom other plot devices that are far more hinged in reality that could achieve the same effect so, I decided to let that slide.

The next ridiculous element came with the feral dogs who, somehow managed to survive the extinction level event whilst humans didn't and there are no signs of encampments or attempts at survival?

Yeah, okay, maybe?

And then came the acid rain, making the dog's survivability, not to mention the plant life, extremely implausible.

This was one of the dumbest setups I've had to witness in a while and not even the brilliant Nicola Walker can get me to stand another minute of it.

Good post-apocalyptic drama

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 24 February 2011]

I first saw this ITV drama when it was broadcast in 1999, since then I've watched it a couple more times and it remains gripping. Set in the near future after most of the world has been devastated by an asteroid a small group who survived because they were put into cryogenic suspension when their train crashed in Sheffield. They weren't meant to be frozen but one of them was heading for a government facility there and she had the cryogenic agent with her at the time of impact. The survivors are a varied group; the scientist, a policeman, a criminal, a failed businessman, a pregnant woman, a mother and her two children and two retired people. They have little common apart from their desire to survive. To this end they head to a place called ARC in Scotland where Harriet, the scientist, assures them they will find fellow survivors. On the way they encounter several dangers including wild dogs, acid rain and another group of people.

While there is an over all story arc following their journey north each episode contains a new situation for them to overcome; in one they must face the other group to get a boat to cross a flooded river, in another they find a village and must decide whether they should stay their with two surviving villagers or head on North. The small cast do a fine job, notably Nicola Walker as Harriet, Zoe Telford as the pregnant Roe, Christopher Fulford and Ian the police sergeant and Caroline Carver as the mysterious Hild, a girl they meet along the way.

At only six episodes the series is quite short and little time is wasted on non essential scenes; the characters are all interesting in their own way; some likable; some deliberately unlikeable and some who are doomed not to survive to the end. If this ever gets broadcast again in it certainly worth watching if you like post-apocalyptic dramas.

melodramatic tripe

[prosper1 · 2/10 · 31 July 2007]

This series had potential, but I suppose the budget wouldn't allow it to see that potential. An interesting setup, not dissimilar to "lost" it falls flat after the 1st episode. The whole series, 6 episodes, could have made a compelling 90 minute film, but the makers chose to drag it on and on. Many of the scenes were unbearably slow and long without moving the action forward. The music was very annoying and did not work overall. There were few characters we cared about as their characters did not grow during the time frame--- well, one grew a bit. The ending was as terrible as the rest of series. The only kudos here is to the art dept and set dressers, they created an interesting look, too bad the writer and director lacked the foresight to do something interesting with that element

A chilling suspense story

[salty-9 · 27 May 1999]

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.

The Lat Train should be on DVD!!!!!

[wood287 · 10/10 · 2 January 2007]

This show wasn't without faults but compared to most of the second rate rubbish ITV make , it totally stood out.Scene's which stuck in my mind were when the survivors first saw the devastated sheffield, the packs of wild dog's and the crashed air liner which you saw when the character "Roe" (Zoe Telford) went to search for her family. It was interesting that the writer(one of the writers from "This Life" Mathew Graham )chose to set the drama in Sheffield which reminded me slightly of the amazing Nuclear war drama "Threads".The actress who played "Milly" in "This Life" is also part of the cast(Amita Dhiri) along with Nicola Walker one of the cast from the BBC show "Spooks". I couldn't believe that this has not yet been released on DVD, it seem's long over due,

so come on ITV!! You can't leave one of your best dramas from the last 10 years on the shelf!! Please release The Last Train!!!

Excellent ITV production.

[craig-651 · 8/10 · 24 April 2006]

I was hooked on this mini series watching it religiously for weeks on end, only to move house to Wales where we couldn't get any reception.

I'd love to see the final episodes of this mini series or buy it. So my comment is to assist the above gentleman's words although we're years apart. There are still people out there that would love a re-run of this series and to buy the film. If anyone from ITV comes across this then please release the mini series on DVD.

If anyone comes across this on the internet I would appreciate a link to where I could acquire it.

Craig.

Survival Drama

[Gilbert_ben · 10/10 · 31 August 2007]

It is hard to believe that the series of The Last Train may have been seven years ago, but due to the incredible acting of the cast, the series is a piece of fine art that will stay in memory for many years to come. The Plot was deep and involving with an incredible twist at the end, and the character Harriet was bought to motion beautifully by Nicola Walker, and the rest of the cast were amazing. I find it a shame that the series was never continued, and that the moving end of the series left the rest to the imagination without a second series being introduced.

Nicola Walker is an incredibly talented actress, and portrays her characters beautifully. Anything starring Nicola, is well worth watching.

Utter tripe

[philroysmith · 1/10 · 27 October 2023]

I know it's old but that's no excuse for just how bad this series was. It really is awful and how it ever came to be made amazes me. Please don't waste your time. It is badly written, corny, badly acted, thin and ill thought out.... If you want a laugh watch one.. but not the rest.

The characters are just not believable, the incidential music is loud and stupidly dramatic. The actors must keep quiet about appearing in this as it really is just so awful. There was a lot of good TV when this was made and some good series. Quite how this one found its way to the screen amazes me.

A waste of time, money and effort.

Post apocalypse drama, cliched but great

[Robski · 21 September 2003]

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.

not bad if you like apocalyptic stuff

[herbertanchovy · 14 February 2005]

I thought parts of this were a little far fetched, I mean they went to the lock up to collect the van after 50 years, not only does it have tyres that haven't perished, an engine that hasn't seized, and a magic battery that is still able to take a charge after 50 years, but also a special type of diesel fuel that doesn't separate into waxy compounds over the years..however, as the man says-come doomsday the last vehicle running will be a Mercedes benz also they find a supply of fuel has been left for them to reach the ark..how convenient it wasn't petrol? why didn't they use motorways to reach their destination instead of bumping along dirt tracks? How come that pub still had food and drink left and the jukebox and generator still work perfectly? that aside, it was a great twist as you see them driving off past a gravestone that clearly shows they have been asleep a lot longer than the 14 years they originally thought

A nice spin on the post apocalypse

[Jase53 · 21 May 1999]

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.