Heart Attack 2021

Heart Attack 2021 Letter

AO3 Username: StopTalkingAtMe

Welcome to my letter, Dear Creator. Let me start by saying I’m open to a LOT of different things, from PWP, to utterly indulgent tropey shipfic, to casefic, to introspective character studies, to horror of all kinds, to heavy angst and bad endings. I also love crossovers (the weirder the better, although I prefer crack played straight), so as long as you have good reason to believe I’m into a fandom, then go for it. Some of the sections here may be longer than others but please don’t read anything into that – I’d be delighted with a gift for any one of them.

My SAFETY fandoms are the novel Call for the Dead, by John le Carré, Dawn of the Dead, a seventies public information film called Lonely Water, and Anaconda. If it helps, I've also tried to suggest ways to write for my longer-running fandoms, such as Bergerac and Survivors, after only having seen a limited number of episodes.

Both fics and comics are welcome for all requests.

Table of Contents

• General Likes
• Smut Likes
• DNWs
• Anaconda [SAFETY]
• Bergerac
• Blake's 7
• Call for the Dead – John le Carré [SAFETY]
• Dawn of the Dead [SAFETY]
• Grange Hill
• Doctor Who (1963)
• Lonely Water [SAFETY]
• The Professionals
• Survivors

General Likes and DNWs

General Likes

• Character studies and introspection
• Loneliness and isolation
• Angst
• Atmospheric description, scenery porn, sensory description
• World-building, backstory, and character development.
• Horror.
• Closed Circle - Stranded with a murderer in your midst, whether in horror or murder mustery. Think And Then There Were None.
• Case-fic, whether fully realised or just touching on elements from a case.
• Whump, hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort.
• Endings of all kinds, happy, bleak or bittersweet.
• Canon-divergent AUs, especially post-canon ones where the bad guys win.
• Pining of all kinds, including both one-sided and mutual pining,
• Descriptions of scars
• Main Character Death and grief (Grange Hill is an exception here)
• Crossovers, especially oddball crossovers that come completely out of left field, although I do tend to prefer crack played straight rather than outright crack. If you have reason to believe I know and like the other fandom, then I encourage you to go for it.
• Post-Apocalypse scenarios, with focus on angst and the struggle for survival. This includes zombie apocalypse AUs.
• Stranded Together With No Way Home, us against the world, deep mutual dependence on the other party because there’s no one else around (which may not be entirely healthy)
• Time Loops
• Older characters finding love.
• Age gap relationships
• Smartly dressed men less smartly dressed at the end of a long and trying day: undone top buttons, ties hanging loose, sleeves rolled up, etc
• Relationships that develop between two people grieving for a dead third party (or parties), and the dead at least partly define the relationship.

Smut Likes

• Sex Pollen and aftermath, and any other kind of something made them do it scenario
• Angry Sex, rough sex, hate sex, rough sex that turns tender
• Clothed Sex, or clothed/naked
• Comfort Sex
• Dubcon when requested (mutual dubcon of the something-made-us-do-it kind is ALWAYS okay even when not explicitly requested)
• Mild bondage and other forms of gentle restraint
• Oral Sex, especially cunnilingus in all its forms, and ESPECIALLY cunnilingus with fingering
• Rough Sex - Lots of Scratching and Biting and Hair-Grabbing/Pulling and Holding Partner(s) Down
• Sex in grimy, grim, uncomfortable places
• Threesomes

DNWs

• A/B/O
• Noncon
• Dubcon involving unaroused characters
• Incest
• Bestiality (monsters don't count here)
• Scat and waterplay
• Formalised D/s dynamics (bondage and other forms of restraint are OK)
• Underage
• Het anal sex
• Breathplay (antagonistic choking is fine)
• Fisting
• Sexualised lactation
• Any variation of the word 'come' in a sexual context spelled as 'cum' (please use 'come', 'came', 'precome' etc)

Anaconda [SAFETY]

Requested Characters:

I have a huge soft spot for monster movies, and Anaconda is one of my favourites. I unashamedly love it. It’s a fun film to watch, I like all the characters, and something about the setting of a bunch of people isolated on a boat hits my id hard (see my related request for The River). Then on top of that there’s the Terri/Paul Serone thing, which… well… There are very, very few things that hit my id harder than the trope of a woman trying to distract the bad guy by pretending to seduce him (blame it on watching Disney’s Aladdin at an impressionable age). This ship is skeevy and messed up, so extremely dubious consent, sex pollen, and forced seduction are all possibilities here… Or alternatively maybe something goes wrong, the rest of the crew goes missing, leaving the two of them stranded, and Terri realises she has to go through with her pretended seduction.

Silly popcorn movie or not, I actually find the character dynamics in it kind of interesting and there’s potentially quite a lot to explore. I like that the characters don’t always act as expected, such as when Gary throws his lot in with Serone, and the pompous English dickhead (there’s always one) much more likeable in a moment of crisis. And then there’s Serone himself: simultaneously revolting, sinister and OTT. Is all the priest stuff real or is it an act? I also like the idea of exploring the conflict in having to rely on someone who is simultaneously a threat to your life, and I would be particularly interested in explorations of his character where he isn’t just the cartoon villain he almost becomes in canon, but treated as a rounded character, ruthless and brutal as he is.

Setting the ship aside, I really do love the film purely for itself. Ignore the ship completely and give me more canon-style survival horror and I will be happy, I swear.

Please note that this request is specifically for the first film. It’s fine to include references to the sequels if you want to, but I'm equally happy for them to be completely ignored. The requested characters only appear in the first film.

Optional Prompts

• An AU where Steven and Serone come to an agreement about which way to travel so there’s no need for the wasp. (Maybe Serone manages to persuade him or they’ve met previously?) How would that change the course of the film, with perhaps the others suspecting him slightly less? After all, he was right about the tribe...
• Something goes wrong, and Terri and Serone are separated from the rest of the crew (or everyone else is killed). Set-up for sex pollen or something more serious. Whether they’re shipped or not (and please feel free to make this gen if you’d prefer), I’d really like to see some exploration of their dynamic. How you approach this probably depends on how suspicious Terri is of him: whether he’s already revealed himself as a villain, or if her suspicions haven’t yet been confirmed (but maybe she’s warming towards him because he saved her life, even if he is a massive fucking weirdo). I’d be happy with either. Also open to her seducing him to prevent him from killing her/leaving her stranded.
• An exploration of where the snakes come from. Use the sequels if you want or ignore them completely and make shit up. I do like the aesthetic of the orchids in the second film (and the, uh, giant snake orgy), but there’s absolutely no need to have watched the film to use them. Does it occur to Terri at any point that there may in fact be more of a market for a documentary about a massive 40 ft anaconda than for her original topic?
• The attempt to distract Serone goes horribly wrong and she has to go through with it (perhaps an AU there aren’t enough of them left to overpower him), or an extremely dubiously consensual no no yes situation. Or with Gary dead, Denise is particularly vulnerable, and so Terri seduces Serone thinking she’s protecting her.
• Why is Serone so obsessed with that damn snake? Is it really purely about money, or is there something more at work? Is it any snake, or is it purely that specific snake that he’s after? And I am, as always, up for backstory and character development.
• I’d love to see something Lovecraftian here, exploring obsession and the possibility that the anacondas are harbingers of an Elder God. Maybe Terri gets sucked into it in his wake, and the near-madness of facing it creates a kind of bond between them, which she can’t escape afterwards as much as she hates him.

Bergerac

Requested Ships/Characters: Barney Crozier/Alice Crozier
Barney Crozier/Deborah Hungerford
Jim Bergerac/Barney Crozier
Barney Crozier & Jim Bergerac

Fandom-specific DNWs – The requested characters cheating on their wives/girlfriends/each other. (For Barney Crozier, an AU where he’s divorced/separated/never married and Alice Crozier is barely mentioned would work.) References to the canonical one-night stand between Jim and Philippa Vale are fine though.

- Jim Bergerac being abusive. (I don’t mind a realistic portrayal of his flaws, particularly if the focus is on the time when he’s still drinking, but please no deliberate abusive behaviour or violence, although him being rougher than he realises when he’s drinking, even to the point of accidentally causing bruises, is okay. If you’re not sure where the line lies, then please err on the side of assuming it’s fine.)

Currently the entire series is available through streaming on UK BritBox, and AFAIK at least the first couple of seasons are available on other versions of BritBox. (And I'd definitely be interested in an exploration of the relationship between Jim and Barney in the early days of Jim's recovery and joining the Bureau). It's also an old series, so episodes may also be available on YouTube and Daily Motion. The first episode is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHWW92AbT1E&t=2s

While there’s no way in hell I can claim this as a SAFETY fandom, I swear it would be possible to write for it having seen only a limited number of episodes, and I am absolutely hooked on it at the moment so I cannot say how delighted I would be if you gave it a shot. The character development runs at a glacial pace, and most of the episodes are self-contained, with very little overarching plot from episode to episode. I’m also fine with canon divergence from any point and with later canon developments being ignored. The simplest and the easiest thing to write after only having watched a handful of episodes, would be the Barney/Alice ship as Alice Crozier only appears in 4 episodes. For that, the main ones to watch would be A Horse of a Different Colour and Tangoes in the Night, as well as Treasure Hunt (she doesn't appear in that, but it does have Barney smugly sharing his terrible marriage advice with Jim, which is a huge part of why I find the ship appealing). And I especially welcome PWP and indulgent tropey shipfic for that particular ship.

As for Jim and Barney, I have very gradually fallen for them bit by bit, and so slowly I didn’t realise how hard I’d fallen until it was too late. Jim is one of my favourite characters and there’s a lot to dig into here: he can be feckless and snarky, has a bit of a bitter streak, and isn’t always great at facing up to his responsibilities, but he mostly tries, despite how bleak and miserable his love-life gets. Case in point: almost everything that happened with Susan.

And then there’s Barney, whom I absolutely, unreservedly adore. He’s just the right balance of ‘a bit of a dick’ and ‘total sweetheart’, and I’m drawn to the contrast between him being on the face of it a very serious, strait-laced character but then having these adorably hapless goofy moments (His model aeroplanes! His (extremely dubious) advice to Jim on how to have a successful long-term marriage!), and then that’s contrasted again with the darker edge to his character in A Man of Sorrows (which is without question my favourite episode in the entire show.).

I’m also completely fascinated by Barney’s relationship with Jim. In the first episode, Barney’s only just been promoted to Inspector over Jim, and they’re both so bitter and shitty to each other and I just want to know why. Their relationship improves over the course of the series, but there’s always this odd mix of tension and friendship between them, as well as a great feeling of history between the characters that I really like, and I’d love to see their relationship explored in fic, especially as the series progresses and they both have to face up to the darker sides of being a copper. Their relationship is a weird mixture of semi-hostility and friendliness, trust and mistrust: it kills me how ready Barney is to believe that Jim’s started drinking again in Ninety Per Cent Proof, and then at the end of the episode he tries to make up for it by turning a blind eye to Jim kicking the shit out of the man who framed him. Ultimately they’ve (mostly) got each other’s back and all the resentment and trust issues just makes me ship it harder. (The best episodes to watch for Jim /& Barney would probably be Late for a Funeral, Ninety Per Cent Proof, and A Man of Sorrows.)

For Barney/Debbie, I’m drawn to the headcanon of them being the two people (other than Kim) most hurt by Jim’s drinking, and I would absolutely love for them to be shipped, drawn together by all the shit going on with Jim. It’s up to you how you deal with it. My Cheating DNW absolutely does not apply to these two, and I’d especially love to see something fraught and guilty, whether it starts as an affair while Jim and Debbie are still married or if they only get together after the divorce.

For Barney/Alice Crozier… Well, let’s just say I wasn’t altogether convinced that the secret to a happy marriage is dragging your wife along to watch you fly model aeroplanes, and following that with everything that happens between them in A Horse of a Different Colour, it seems I was right. XD But… she still goes with him, even though she’s clearly bored shitless and the weather is miserable. That is a woman who must really love her husband. I find the few brief glimpses we get into their relationship utterly charming, and I'd love to see their relationship explored in a bit more detail. For this, I’d love to see something sweet, maybe an exploration of two long-term married middle-aged people trying to reconnect with each other. Does she ever wish he was more like Jim? Does she take up a hobby of her own and drag him along to that in retribution for all those afternoons with the model planes? Does she toy with the idea of an affair, or think about divorcing him? I’m normally all over heavy angst and am usually open to bad endings, but if there’s going to be a focus on this ship, I would really prefer there to be a happy ending (for the ship, anyway. The rest of the fic can be as bleak and depressing as you like).

And while I can think of quite a few men to whom my ‘Smartly dressed men less smartly dressed at the end of a long and trying day’ like applies, I’ve added it specifically with Barney in mind, especially after he gets promoted to chief inspector and he kicks his wardrobe up a couple of notches. Those three piece suits hit my id hard, and canon is pretty good to me in that regard. Oh, and if you at all feel like getting him and/or Jim into wetsuits again then please do.

See You in Moscow, Late for a Funeral, Ninety Per Cent Proof, Chrissie, Root and Branch, A Horse of a Different Colour, A Man of Sorrows, Tangoes in the Night, The Other Woman, and A True Detective are some of my favourite episodes, and the ones which I think would be most useful for someone new to this fandom.

Optional Prompts

• The set-up in The Deadly Virus is actually the set-up for a 28-Days-Later zombie apocalypse scenario. Does it spread across the rest of the world, or is it quarantined and confined to Jersey? Go with whatever tone you want here, from angst and horror, to something more light-hearted, maybe looking at how the Jersey residents adapt to zombies. Zombieism as a fast track to a Jersey resident’s permit?
• Jim has the dubious habit of letting his girlfriends find him places to live. Instead of shacking up with Francine or Susan, he accepts Barney’s offer of a place to stay instead.
• I headcanon Barney and Debbie being two of the people most hurt by Jim’s drinking, and I really love the idea of them being drawn together as a result of that. I’d love to see something fraught and angsty, with a happy ending or otherwise. Is it a consummated affair or just an awful lot of mutual pining and UST?
• Secret Relationship Barney and Debbie get together but have to sneak around because they don’t want Jim to find out, but that proves harder than anticipated when they keep running into Charlie bloody Hungerford at every turn. Take this however you want, from angst to something sweeter to borderline farce. Maybe they go away and check in as Mr & Mrs Smith in a hotel in Guernsey, but Charlie sees Barney there, jumps to the assumption that he’s having an affair with a married woman, and goes on to gossip about it, or even try his hand at a little gentle manipulation over island politics.
• Or Barney/Debbie and a not-so-secret relationship. Barney and Debbie get engaged. Because on the one side: *heart eyes*, but on the other hand, it has such a wonderful potential for awkwardness. Like Barney becoming Kim's step-father. Not to mention Charlie's reaction to the prospect of a second copper for a son-in-law, and one who’s not nearly as understanding as Jim.
• The continuing attempts of Alice and Barney to find a hobby that they can both enjoy. Model aeroplanes bore her shitless; he takes the tango far too seriously. Maybe a murder mystery weekend but it turns into a busman's holiday when someone actually gets murdered? Or maybe things keep going wrong -- floods, power cuts, etc -- they think it's going to be a disaster and potentially end their marriage, but then in the end they just stay in the hotel room and reconnect through frantic boning instead.
• Give me the aftermath of A Man of Sorrows, because it’s one of my favourite episodes and the possibilities for angst are endless, starting with Barney’s potential PTSD from the events in the opening of the episode. I’d really love to see something digging into the bleak realities of that kind of policing, the repercussions of what happened to Hallowes, the fundamental differences between the kind of police officers Barney and Jim are, want to be, or are willing to be, or looking at some of the fallout between them and how it affects them in the aftermath.
• Or the aftermath of A Man of Sorrows again, but with the focus on Barney/Alice going heavy on the emotional hurt/comfort.
• Or the aftermath of Ninety Percent Proof, which is such a brutal, angst episode to watch (and one of the ones which makes me love Debbie all the more). Go with gen, or focus on either Jim/Barney or Barney/Debbie, with this possibly being the catalyst to finally get them together.
• For some reason, Barney and Jim roleswap, leading to Jim trying to do the case by the book while for once Barney is the one going rogue, such as an AU version of the episode Root and Branch where it’s Barney’s family being targeted rather than Jim’s?
• A supernatural casefic. I really love atmospheric M R Jamesian ghost stories, and I really like the spookier episodes, so I’d be delighted with anything along those lines.
• Midsomer Murders crossover – Barney and Jim attend a training course held in one of the Midsomer villages, which goes about as well as can be expected Casefic, crossover weirdness, or pure tropey ‘there was only one bed’ shipfic are all welcome here. (actually, that last one would work for a fic that isn’t a crossover too).
• Barney and Jim find themselves stranded on a tiny islet and have to fend for themselves overnight while waiting to be rescued. (In the middle of a storm? A deserted and possibly haunted hotel? With a killer possibly loose on the island?)
• If all else fails, just give me Barney, Charlie and Jim bickering with each other, and I will be delighted.
• What the hell was going on with Barney and Susan in the episode The Other Woman while he was interviewing her? Granted, she was never going to be happy about being suspected of murder, but her attitude towards him really felt personal and like there was something more going on, and that he might have a reason for wanting to find her guilty. Like, oh I don't know, her suspecting that Barney's secretly in love with Jim? (Again, Jim and Susan mutually agreeing it isn't working between them and ending it over the course of the fic is fine.)

Blake’s 7

Requested Ship: Roj Blake/Travis

Note on my DNWs: Brief mentions and references to the canonical use of false memories of child abuse are fine here.

~~

It’s rare that I fall so completely and utterly head-over-heels in love with a show, but it’s happened with Blake’s 7, to the point where frankly I’m a little taken aback. I loved it right from the very first episode, which was so grimly dystopian (the bureaucracy, the people in charge running ‘feasibility studies’ when the possibility being examined is the act of planting false memories of abuse in the minds of children, I mean… fuck. Fuck.) It’s so utterly bleak and awful, but then it’s balanced out by the sheer fun of the sets and the storylines.

I’ll be up for anything that examines the dystopian elements of the world and the Federation, angst, backstory, canon divergent AUs set during, pre- and post-canon, hurt/comfort, whump and torture, trust issues, case fic of the planet-of-the-week sort or the murder mystery sort, clothes porn, and… look, I’ll take basically anything for this show.

I always love a good enemy ship, and Blake/Travis is a particularly delightful example. Their background, Travis’s overwhelming hatred of Blake, Blake’s repeated failure to kill him… Why does he keep sparing Travis? In Duel he justifies it because the Federation would just send someone else in Travis’s place and at least Blake knows he’s capable of defeating Travis, but it doesn’t ring entirely true. It could just be him being merciful, but personally I have a soft spot for the idea that Blake’s fucked over about his brainwashing (speaking of which, how does Blake’s period of compliance on Earth fit into Travis’s vendetta against him?) and is aware that Travis is probably the person who knows him best and so subconsciously unwilling to kill Travis because of that. Again, go with either Travis here, whenever you choose to set it.

I want so many different things for this pairing, from smut: Travis dubconning Blake (all the way up to extremely dubious consent), or sex pollen, to something more plotty: like the two of them being stuck in a situation where they’re forced to work together. Smut would be fantastic, but they’ve both been fucked over by the Federation and are both ruthless men willing to do terrible things for their beliefs (and I freaking adored the way the last episode drew deliberate parallels between them), so I’d love to see something where they’re forced to warily interact on a level beyond simply trying to kill each other. I’d also be open to Blake’s clone acting as a stand-in for Blake himself. They had to travel together, so what would that have looked like, considering what happened to the first clone? It’s also fine for the ship to take a back seat to character development.

Optional Prompts

• We’ve heard the story of what happened between Blake and Travis, but we only hear the latter half of it through Blake’s somewhat compromised memories. What if it didn’t happen quite the way Blake described?
• Travis survives Star One and runs into Blake. Does Travis regret what he did or is he completely unrepentant? And considering the consequences of destroying Star One, it’s not like Blake is entirely comfortable on the moral high ground. Perhaps there’s an external conflict that forces them to work together and not just kill each other there and then, but I’d also be willing to just seen them both too tired and broken to fight and so calling a truce of a kind just for one night.
• Smut (although character development would be welcome here too) – It occurs to Travis, possibly at Servalan’s urging, that he might be able to use the clone to work out his issues with Blake. Maybe Servalan acts as a third party directing the two of them, and rather enjoying Travis’s shame at enjoying it so much (he was so broken in that episode), or else a hundred petty little moments of cruelty escalate into extremely dubconny sex.
• Blake ends up brainwashed again and an extremely resentful Travis is set as his guard dog with explicit instructions not to harm him and the ability to erase Blake’s memories if he thinks Blake is starting to suspect something is wrong. It’s not like he was planning on taking advantage of the situation, but it just sort of happened that way. Bonus points if Blake starts growing on him despite Travis’s best efforts.
• They get stuck in a time loop, (some kind of simulation, perhaps?) and the only way out of the time loop is for them to work together to get them both out of the situation in one piece or, uh, possibly for them to fuck.

Call for the Dead – John le Carré [SAFETY]

Requested Characters: George Smiley & None

Firstly, let me start by saying that if you’d rather write something closer to JLC’s later work than what I’ve suggested here, then that’s absolutely fine, and I would welcome that too. By the time of reveals, I should have watched the Alec Guinness versions of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (probably a rewatch of the 2011 film too) and Smiley’s People, and will also have read A Murder of Quality. References to and minor spoilers for the other Smiley books are fine, although I’d prefer no major spoilers for them.

What I find so fascinating about this novel is how strongly it reminds me of Golden Age mysteries. I can’t help but draw parallels between it and other mysteries I’ve read, and especially with the Poirot books in particular. Reading it is almost eerie: it’s like a window onto a world where there’s a fork in the road, with one path leading to Golden Age style mysteries and the other leading to Cold War espionage thrillers, and Call for the Dead (and A Murder of Quality) is the point at which the universe could have gone either way.

Which is a long and roundabout way of saying that I’d love to see something from the Alternative Universe where JLC took the other path, a world where he wrote novels in which Smiley is a Poirot-esque retired spy, growing marrows and trying to reconnect with his beautiful but faithless wife, whilst repeatedly getting tangled up in solving mysteries with the help of Mendel as his Inspector Japp and Peter Guillam as a rather more competent Hastings.

Is this a goofy idea? Well... okay, yes, it probably is. :D But I’m curious about the way careers develop and about the road not taken and what could have been, and it seems like the simplest way to deal with the SAFETY fandom thing, and look, I just really like murder mysteries, okay? (Which is not to say that I’m suggesting you write a full-blown casefic, because oh dear god I know what a huge ask that is, believe me, but I’d love to see that idea explored, even if the mystery itself isn’t fully realised, and the fic just consists of snippets from various cases.)

I am always, always here for murder mysteries set in country houses, whatever the fandom, and if coming up with plots is an issue I’d be fascinated to see an Agatha Christie fusion using one of her Poirot plots as the base (Any of them, although Death on the Nile is one of my perennial favourites and The ABC Murders feels like it would work pretty well too). Does changing the characters change the way the plot pans out?

Alternatively, go with something more in line with later canon if you’d prefer to do that, or explore Smiley’s backstory. And, for the record, I would eat up an introspective deep-dive character study of George Smiley with a spoon, because good god, do I adore him (whether it pulls in the other books or focuses purely on what we see in Call for the Dead – and considering how short it is, there is so much crammed into that book). He’s so complicated and practical and conflicted, with all that painfully loneliness over his wife’s multiple betrayals, and him going back to her even though he knows she’ll never be faithful to him, and his awkward relationships with just about everyone, and his guilt and self-hatred and doing what needs to be done even though he knows he’ll hate himself for it…

Mmph. Just about everything about him is designed to so perfectly up my street: the angst and the bitterness and the disillusionment and the stoicism, and that backstory of him being very afraid for a very long time. Just yes, more of that please, or conversely give me the world where he’s actually tentatively very nearly happy for once. How does his reunion go with Ann after the close of the novel? Or a weird Sliding Doors AU thing where he did become that academic studying 18th century German poetry after all, but the walls between the two worlds are breaking down and all the espionage stuff starts creeping in.

Beyond that, I don’t have any specific prompts for this particular request, I’m afraid, but I suspect if you offered this you have an idea of what you want to write, so whatever it is I encourage you to go with that.

Dawn of the Dead

Requested Ships: Francine Parker & Peter Washington & Stephen Andrews
Francine Parker/Peter Washington
Roger DeMarco/Peter Washington

This will always and forever be one of my favourite films, and certainly my favourite zombie film. Absolutely no contest, as far as I’m concerned. I love it from start to finish, from the chaos of the early scenes, to the feeling of triumph when they manage to clear the shopping mall of zombies, only for the ennui and despair to set in, and then for it all to crash and burn. The characters are all fantastic – I love the way they all interplay and the dynamics between them and the tangled web of lovers and friendship, the way Peter sorts of fits with Francine and Stephen after Roger’s death (that Francine & Peter & Stephen request is technically gen but deal with it however you want. If you want to ship the three of them in any combination then please feel free to do that.)

I’m afraid this is going to be another fairly short request and I don’t have any specific prompts for it, beyond more like canon please. More moments from life in the shopping centre, or explore the relationship between Peter and Roger in between the bits where they meet and when Roger gets bitten, or give me a canon divergent fic where Roger doesn’t die – does someone else get bitten in his place, or do they all survive, and how does that change the course of events when the bikers raid the mall? Or a post-canon fic that follows Francine and Peter after the end of the film. One dynamic that really appeals to me is grieving survivors who wind up in a relationship after the other people they love have died. Maybe it starts off as solace, but gradually deepens into something else, but the memories of the dead are always going to have an influence. It’s so messy and painful. Does Francine have the baby? Where do they end up next?

Grange Hill

Requested Ship: Tony Mitchell/June Mather

Fandom-specific DNWs: Major Character Death, Teacher/Student or Teacher/Former-student relationships.

This isn't a SAFETY fandom, but of the characters I've requested, Tony Mitchell is only in seasons 1 and 2, and June Mather is only in 3 episodes of season 1. The episodes are also very short, about 22 minutes each. I've only seen season 1 so far, but so far content warnings for bullying and racial slurs. It's fine to ignore the events of later seasons, but equally if you'd rather keep it canon-compliant beyond season 2, that's fine too and please don't worry about spoilers for later seasons.

Okay, so I'll admit I mainly started watching Grange Hill out of curiosity (all right, fine, it was because I'd watched the last appearance of Sean Arnold in Bergerac and I wanted to see what else he was in, okay?), but I seem to have found myself unexpectly hooked on it, burning through the first season in barely any time at all. I should have finished at least season 2 by reveals.

I love that so far, it's almost entirely free of moralising, which I find really refreshing. The school has a typical seventies lackadaisical attitude to health & safety, the kids and teachers all feel like real people (I especially love all the little hints of conflict between the dfferent teachers too, as well as the acknowledgement that actually yes, adults do have lives of their own, who knew), the tacit acceptance that kids will often do incredibly stupid things when left to their devices, and there's no attempt to stick a message in there telling kids NOT to do stupid shit, because they're kids, that's what kids do. Not only that, but they're are all such mouthy little shits! It's delightful, and I love all the moments of chaos and all the little details: the kids going feral because they're not currently being supervised (The swimming pool episode! Heading football across the classroom before the class starts! Mr Mitchell's eye-rolls!).

I am completely here for more canon-style low-stakes school stuff. Historical detail is great, but if that's not your thing then don't worry about it -- I am equally a fan of fun tropy iddy stuff that handwaves the details, and also fudge the school stuff too if you need to.

While I'd love a focus on the adults, the kids are all great too. I am especially fond of Tucker and his friendship with Benny, his god-help-them-when-they-hit-puberty thing with Trisha (and I LOVE that she gives him back as good as she gets), and the friendship between the girls, Ann, Trisha and Judy.

I've requested Mr Mitchell/Miss Mather, and you can honestly deal with that however you want. I'm good with anything from smut, to sweet romantic shipfic, to canon-style low level pining and UST that takes place in the background while the plot's going on. I cannot emphasise enough how here I am for all the subtle background flirting and the impossibility of trying to keep a relationship secret in the gossipy hothouse of a school. Popping in and out of each other's classrooms, pretending that you're just giving her a lift to school in the mornings... It's all so awkward and sweet and thoroughly repressed, and I am completely here for something ridiculously indulgent and heartwarming and lovely.

Base it around a school event, like they have to shepherd the kids on a school trip or quiet flirting during the staging of a school play. Or maybe a Rashomon-style structure where the same event is viewed through the eyes of teachers and students, with neither group really getting the full story. Or maybe he really *was* just giving her a lift, they're both secretly pining for each other, and Ann and Trisha try to play Cupid. Or just give me all the quiet moments of pining as a relationship slowly develops. Or, uh, that time they stay late after school and end up boning on her desk.

Oh, and given my whole reason for starting to watch in the first place, appearances from Mr Llewellyn will probably be appreciated. Crossovers are also welcome too. Maybe Grange Hill got renamed from Coal Hill not so long ago, or... look, if there's at least half a chance you can get Bodie undercover as a substitute gym teacher then dooooo it.

Doctor Who (1963)

Requested Ships: Sixth Doctor/Peri Brown
Third Doctor/Jo Grant
Mel Bush/Sabalom Glitz

”Jo, you've got all the time in the world, and all the space. I'm offering them to you.” *hearteyes*

I was already kind of shipping them because I am a sucker for hand-holding and they are always holding hands or hugging, but then I skipped ahead to The Green Death and oh my fucking god. I can’t see that speech at the beginning with the Doctor offering her the universe as anything but a love confession. It’s not just the words, but his delivery, which is ridiculously solemn given that he’s just giving her the choice of which shithole planet she wants to fail to get to. And she says no! And then the end of the story where he says goodbye to her and gives her the sapphire from Metebelis 3 as a wedding present (the way their hands touch!) and then she looks back at him as he slips out of the celebrations. Uh, which is to say that The Green Death got me from kind of shipping it to shipping it like burning.

Even if you set the ship aside, the Third Doctor and Jo are one of my favourite Doctor-Companion combinations. I absolutely fucking love the Pertwee years, and I love Jo so much: even back when Dr Who wasn’t on TV I had a battered novelisation of The Daemons that I read to death… (and rewatching it recently I’ve realised that may well be the source of my love for the trapped-in-a-creepy-village trope. The bit in Time Monster where the Master calls the Doctor's bluff and the Doctor can't bring himself to sacrifice Jo, so she makes the decision to sacrifice the both of them. <3<3<3 She’s tougher than she looks and she’s adaptable, but she’s still so vulnerable at times, and he’s so protective of her – all the putting his arm round her, and her flinging herself into his arms and being willing to sacrifice herself for him, him going in to kiss the top of her head… Yeah, I ship them hard.

Set it during canon or alternatively years late when Jo is older and wiser. I’m not really familiar with what the extended media has Jo doing after she leaves the show, so you’ve got an open book there as far as I’m concerned and I’m not bothered about spoilers for other media. Follow that canon or disregard it entirely: it’s up to you. The same goes for the fate of UNIT.

Regarding Clifford Jones, I happen to have a completely unsubstantiated headcanon that he's a previously unmet regeneration of the Doctor under the influence of the Chameleon Arch (perhaps one prior to Three who’s been forgotten about for some reason). It all kind of fits – his eccentricity, his name, his research being, according to the Doctor, remarkable for the age he lives in. Alternatively, I’m fine with him being ignored completely or for him and Jo to have gone on to divorce further down the line.

Optional Prompts

• Remember my headcanon about Clifford Jones? Well, after Jo’s marriage, the Doctor is distracted by inconvenient memories of her, memories which shouldn’t belong to him at all. Years after her marriage to Clifford breaks up, Jo finds herself meeting the Third Doctor again. A time paradox at Llanfairfach? The Master?
• Something ridiculously tropey – there’s only one bed, or they arrive on a planet where they’re forced to pose as husband and wife. Or, my favourite, trapped in a cupboard and hiding from monsters.
• Explore the shift in their relationship. Why did the Doctor go from not giving a damn about her flirtation with the Peladon to being so protective of her over Clifford?
• That speech the Doctor gave at the start of The Green Death: what would have happened if she’d agreed to go with him to Metebelis 3 (on the assumption that it would be a stop-off on the way to Llanfairfach).
• Undercover - Undercover as a Couple brings out Feelings - On arriving on a planet, the Doctor and Jo attempt to blend in (Curse of Peladon-style) by pretending to a pair of expected visiting government officials. Unfortunately, those government officials are actually husband and wife and events -- mysterious murders? -- mean they have to pretend to be married so as not to draw suspicion to themselves, and they find themselves enjoying the act. Or maybe they stage a breakup but the act of arguing actually draws them closer together.
• Oh No We Have to Get Married For .... Political Reasons Yeah That's It - Accidental marriage. <3<3<3 I have no idea how this could come about... maybe a planet where marriage is a requirement and so Jo insists on marrying the Doctor to save his life, and then it proves not to be quite so easy to annul as they'd anticipated.
• outsider pov - One of the things I really love about the Pertwee-era is how different the Doctor's manner was with Jo as compared to Liz, and it would be fantastic to see Jo's relationship with the Doctor explored through her bonding with Liz. Maybe it just started with Jo seeking out advice for how to work with the Doctor, and then it gradually becomes clear to Liz that Jo is falling in love with him.
• Slow Burn - Soulbonding is the only way for A to save seriously injured B's life - God, I love this concept so much. I could see this working with either character in the life-saving role. All the angst and guilt and anger, whether the anger is directed at the other character or that the other character had to be put in that position, or a messy mixture of both. <3
• Characters Stranded Without Any Other People For Decades - And another concept that's pure id. <3<3<3 Are they stranded for real, and is it permanent, or are they rescued at the end? And if/when Jo dies, will that mean the Doctor has to go on alone? Or, alternatively, is it an implanted memory situation or kind of simulation, with them living out the course of decades over a much shorter period of time, but it's no less real for that? Do they both live through it, or is it just one of them (Jo for preference if only one of them lives it.) (Struck through because I’m working on a version of this myself, but please don’t let that stop you from using this prompt if it appeals. I’d love to see your version and I am a great believer in the ‘Two Cakes’ philosophy)

Peri Brown/Sixth Doctor

Huh, well, after somehow managing to go my entire life of being a Dr Who fan without ever having seen a single Colin Baker episode, turns out he is hands-down one of my favourite Doctors and season 22 is the most fun I’ve had watching Dr Who since Three & Jo’s run. I absolutely adore Six as the Doctor, love him and Peri together, and thoroughly appreciate the darker edge to the character (a fucking acid bath? God, Vengeance on Varos was glorious from start to finish). I love the way he bickers with Peri, his terrible jokes, his outfit and that coat… And that regeneration scene, damn. There’s a moment after he tries to kill her in his fit of mania when he realises she’s terrified of him, and I love that moment so damn much, the utter bewilderment in his voice. He’s the Doctor – innocent young women aren’t supposed to be scared of him, and yet…

Shipwise, I love the bickering, the way he keeps putting his arm around her, (I’m a simple girl – gestures of affection like that get me every time). I really love the idea of them being drawn together despite everything – despite the bickering and the rocky start and his fashion sense and the sheer weirdness of how the whole situation must have felt for Peri, going from Five (who she called sweet!) to Six, who almost immediately tried to kill her (especially since that came straight after everything that happened with Sharaz Jek). But she’s tough and she sticks things out, even when she isn’t feeling entirely courageous, and I really like the way they sometimes each have to encourage the other to get involved. I like that this Doctor is dangerous, I like that he’s more violent than he usually is and more inclined to kill to solve his problems. And I also like the trust that develops between them despite the rocky start to their travelling together.

Delve into the weirdness of this ship, Peri telling herself she absolutely definitely isn’t attracted to this Doctor (and if you want to explore the potential weirdness of her having first been attracted to the Fifth Doctor first, only to then be confronted by this guy, then do), except, oh wait, actually she kind of sort of is. Or give me a quieter moment between then, more hugging, all the goodnatured (ish) bickering, hurt/comfort with neither of them necessarily being comfortable about it… Whatever you come up with, I’m sure I will be delighted.

Oh, and if you’re willing to write a crossover and are familiar with Blake’s 7, then I would very possibly kill for something where they run into Bayban (who only appears in one episode of B7, jsyk).

Optional Prompts

• Oh no, he’s hot – Maybe there’s a moment while they were travelling together when the Doctor’s removed his coat, maybe rolled his sleeves up, or changed his clothes, and Peri realises to her quiet horror/astonishment that this version of the Doctor is, uh, pretty fucking sexy actually.
• Undercover as a couple – For whatever reason, no matter how spurious, whether because they need to do it to protect Peri, or because they’re pretending to be other people who happen to be married, or because they’re investigating somewhere that requires them to be married. It doesn’t matter how spurious it is, just go all out on the tropeyness, especially if it’s combined with there only being one bed. And if no one believes they’re newly weds, because of all the bickering. An old married couple on the other hand...
• Stranded together for a very long time – Look, I’m a sucker for characters being put in the position of being forced to rely on each other and being drawn together because of that. This is recycled from my Three/Jo request, and I’m fascinated by how differently Peri would react given how different her motivations are for travelling with the Doctor compared to Jo.
• Sex pollen and its aftermath, where they’re either both equally affected or Peri is more affected than he is and he’s resisting but she can’t, and if they don’t have sex she’ll die. Please err on the pleasurable rather than traumatic side for Peri (awkwardness is fine though), but feel free to delve into his feelings of unease about losing control and what happened when he regenerated (and any residual guilt about not being able to protect her from Sharaz Jek). Or if you’d rather keep it lighter then go with the sex pollen making it easier for them to act on existing feelings, and acting as a catalyst to get them together (with an optional awkward ‘well that was weird’ aftermath)
• As a semi-apology for being a dick about her American vernacular, the Doctor takes her to an important moment in American history, past or future.
• They meet up with Turlough again, and while she’s reminiscing with him about the Fifth Doctor, Peri realises the Sixth Doctor isn’t that bad actually, or maybe getting to the point where she can reconcile the concept of the Doctor as being two different personalities but still the same person with Turlough’s help.
• Just give me a quieter moment from their travels together.
• Hurt/comfort – the Doctor is injured or sick and is refusing to cooperate with Peri’s attempts to care for him.
• Huddling for warmth. Especially – especially – if it involves if it involves Peri wearing the Doctor’s coat.
• Crossover with Blake’s 7 – Look, I don’t care how you do it. :D A comedy of errors where Bayban and the Doctor keep getting mistaken for each other? Peri seeing Bayban in his studded black leather being the catalyst for her ‘Oh no he’s hot’ moment regarding the Doctor? Body swap? Bayban is really the Doctor under the influence of the Chameleon Arch?

Melanie Bush/Sabalom Glitz

Aww, just the sheer thought of this ship gets my blackened little heart melting. <3 This request is going to be a little shorter than some of the others, but as always please don’t read anything into that. There’s something the idea of Mel continuing to explore the universe with Glitz even after she parts ways with the Doctor that I find absolutely heartwarming, and I just like the idea of them getting together down the line. Even if Glitz is a bit of a shifty fucker, he’s still delightful to watch, and I’d love to see more of their continuing adventures: Glitz and his schemes, Mel keeping him on the straight and narrow (or trying to), bickering over the chauvinistic stuff, mutually pining while telling themselves they’re definitely not pining for each other… I just can’t help making *hearteyes* at the idea of the two of them together, especially because I suspect their first reactions to the idea of being in a relationship with the other would be ‘Urgh, her/him?’ XD

Look, they’re adorable. Just smoosh them together and make them kiss, please?

Optional Prompts

• Sex pollen and its aftermath as the weird and awkward catalyst for a get-together, especially if they’re both trying to pretend that nothing has changed and they’re entirely platonic, and okay, yes, it’s weird, but they’re both absolutely fine with that.
• Aliens made them do it, but luckily the aliens know absolutely nothing about human intercourse and so it’s easy to fool them with a bit of kissing. Except that afterwards neither of them can stop thinking about it.
• Mel and Glitz keep narrowly missing the Doctor, and getting caught up in the loose ends he leaves behind.
• Just give me a get-together fic, please, where they eventually both manage to get other their ‘ugh, him?’/’ugh, her’ reactions.
• Fake relationship – Mel and Glitz find themselves in a situation where they have to pose as a married couple. Another murder mystery set on a luxury cruise shit, with or without giant murderous clit-cabbages? YES PLEASE.
• Their continuing adventures – him constantly getting into morally questionable schemes, her getting him mixed up in some adventure or other and, um, screaming a lot. How do they make it work?
• Loyalty issues – Glitz, loveable rogue or not, may not always be the most trustworthy of companions. Can Mel really trust him?
• I have no idea if the paradox of how Mel came to be travelling with the Doctor has been explored at any point (although I bet Big Finish have done something - (*eta: yep, but feel free to ignore it and make up your own version)), but that, basically, however you choose to do it. Maybe they come across a convention for people who’ve been affected by time paradoxes, or who came about because of them?
• They end up on Earth in the 1970s (whether the Doctor is there or not) and get caught up in a UNIT investigation.
• Meeting each other’s parents.

Lonely Water [SAFETY FANDOM]

Requested Ship: Narrator & None (Lonely Water 1973)

It's a very short (1 minute 30) British public information film from the seventies about the dangers of drowning in gravel pits and reservoirs, narrated by a faceless figure (Death?) who's fantastically voiced by Donald Pleasence. It can be found on YouTube here.

While I’ve requested Narrator & None for this, please feel free to interpret that however you like, whether you choose to explicitly include the Narrator as an actual character or just have his existence implied.

This is going to be another short request, I’m afraid, but what I’m really hoping for with this request is something similarly creepy. I love its theme of things lurking beneath the surface and of bad things happening in peaceful places. Donald Pleasence's malevolent narration is fantastic, too, with his voiceover veering from feigned sorrow to barely repressed glee. It’s such a great set-up for a ghost story. I’d love to see something with a strong sense of place, and lots of atmospheric description – I particularly love the contrast of the pretty scenery with all the junk that might be lying beneath the surface of the water.

I would absolutely love some horror for this, whether you go with something quietly understated and M.R. Jamesian or something much more overtly horrifying. Or explore the similarities between the set-up in the short, and the British folklore that exists around stretches of water, such as Jenny Greenteeth. Is the narrator Death, or some other figure from folklore? Alternatively, follow the children instead (not necessarily the ones from the film). Maybe a survivor or one who saw someone drown in a reservoir returns to the spot as an adult? Or expand on the worldbuilding: is the narrator Death, a ghost, or some kind of spirit of the water? Why is he bound to the water? What happens to the souls of the children who drown?

The Professionals

Requested Ships: George Cowley & None
George Cowley/William Bodie
William Bodie/Ray Doyle

I could spend forever watching the dynamic between the three of them, the banter, the jokes, the friendly rivalry, the way their different backgrounds give them different insights and skills, and the vibe I get that Cowley (who I fucking adore) is actually harder than Bodie and Doyle put together. Cowley chewing them out because they've disobeyed his orders and then immediately doing a U-turn and supporting them to the hilt. Oh, and the whump. Getting shot and beaten up and captured and generally getting the shit kicked out of them. So damn here for all of that. XD I love the way it subverts expectations too – all the literary references in particular, and the acknowledgement of CI5’s often deeply questionable tactics.

If you go for either of the two ships, I’d just like to say that I am extremely here for Bad Guys Made Them Do It for both of them. Handle that however you want with Bodie/Doyle, but for Cowley/Bodie I’d prefer Cowley topping if it comes to penetrative sex. Beyond that I have no topping preferences for either pairing for consensual sex.

William Bodie/Ray Doyle

Shipwise, explore the mutual codependence that comes as a result of working in close confines in a way that may not be entirely healthy, the tedium of surveillance, working and training together, working late and falling asleep at your desk, actively threatening to murder a suspect if anything happens to your partner… Anything goes here from explicit smut to pining (mutual or otherwise), and including canon-style relationships with women is fine too. Maybe they come to the realisation that while women come and go, their relationship remains immutable. They also sure do seem to get shot/beaten up on the reg, and look very pretty doing it, *especially* Doyle, so if you wanted to go hard on the whump...

Give me canon style casefic or something that takes them out of their comfort zones, backstory for either one of them, or post-canon fic. Also here for character studies, and anything that digs into any moral qualms they might have about CI5 and its methods, especially Doyle.

Optional Prompts

• Casefic, or elements from a partially realised casefic, whether canon-typical or something which takes them out of their comfort zones.
• 5 + 1 ways of livening up surveillance detail.
• Training together leads to sexual tension leans to sex.
• Bonding in captivity – whether as a result of trauma and torture, or being imprisoned together somewhere dark and claustrophobic.
• They’re revisited by someone from the past.
• The ridiculous Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) AU, where one half of the pairing is a ghost the other can’t see.
• Time Loop – where the event that triggers the loop is the other one’s death.
• If they do get together, how does it happen? How do they come to realise they have feelings for the other? When it starts is it just about sex, or is the sexual attraction develop out of a result of their bond?
• The bit in Stake Out where Bodie flung himself across a bowling alley to manhandle Doyle to the floor to stop him from kicking off at an aggressive member of the public, including hooking his leg over Doyle's in the process, did things to me. More undercover stuff please, with them both trying to keep a low profile, and having to rely on the other one to rein them in. Additional manhandling is optional, but very much appreciated.

Solo: George Cowley

When I started watching this series, I was completely unprepared for how hard and how quickly I’d fall for Cowley, although in retrospect, and given the way my id tends to shake out, I, uh, probably should have seen it coming. :D I think it’s a combination of his dynamic with Bodie and Doyle and the heavily implied suggestion that he’s tougher than the pair of them put together, along with his ethics and stance against bigotry, and if I’d been in the slightest bit of doubt the episode where they meet an old girlfriend of his sealed it. Yep, I utterly, unreservedly adore him, and with every episode I watch, I love him a little bit more.

And while we’re on the subject, that episode, Look After Annie, was an absolute delight. From Bodie and Doyle’s reaction to the idea of him in a relationship with a woman (that conversation in the car! Doyle slightly dubiously describing him as attractive :D) to the way Cowley actually behaves when he meets her and then quietly having his heart broken all over again (and oh god, my heart). And the backstory we get for him, picking his education back up after the war, as a student going to political meetings, and falling in love with a woman who he keeps loving even after she breaks his heart. And that line about how she never knew him at all? Damn. It’s so up my street I can’t even say: quiet loneliness and a lingering feeling of regret even while you’re getting on with all the shit that needs to get done will get me every time.

Do whatever you want. Seriously, *anything,* whether shippy or gen, action-packed or an introspective character-study. Anything. If you do want to do something shippy, go with an existing character or an OC, whether het or slash (I know I went on a bit about Annie, but that’s just because of the character notes in that episode. I really am open to any ships that don’t violate my DNWs).

Optional Prompts

• Okay, so what the hell did happen with Annie Irvine? And what did she actually say to Bodie and Doyle which made them so reluctant to share with Cowley? Give me backstory. Or something that follows on from that episode. Do their paths cross again? Where do they go from there? Once the shock’s worn off, does she forgive him for what happens with Stanley, or is the whole thing just too messed up for her to deal with?
• Backstory. Anything from any point in his life, whether from his time during the war, or his life as a student, or his time with MI5, or the early days of CI5. Anything.
• I always love stories which take characters out of their comfort zones and forcing them to rely on their skills and initiative, and so far this show has been very, very good to me. I loved the episode Close Quarters, even if it was pretty fucking tough to watch. Under siege and wounded in a country house? Oh hell yes. So something like that but for Cowley?
• A Closed Circle mystery. Maybe the result of a case or he’s drawn there as a result of a favour for a friend, or he’s looking into a potential location for some political event or other that CI5 need to provide security for, or so he thinks, but actually…
• Mutual pining (or one-sided pining. Or any kind of pining). Ruth Pettifer develops a crush on her boss.
• If at all in doubt, I am absolutely here for something which captures the character dynamics between the three of them.
• Watching The Rack, I definitely did not ship Cowley and the lawyer, Geraldine Mather. Except, er, for the fact that I absolutely definitely did. They're both so entrenched in their viewpoints and passionate about their beliefs (Cowley's speech, and her response to it <3) -- there's no need to ship them (although if you did, even if it's just quiet pining or low key attraction...), but I'd love to see them sharing a drink in the aftermath of The Rack. Can they find common ground, even if they remain diametrically opposed to each other's positions? Or something plottier - Geraldine finds herself more personally involved in a CI5 case.

George Cowley/William Bodie

This ship hit me pretty hard after a chance comment got me thinking how it would work, and then in the middle of that I watched Need to know, and noticed that little bit where Cowley brushes back Bodie's hair after administering oxygen (all Doyle gets is a cheek pat), and huh, okay, turns out I do actually ship it, and turns out I really ship it.

I'm nearly always drawn to age-gap relationships anyway, and something about this particular age gap ship just really appeals -- it's something about the mix of loyalty, trust issues, and the low-level disapproval on Cowley's part - his little dig about how it's not like Bodie will ever have to worry about it when the subject of them needing his permission to get married comes up (also Bodie's 'Wait, what?' reaction, XD). Even aside from the age gap, there are so many fundamental differences between them -- faith, repression, romanticism, etc -- but in a way that gets me wanting to see just how they'd fit together, as well as all the different ways they could fit together.

This is another short request, I'm afraid, and I don't have any specific prompts, but repression and trust issues and pining (mutual or otherwise) are always golden, as well as imperfect awkward sex and scenarios where they're both out of their depth and forced to rely on each other. Not to mention having to keep any relationship secret and/or self-denial because of Cowley's 'No Fraternisation Between Agents' rule. And Bad Guys Made Them Do It scenarios, which take on an extra layer of interest if it's Cowley being made to fuck Bodie -- that delicious additional guilt during and afterwards because ultimately Cowley is the one responsible for their safety. Just... fucking yes please. That, and the delicious guilt and angst of the aftermath.

There absolutely doesn't need to be a happy ending. Oh, and I should mention that background Bodie/Doyle is welcome here too.

Survivors

Requested Characters: Abby Grant & None
Jenny Richards/Greg Preston
Worldbuilding & None

Fandom-specific DNW: I like the idea of John and Lizzy (and possibly baby Paul) ending up in a relationship when they’re adults. That’s fine, but please no on-screen sexual content for the aged-up characters.

I’m open to seeing any characters or aspects of the show explored. While this isn't technically a SAFETY fandom, there are a couple of communities throughout the series who only appear in one or two episodes, and I would welcome a fic that takes a closer look at any of them. These include (but are not limited to) Arthur Wormley's group (s1e2-3), the London group, (s2e3-4), the group of kids (s3e2), Brod's group (s3e3), and the communities in Scotland. (s3e12)

Oh, and if you’re at all open to crossovers, then I would very probably be willing to sell my soul for a crossover with The Professionals. (If you’re at all interested in doing that, then please do whatever you need to do to get it done. If it helps, one of my prompts would be doable after only having seen a single more-or-less standalone episode of Survivors).

So far, in my quest for the grimmest piece of seventies British sci-fi, Survivors is winning hands down. XD It is incredibly bleak, and can be tough to watch, particularly these days with everything that’s going on with Covid, but personally I’ve actually found it quite comforting. YMMV, though, and I’m really not kidding: it is grim. Content warnings include pressure to have babies, bad things happening to children and animals, and the occasional threat of sexual violence (mostly low-level, but there's at least one death which is strongly implied to have to do with rape although it isn't clear what exactly took place). It looks like a lot of the episodes are currently available on YouTube, and the first episode is here.

This series is an absolute gem, despite (or perhaps because of) how grim it is. I’m still thinking about the themes it raises some time after finishing watching and hankering for a rewatch because it raises so many different issues – all the philosophising chat about planning for short-term survival vs planning for the long-term future, all the competence porn (Greg MacGyvering his way through the apocalypse will forever be one of my favourite things), the immediate aftermath of the plague and the race to form communities, with some groups making power grabs, while others struggle to get settled. And the way it deals with trauma and grief, and the way that sometimes all that has to be set aside while people are trying to get on with the business of surviving. The moral issues it raises, and the way Greg and Charles sort of each represent a different path, with Charles’ way being looking backwards to a simpler way of life, while Greg is all about engineering and the future and restarting industry.

I love it. I love it so damn much, and I am here for any aspect of the show being explored. I especially love how heavy it was on female characters. One of my favourite things about the early season, aside from watching the early days of the plague unfold – all the rural, soggy, muddiness of rural England – was the core relationship between Abby, Jenny and Greg, and the way the group ultimately grows up around the three of them. I ship Jenny/Greg pretty hard, and I really liked the way their relationship came about almost as an afterthought, but deepened as time went on, and also how that arc came to an end (and on that subject: oh dear god), and for the record I ship Jenny/Alec pretty damn hard too. The whole thing is so incredibly real and messy and painful.

I adore Abby and Jenny both, Abby for how competent and tough she is, and how her arc isn’t entirely defined by her being a mother. I love that she’s the group’s leader, and I’d love to see something following her after she leaves. We hear mentions of her, but we never quite find out what happened to her. Does she find Peter? Is she still around during the events of the third season? I’d love to see that explored.

And Jenny. <3<3<3 I absolutely love her to bits, particularly in the third season when she actually gets stuff to do. She’s simultaneously lovely, but also has a temper – and I am completely here for those little moments like her yelling at Charles and bickering with Ruth about soap.

As someone who likes post-apocalyptic stuff in general (including zombies), I’m also fascinated by the way the show uses tropes and to what extent it’s inspired other post-apocalyptic media, particularly in Mad Dog (another potentially standalone episode, which is extremely gripping and which can be found here. Uh, content warning for a man dying of rabies. It’s that sort of show, I’m afraid.).

Optional Prompts

• A missing scene from Jenny and Greg’s relationship filling in the bits it didn’t show. Like in the episode Gone to the Angels, when it goes from Greg outright stating that they’re together to them being in bed together. What happened in the interim? He’s pretty obviously trying to protect her and it’s entirely understandable under the circumstances, but it does smack a bit of chauvinism and him riding rough-shod over her opinions. So what happened in between? Did they argue about it? Was she angry, annoyed, relieved?
• I don’t often request slice-of-life, but I’m requesting it here, whenever it’s set, whether during the early days or when they reach the Grange, or at Whitecross in series 2, or during series 3 and the long search for Greg. I love the way the group grows up around that little kernel of three, Abby, Jenny and Greg, and how they’re the heart of their community. So just that really, moments from their lives and just the general small scale practicalities of their lives, trying to get hold of farm animals, another dog to breed with Ben, looking after the kids...
• Worldbuilding – give snapshots of the end of the world from the beginning to the long-term future, showing how things evolve.
• I’d love to see something exploring the conflict and dilemma that arises towards the end of series 2 and onwards – the difficult choice between the long-shot attempt to re-establish civilisation and industry and returning to a semi-medieval way of life, after years of modern life, antibiotics, industrial farming, and contraception. And the series makes it explicit that there is a price to pay for that, given what happens to Dr Adams and his community. And it’s all very well for people in the Scottish Highlands, but if some of them have never come into contact with with original virus, then are they still at risk of it?
• Understandably, we never see anything of Greg’s trip to Norway, since that’s clearly asking too much of a BBC 1970s sci-fi budget, but that’s something that can be remedied in fic. What happened in the six months he and the others were away?
• Something along the lines of the Canterbury Tales. Season 3 seems like a good point to set it, but any other point in canon would do. A group of people gather together somewhere to shelter and share their stories about the Death.
• Mad Dog made me want the zombie-apocalypse AU.
• And speaking of Mad Dog, give me something similarly tense and gripping with any of the characters (or OCs) and I will be beyond delighted.
• What happened to Abby? We get a few mentions of her after the first season but never anything concrete, so I'd love to see something following her after she leaves to find her son. Bring her into the events of the third season.
• Something bittersweet and sad following Jenny and Alec after the final episode.
• Futurefic with John, Lizzy and Paul as older teenagers/adults. How does the next generation to the new world, especially kids like Paul who've never known anything else. How do they grow up thinking about Greg, who by this point might have taken on an almost mythical status?
• Crossover with The Professionals. In the S3 episode A Little Learning we meed a Lord of the Flies-esque settlement of children, run by a tough-as-nails kid from Glasgow, who is basically a Cowley-in-training: ruthless, devious and doing whatever he needs to do to keep his group together, even though he’s completely out of his depth and horribly vulnerable due to, you know, being all of about 13 years old. I just want the real Cowley to take him under his wing. The episode should work as a standalone, and it can be found here. (Content warning: it involves the death of children, and mentions of child exploitation and abuse). Seriously, though, if you're willing to do a Survivors/The Professionals crossover then give me anything, although I warn you there's a good chance I'll claw your hand off. :D Maybe Greg and Macklin keep being mistaken for each other?
• I have no idea how it would work, but the swarms of rats in the Lights of London two-parter made me want a Dishonored fusion.

Thanks for reading!