How do you turn a busy urban metropolis into the post-apocalyptic world of Survivors? Paul Simpson visited the show's base in Birmingham to find out...

At first glance, it looks like the inner city version of one of Doctor Who's infamous quarries. There's rubble strewn all over the ground, with a dilapidated double-decker bus to one side. Only when you enter the walled-off area properly do you see the trailers lined up behind the bus, and the security guards ready to discourage local taxi drivers from using the area as a resting place. This is the base camp for Survivors, from where the actors are driven to locations around Birmingham for the second season of Adrian Hodges' reinvention of Terry Nation's 1970s series.

Filming is coming to the end, but spirits are remarkably high as the show's publicist, along with producer Hugh Warren, accompany me on the short trip to offices in central Birmingham. Hidden inside a nondescript building is a cloistered courtyard beyond which are some ordinary offices, which today are doubling for chief scientist Whitaker's office at the Lab.

As we arrive, the cast are being put through their paces for the climactic scene. While searching the office for clues, Abby spots footage from a CCTV camera outside – showing her son Peter, accompanied by Whitaker. Desperate to find him, she races out of the room, leaving the others to follow behind her.

Of course, Julie Graham can't really see the footage – that'll be added to the blank computer screen in front of her in post-production – so on each take she maintains exactly the same length of time before reacting. Multiple takes cover the scene from various angles, with the cameraman having to be sure that none of the many people huddled at the end of the room can be seen. One of the series' best-kept secrets is inadvertently revealed by the scene, with Robyn Addison, who plays Sarah, conspicuous by her absence.

Sure footing

It's the last scene for most of the actors, with Max Beesley, Zoe Tapper and Phillip Rhys all released for the day once it's done. Accompanying them back to the base to try to get a chance to chat before they disappear off, there's an easy banter amid a discussion of the best places to shop near Santa Monica Beach.

Phillip Rhys is happy to talk, excited about the end of the shoot and his pending wedding. Pointing out that "there's a shortage of good adult drama on British TV," he was excited to return to the show. "We've found more of our footing this year," he explains. "The first year, you get six episodes to present the characters and create the world. We're there with this season."

Not wanting to spoil the surprise of Sarah's death in episode five, he talks obliquely about the challenges the season presents. "When Adrian told me that Al would fall in love with Sarah, I wondered how we would pull that off," he admits. "But Robyn is a knockout in this series. The material we've got together has been very rewarding – very challenging, and incredibly rewarding at the same time. Their romance truly blossoms in episode give, then goes wrong..."

He also found the scenes in the first episode, where Al and Anya are trapped beneath the rubble after a cave-in, "physically and emotionally challenging. Executing that was almost like the real deal – it was damp and claustrophobic."

But although the show is "definitely action/adventure, we haven't forgotten about the characters and who we are." This year sees Al gain more of a perspective on life. "That is what this Family has given him, dysfunctional as it is. As an actor, it's a great challenge to be a Lothario figure to start with and then at the end of the season, to be there putting your life on the line for your surrogate son."

Homework and stunts

Chahak Patel, who plays the young Najjid, is delighted that this season has seen him get the chance to work more with the other characters. "There's definitely still a bond between Najjid and Al," he says, sitting in his trailer doing his homework while waiting to be called to the set. "But the scenes with the other main characters show different bonds."

Patel admits that he "wanted Najjid to be more grown up. He's living in a world where everything's gone. I had an idea of what was going to happen this year, but it's definitely changed a lot. You see Najjid growing up a lot. He becomes independent; he wants to be more of an adult within the community. He's making his own choices – and some of them may be wrong."

The young actor, whose classmates regularly pressed him for spoilers on the new series when he was back at school, also enjoyed the opportunity to do some stunt work. "The scene where I was sitting on the edge of a roof tower [at the end of episode two] I did myself, and I'm looking forward to getting to shoot a gun in the final episode."

Pods and GMTV

After lunch, producer Hugh Warren invites Total Sci-Fi along to a location check. The final episode sees Whitaker captured by the Family and interrogated in one of the Pods at the Lab. Since it wouldn't be viable to return to the location where the main Lab was shot for the first two episodes, a new place has been found, in the basement of a nearby building.

There, set decorators are busily recreating a single Pod, but literally only preparing those elements of it that will be seen on camera. A couple of body bags are present which will be seen beyond the open doorway looking out into the "corridor" – in reality, a set of shelving that looks odd stuck in the middle of an empty area for no apparent reason.

There's an added twist: GMTV are visiting the next day, and presenter Richard Arnold, a fan of the show, is going to be interviewing some of the cast at the location. Luckily the team realise that the floor beneath where the Pod is being built is identical, so can be used if necessary. It's just one of the many logistical problems that the show faces every day.

Chatting shortly after the visit, creator Adrian Hodges sums up the second year of the show for all the cast and crew. "In some ways we feel that we've barely begun with Survivors, but in other ways I have to accept that this might be its final series," he notes. "What I've tried to do with this series is give a satisfying conclusion so that if it proves to be the last episode, at least it will feel like a series that has finished in an appropriate way, but at the same time, almost every door is left open."

Survivors: Series 2 is out now on DVD (region 2).