The Tribe is a science fiction drama television series which premiered on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom on 24 April 1999.

The series was created by Raymond Thompson and Harry Duffin, and was developed and produced by the Cloud 9 Screen Entertainment Group in New Zealand.

Primarily aimed at teenagers, The Tribe is set in a post-apocalyptic city in which all adults have been killed as the result of an unknown virus.

The series focuses on the remaining children and teenagers who must navigate the social and personal issues of adolescence, while being faced with the larger problems of a society in a state of anarchy.

Overarching themes include the focus on change from tradition, empowerment, religion, and the exploration of power and corruption.

In a post-apocalyptic city, all of the adults have been killed as a result of an unknown virus, leaving the children and teenagers to survive in a state of anarchy.

Under Bray's leadership, the Mall Rats use their position of power to unite the other tribes and bring peace to the city.

A bill of rights is developed by Danni, along with a trading market in the mall, and a newsletter by Ellie detailing the city's progress.

The virus is later diminished, and a new tribe called the "Chosen" surfaces, they are remnants of the Locos who now worship Zoot as their god.

The Mall Rats are captured and, along with other prisoners of the city, are given the choice to join the Chosen or work as slaves, with many civilians being sent away due to rebellion.

In an attempt to create a utopia, the leader of the Technos, Ram, releases a virtual reality game to which the people of the city become addicted to in exchange for workload.

Ram infiltrates Mega's technology and creates an artificial intelligence program, which goes rogue and releases a new virus.

[5] "Our aim was to accurately reflect the world that viewers inhabit in a fictional environment through which we could explore everyday issues and experiences."

Discussion which led to the creation of the series began when Raymond Thompson, co-founder of the independent production company Cloud 9 Screen Entertainment Group, known for his work as a screenwriter on the soap Howards' Way, was approached by Nick Wilson of Channel 5 to "develop a soap for the millennium, targeting a child/adolescent market".

They commissioned and recruited a team of ten writers to adapt the storylines and by July 1998 the first four scripts of The Tribe were finished.

Between the filming of the second and third series of The Tribe, the Mall set was repainted and redressed for use on another Cloud 9 production, Atlantis High.

For example, the Cloud 9 Studios car park was used as the exterior of the Mall and Alice's and Ellie's farmhouse was built in the rural area of Whitemans Valley in Upper Hutt.

The majority of the actors cast in series one were students and were tutored between scenes at Cloud 9's production centre.

[17] Pre-production for series six started in September 2003[18] and a script for a Tribe movie was written and put on the market.

[20] However, Nick Wilson and Thompson decided that although "the show was still performing well, [they] felt that the cast was getting too old [and that] it was beginning to stretch the core proposition.

[citation needed] The first series of The Tribe was released on DVD in Australia by the ABC on 3 March 2011 after airing on ABC3.

The series was also filmed in Wellington, with twenty core cast and up to a hundred crew members, including a large number who had worked on Peter Jackson's's King Kong.

[48] Two CDs were released, featuring music from the soundtrack of the television series and songs recorded by the cast.