:''This article is specifically about the production history of the television series ''

Blake's 7 ''Blake's 7'' is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Four series of thirteen 50-minute episodes were broadcast on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also wrote the first series, prod ...

'': for a more general overview of this series, please see the main ''Blake's 7'' article.'' ''Blake's 7'' is a British

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

television programme that was produced by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

for its station

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

. Set in the far future, ''Blake's 7'' follows the fortunes of a group of

rebels A rebel is a participant in a rebellion. Rebel or rebels may also refer to: People * Rebel (given name) * Rebel (surname) * Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution * American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; ...

in their fight against the

dictatorial A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times of ...

Terran Federation. Four thirteen-episode series were produced between 1978 and 1981. ''Blake's 7'' was created by

Terry Nation Terence Joseph Nation (8 August 19309 March 1997) was a Welsh screenwriter and novelist. Especially known for his work in British television science fiction, he created the Daleks and Davros for ''Doctor Who'', as well as the series '' Surviv ...

, who later described it as "''

The Dirty Dozen ''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin, with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Ralph Meeker, ...

'' in space".

David Maloney David John Lee Maloney (14 December 1933 – 18 July 2006) was a British television director and producer, best known for his work on the BBC science-fiction series ''Doctor Who'', ''Blake's 7'' and '' The Day of the Triffids''. ''The Guard ...

was assigned to produce the series and Chris Boucher was appointed as the

script editor A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television and radio programs, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas wit ...

. Gareth Thomas was cast as the eponymous

Blake Blake or Blake's may refer to: People * Blake (given name), a given name of English origin (includes a list of people with the name) * Blake (surname), a surname of English origin (includes a list of people with the name) ** William Blake (1757 ...

. The series' budget was severely restricted, which limited the scope for visual effects. Nation wrote the first 13-episode series and contributed a further six scripts in the second and third series. Twelve additional writers provided material for the series. After three successful series, ''Blake's 7'' was unexpectedly commissioned for a further series.

Vere Lorrimer Vere Lorrimer (8 June 1920 – 1 October 1998) was a British television producer and director. His work as director included many BBC dramas including ''Compact'', '' Doomwatch'', ''Dixon of Dock Green'', and ''Blake's 7''. He later moved on to ...

was appointed as producer, and oversaw major changes in its format. Following the dramatic finale of the fourth series, ''Blake's 7'' was not re-commissioned and the programme ended.

Origins (1975–1976)

In 1975,

attended a meeting with

Ronnie Marsh Ronnie may refer to: *Ronnie (name) Ronnie is a given name. It can be a pet form of the masculine name Ronald and the feminine name Veronica (name), Veronica. The masculine ''Ronald'' is derived from the Old Norse ''Rognvald, Rögnvaldr'', which ...

, the BBC's Head of Serials, to discuss ideas for new television series. Marsh was looking for formats for co-productions with American television channels. Nation suggested a number of ideas, mostly for crime dramas, none of which appealed to Marsh. According to Nation, "...the interview was drawing to a close when I surprised myself by starting to detail a new science fiction adventure ..'Have you got a title?' someone asked. Blake's 7 I replied without hesitation." Marsh's notes of the meeting survive and record the pitch Nation made as follows: "cracking ''

Boy's Own ''Boys' Own'' or ''Boy's Own'' or ''Boys Own'', is the title of a varying series of similarly titled magazines, story papers, and newsletters published at various times and by various publishers, in the United Kingdom and the United States, fr ...

''/

kidult A kidult is an adult whose interests or media consumption is traditionally seen as more suitable for children. It can also mean a parent who acts childishly with their children and does not take on their duties as a disciplinarian. Nation left the meeting with a commission for a pilot script and "...the bewildered feeling that ..I could not trace the source of the idea". Nation submitted his pilot script, titled "''Blake's 7 – A Television Series created by Terry Nation''", in April 1976, sub-titling the draft episode ''Cygnus Alpha''. Nation's pilot script broadly resembled what would become ''The Way Back'', the first episode of ''Blake's 7'' to be transmitted, although the agent who betrays Glyd's group and plots Blake's conviction was named Cral Travis, rather than Dev Tarrant in the transmitted episode. The proposed characters for the series were: Rog (later changed to Roj) Blake, Vila Restal, Jenna Stannis, Kerr Avon, Olag Gan, Arco Trent, Tone Selman and Brell Klein. The descriptions of Blake, Jenna and Gan are similar to those of the developed characters. However, Vila's character is somewhat different, described as "thirty five, a good-looking athletic", he appeared more similar to the popular fictional character

Simon Templar The Saint is the nickname of the fictional character Simon Templar, featured in a List of works by Leslie Charteris, series of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date other authors collaborat ...

than the Vila portrayed on screen. The character of Arco Trent was described as a powerful figure in the Administration who had become a scapegoat for a group of corrupt officials involved in arms dealing. Arco would plot against Blake but would gain respect for him after Blake saves his life. Arco's

sidekick A sidekick is a close companion or colleague who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to those whom they accompany. Origins The first recorded use of the term dates from 1896. It is believed to have originated in pickpocket slang of ...

would be Avon, a self-serving, treacherous coward. The characters of Selman and Klein did not appear in the pilot script, which noted that these characters would join the series in a later episode. Marsh asked Nation for a draft script for a second episode of ''Blake's 7'' in June 1976. Two months later, Nation delivered ''Space Fall'', in which the spacecraft ''Liberator'' was introduced. On 12 November, Marsh commissioned ''Space Fall'' and confirmed the series for full development. Marsh asked Nation to deliver a further five scripts. It was intended that 13 episodes of ''Blake's 7'' would be produced to replace the police drama '' Softly, Softly: Taskforce''. Nation would write the first seven episodes, the following four would be written by other writers and Nation would write a two-part finale. ''Blake's 7'' now officially entered production.

Series One (1977–1978)

The BBC chose

to produce ''Blake's 7'' because of his experience with ''Doctor Who''. Maloney approached Robert Holmes, as a script editor. Holmes declined, as he was script editing ''Doctor Who'', but he recommended Chris Boucher, who had previously written three scripts for ''Doctor Who''. Early in 1977, Nation was commissioned to write four more episodes for Series One and five episodes for Series Two. He was now contracted to write all thirteen episodes of the first series. The BBC had expanded Nation's writing commitment in order that Nation's high-profile would help the promotion of the series. Providing a large amount of material in a short time would prove difficult for Nation. Admitting that he had agreed to write every episode out of "ego and supreme confidence", Nation later recalled that he returned home following the commission and told his wife, "I think I've got myself into deep trouble!" Nation informed Boucher that he would only be able to deliver the first draft of each script, telling Boucher, "...you can have rewrites or you can have the next episode: which do you want?" As a result, while Nation created the plots, Boucher provided a great deal of input into the characters and dialogue. According to Boucher, "Terry came up with the characters, he came up with thirteen good stories, but he didn't come up with the dialogue. I remember saying, and I think it's pretty close to the truth, that for a long time,

Paul Darrow Paul Darrow (born Paul Valentine Birkby; 2 May 1941 – 3 June 2019) was an English actor and writer. He became best known for playing Kerr Avon in the BBC science fiction television series ''Blake's 7'' between 1978 and 1981. His many te ...

laying Avonnever spoke a line that I hadn't written or altered to make the lines sharper." The strain of writing all thirteen episodes was starting to affect Nation. His tenth script – ''The Invaders'', in which Gan would fight an alien duplicate of himself intent on taking over the ''Liberator'' – was abandoned and replaced by a script titled ''Brain Drain'' (later renamed ''Breakdown'') which partially re-used some elements of ''The Invaders''. Nation later recalled: "During those thirteen weeks, I ran entirely out of ideas, and I'd sit around and walk for days, saying, 'There are no more ideas, that's it! I've shot it all and it's gone'." One episode badly affected by Nation's difficulties was ''Bounty''; even after Boucher had rewritten it, director Pennant Roberts was required to lengthen the scenes to fill the fifty-minute running time.

Script and character alterations

One script was abandoned early; ''Locate and Destroy'' was originally planned as the fourth episode. This story would have re-introduced the character Travis, first seen in the pilot script, now with a mechanical arm and an eye patch. Travis would be ordered by his superior officer, "Commander Shervalan", to recapture Blake. This script's plot elements would later be used in the episodes ''Duel'', ''Mission to Destiny'' and ''Deliverance''. The last of these centred on Travis attacking the ''Liberator'' while Jenna was captured by primitives living on a planet ravaged by a

biological weapon Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and Toxin#Biotoxins, biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,2 ...

released by the Federation. Travis was later renamed Dev Tarrant in the opening episode ''The Way Back''; the Travis that appeared from ''Seek-Locate-Destroy'' onwards was a new character, while "Commander Shervalan" became female and was renamed Servalan. The characters of Trent, Selman and Klein were removed from the series, although Trent and Selman appeared as Blake's fellow prisoners and were then killed in the broadcast version of ''Cygnus Alpha''. These characters were removed in order to control costs and to give the remaining characters more work. ''Blake's 7'' would now comprise Blake himself; Avon, who acquired the scheming nature of Arco Trent; Vila, who now acquired the cowardly aspect originally planned for Avon; Jenna; Gan; Zen, the ''Liberator'' computer; and a new character: the telepathic alien, Cally, who was added to balance the gender mix among the cast. This character had similarities to that of ''Doctor Who'' companion Leela – created by Boucher, who was inspired by the

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

hijacker

Leila Khaled Leila Khaled ( ; born April 9, 1944) is a Palestinian former militant and activist who was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). She is famous as being the first woman to hijack an airplane. Khaled gained her pr ...

. Stevens and Moore speculate that Boucher had a large part in the creation of Cally, whose skin and hair were to be coloured red, while coloured

contact lenses Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lens (optics), lenses placed directly on the surface of the Human eye, eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct ...

would be worn by the actress when Cally entered a telepathic trance, giving her a more alien appearance. These ideas were finally abandoned to reduce costs and save time.

Casting and production staff

In June 1977 the BBC announced to the press that ''Blake's 7'', a "...new and major BBC television series of space adventure" set in the "third century of the second calendar", was in development, stating that 13 episodes would be produced at a cost of £750,000. Casting was now in progress. Gareth Thomas was chosen to play Blake at the suggestion of Terry Nation.

, who had been considered for the part of Blake, was cast as Avon.

Michael Keating Michael, Mike or Mickey Keating may refer to: Politics * Michael Keating (Irish politician) (born 1946), Fine Gael then Progressive Democrats TD from Dublin * Michael Keating (Manitoba politician) * Michael Keating (political scientist) (born 195 ...

was suggested for the role of Vila by

Pennant Roberts John Pennant Roberts (15 December 1940 – 22 June 2010) was a British director and producer known for his work in British television drama. Early life Roberts was born at Weston-super-Mare in Somerset to Welsh parents. He went to school i ...

; the pair had worked together on the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''

The Sun Makers ''The Sun Makers'' is the fourth serial of the 15th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 26 November to 17 December 1977. The serial is set on Pluto. ...

''.

David Jackson David Jackson or Dave Jackson may refer to: Academics *David Jackson (art historian) (born 1958), British professor of Russian and Scandinavian art histories * David J. Jackson, American political scientist * David M. Jackson, Canadian mathematics ...

, who was known to David Maloney from Maloney's acting career, was cast as Gan. While watching Jackson on stage at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

, Maloney and

noted

Jan Chappell Janet Victoria Chappell (born 7 June 1945) is an English actress, known for her portrayal of Cally in the first three series of ''Blake's 7''. She was born in Brixton, London, and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her television app ...

, who would be cast as Cally. Sally Knyvette, who had been recommended by director Bill Sellars following her work on the serial ''

Who Pays the Ferryman? ''Who Pays the Ferryman?'' is a television series produced by the BBC in 1977. The title of the series alludes to the ancient religious belief and mythology surrounding Charon, the ferryman to Hades. In antiquity, it was customary to place coins i ...

'', was cast as Jenna.

Peter Tuddenham Peter Tuddenham (27 November 1918 – 9 July 2007) was a British actor. He was well known for his voice work, which included the voices of the computers in the BBC science fiction series ''Blake's 7'' (1978–1981). Life and career Tuddenham w ...

was cast as Zen.

Stephen Greif Stephen John Greif (; 26 August 1944 – 23 December 2022) was an English actor known for his roles as Travis in ''Blake's 7'', Harry Fenning in three series of '' Citizen Smith'', Signor Donato in '' Casanova'' and Commander John Shepherd in ...

, who was appearing in the BBC

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Citizen Smith ''Citizen Smith'' is a British television sitcom written by John Sullivan, first broadcast from 1977 to 1980. It starred Robert Lindsay as Walter Henry "Wolfie" Smith, a young Marxist "urban guerrilla" in Tooting, south London, who is attempti ...

'', was cast as Blake's nemesis, Travis.

Ingrid Pitt Ingrid Pitt (born Ingoushka Petrov; 21 November 193723 November 2010) was a Polish-British actress and writer, best known for her work in British horror cinema of the 1970s. Early life Ingoushka Petrov was born in Warsaw, Poland, one of two ...

had originally been considered for the role of Travis' superior, Servalan, but the role went to

Jacqueline Pearce Jacqueline Pearce (20 December 1943 – 3 September 2018) was a British film and television actress. She was best known for her portrayal of the principal villain Servalan in the British science fiction TV series ''Blake's 7'' (1978–1981), ...

. Three directors –

, Michael E. Briant and Lennie Mayne – who had directed ''Doctor Who'' episodes – were assigned to ''Blake's 7''. The directors would work in rotation, each directing four episodes. Episode seven would be directed by Paul Ciappessoni. Mayne was killed in a boating accident and was replaced by Vere Lorrimer. The eighth episode, ''Duel'', was directed by another ''Doctor Who'' veteran,

Douglas Camfield Douglas Gaston Sydney Camfield (8 May 1931 – 27 January 1984) was a British television director, active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Early life Camfield studied at the York School of Art and aimed to work for The Walt Disney Company. He was ...

. Maloney assembled the rest of his production team and engaged

Roger Murray-Leach Roger Murray-Leach (born 25 June 1943) is a British production designer who worked at the BBC on the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and ''Blake's 7'' in the 1970s, and later worked on major feature films. Career ''Doctor Who'' ...

, with whom he had worked on the ''Doctor Who'' serials ''

Planet of Evil ''Planet of Evil'' is the second serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 27 September to 18 October 1975. The serial is set on and abo ...

'', ''

The Deadly Assassin ''The Deadly Assassin'' is the third serial of the Doctor Who (season 14), 14th season of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 October to 20 November 197 ...

'' and ''

The Talons of Weng-Chiang ''The Talons of Weng-Chiang'' is the sixth and final serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 26 February to 2 April 1977. In the serial ...

'', as production designer. To ensure uniformity of concept, Maloney asked Murray-Leach to design both the interior and exterior of the ''Liberator'' spacecraft. Murray-Leach "...turned the ship around, so it was drawn to look as if it were going one way but flew the other way. In fact, if you take the line of flow, the angles go with it to get a sense of speed, and we turned that around so the 'wings' all canted forwards, not backwards". Murray-Leach's role as designer of the ship proved to be contentious with the series' special effects designer, Ian Scoones. Scoones found Murray-Leach's design for the ''Liberator'' awkward to mount and film for the scenes of the ship in flight.

Filming and broadcast

Aware that ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' would be released in cinemas across the United Kingdom around the same time as the planned television debut of ''Blake's 7'', Scoones spent the budget he had been allocated for the entire series on ''Space Fall'', the first episode to be recorded but the second to be broadcast. The model filming for this episode, the first piece of filming for the series, took place at Bray Studios on 15 August 1977. Live action filming of ''Blake's 7'' began on 26 September that year at Ealing film studios with scenes set on the spacecraft ''London'' for the episode ''Space Fall''. Filming continued at Ealing and on location, and then moved into the studios at

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC), formerly known as BBC Television Centre, is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, which was the headquarters of BBC Television from 1960 to 2013, when BBC Television moved to Broadcasting H ...

in November. The series' animated title sequence was created by Bob Blagden, and was based partially on suggestions given by Nation in his draft pilot script. Nation had envisaged a vast computer that would print out pictures of each of the characters; these would be deposited in a tray marked "Enemies of the State" before the appearance of the title caption. The theme music was written by

Dudley Simpson Dudley George Simpson (4 October 1922 – 4 November 2017) was an Australian composer and conductor. He was the Principal Conductor of the Royal Opera House orchestra for three years and worked as a composer on British television. He worked on ...

who composed much of the incidental music. Shortly after recording began, problems with the filming schedule became obvious. ''Blake's 7'' had inherited its production style – a method called strike filming – from the series it was to replace: '' Softly, Softly: Taskforce''. Strike filming involved pre-filming, either on location or at a film studio, immediately before entering rehearsals for the scenes to be recorded in the videotape studios. This method worked well for a series such as ''Softly, Softly'' which had minimal pre-filming, few special effects and a large number of standing sets. However, it was unsuitable for ''Blake's 7''. Shooting schedules began to overrun, leading to expensive remounts and to cast members being taken out of rehearsals, either for pre-filming or for remounts of scenes that had not been filmed on schedule. These problems peaked in January 1978 when, in the course of one week, the cast were working on four different episodes for four different directors. Recording was further complicated when Stephen Greif, playing Travis, ruptured his

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

playing

squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

and had to be replaced by an

extra Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

for the studio scenes for the episode ''Orac''. The recording of the first series of ''Blake's 7'' was completed on 15 March. The first episode of ''Blake's 7'' was first broadcast on BBC1 on 2 January at 6:00 pm. Subsequent episodes were broadcast on Mondays at 7:15 pm. It would compete against the popular

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' and

s '' A Sharp Intake of Breath'' and ''

Miss Jones and Son ''Miss Jones and Son'' is a comedy series first broadcast on ITV in 1977 starring Paula Wilcox, Christopher Beeny, Charlotte Mitchell and Norman Bird. It was written by Richard Waring and produced and directed by Peter Frazer-Jones. Roger Web ...

'' on the rival

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

network. ''Blake's 7'' received an average 9.2 million viewers and attaining an average reaction index of 67.

Series Two (1978–1979)

Planning

Planning for a second series of ''Blake’s 7'' began in January 1978 after three episodes of the first series had been screened. Maloney and Boucher met with Nation and his agent Roger Hancock, to discuss the new series. New writers would be engaged and, although Nation would be consulted on general storylines, he would not be involved in choosing the writers or approving scripts. A

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of a plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing narrative, storyline in episode, episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strip ...

was planned, which would revolve around Blake’s attempt to attack the Federation Supreme Computer Control. This would be located at a place called Storm Mountain which, when attacked by Blake in a mid-series climax, would be discovered to be a decoy. The rest of the series would follow Blake as he sought the real computer control, designated Star One. Travis would be dismissed from the Federation but would continue his vendetta against Blake. The general plans for the series was outlined in a document titled ''Blake’s Seven – Series Two – General Notes''. This document noted that “...the Federation must be shown to be even more powerful, even more ruthless and even more intelligent.” To show this, the producers decided that one of the main characters would die. Nation, unhappy with Michael Keating’s interpretation of the role, was keen for Vila to be killed. Nation’s view was opposed by Boucher and Maloney because the character was popular with viewers. A commissioned Audience Research Report on the first series had indicated that Avon was the most popular character followed by Blake, Jenna, Vila, Cally and Gan. It is likely that this report influenced the decision to kill Gan.

Writing

Terry Nation was commissioned to write five episodes for Series Two: episode one, which would resolve the cliffhanger from Series One; episode 6, in which Blake would assault Storm Mountain; episode 10, which would be a stand-alone adventure and episodes 12 and 13, a two-part finale in which Blake would reach Star One and would uncover a plot by aliens to invade the galaxy, forcing Blake to ally himself with the Federation to defeat the aliens. In interviews given by Terry Nation, he suggested that the

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in th ...

s, a race of alien villains he had created for ''Doctor Who'', would appear in ''Blake’s 7'', leading to rumours that Nation intended them to be encountered by Blake at Star One. To assist the new writers, Boucher wrote a ''General Notes and Baffle Gab Glossary'' that explained the format of the series, the characters’ backgrounds and outlined the various technical terms – such as ‘spacials’ and ‘teleport’ – that the series employed. Boucher wanted to write for the series and in May 1978 received clearance to write up to three scripts. Robert Holmes,

Allan Prior Allan Prior (13 January 1922, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, – 1 June 2006) was an England, English television scriptwriter and novelist, who wrote over 300 television episodes from the 1950s onwards. He was founder-writer of influen ...

, Roger Parkes and Pip and Jane Baker were commissioned to write the remainder of the episodes. It was intended that Boucher would write episode two, which would re-introduce Travis and Servalan; Holmes would write episode three, which would be an Orac story and Boucher would then provide the fourth episode, which would introduce the Storm Mountain storyline. Pip and Jane Baker’s script, ''Death Squad'', would follow, then Nation’s Storm Mountain story. Boucher’s next script would cover Travis’

court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

and Prior would write a script centred on a

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

n-style society. This plan was later revised; Boucher would write episodes two and three, taking the story centred on Orac, while Holmes would write the fourth episode, which would introduce Storm Mountain. The order in which the episodes were broadcast was rather different. ''Death Squad'' by Pip and Jane Baker – in which Blake, Gan and Jenna would infiltrate a Federation facility attempting to create ‘super-soldiers’ by administering drugs to humans, leading to Blake and Gan becoming exposed to the drugs and Jenna being held by Servalan as an inducement for the scientist behind the plan – was abandoned. This was ostensibly on cost grounds, although Boucher had concerns about the quality of the script. The episodes were re-ordered; ''Horizon'', Allan Prior’s ‘Ugandan’ script replaced ''Death Squad'', while Holmes’ script, ''Killer'', became the seventh episode. ''Pressure Point'', Terry Nation’s Storm Mountain script, became the fifth and ''Trial'', the Travis court-martial story, was moved to sixth. The scripting problems intensified in September 1978 when Nation informed Boucher that he was having problems writing the two-part finale. Nation had made several aborted attempts to write episode twelve and had not begun writing episode thirteen. Nation’s scripts were cancelled and the final two episodes were re-commissioned.

was commissioned to write episode twelve, which became ''The Keeper'', while Boucher wrote ''Star One'' using Nation’s original outline.

Cast and crew changes

In Series Two, some cast changes occurred. David Jackson (Gan) was not upset that his character would die because Jackson was given little to do in many episodes. According to Chris Boucher, Jackson once passed him a note with the word ‘four’ written on it. When Boucher queried the note, Jackson explained that ‘four’ was the number of lines he had in that week’s script. It was originally intended that Gan would be killed by a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

who would then join the ''Liberator'' crew as a Federation spy. Stephen Greif, who had torn an Achilles tendon while playing squash during the filming of the first series, had left to pursue other roles.

Brian Croucher Brian Croucher is an English actor and director best known for his role as Ted Hills, which he played from 1995 to 1997, in the soap opera ''EastEnders''. Croucher also had a regular role in the science fiction series ''Blake's 7''. Career Cr ...

was cast to replace Greif in the role of Space Commander Travis. It was decided that Orac would become a regular character. Derek Farr, who had voiced Orac in its debut, was unavailable and Peter Tuddenham, who was already voicing Zen, was engaged to play Orac. At the end of Series Two, the actors’ 26-episode contracts would expire. Neither Gareth Thomas nor Sally Knyvette wished to return for a third series. Thomas was disappointed not to be allowed to direct a few episodes, and had been offered a role with the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

, and sought an exit of the show. He would return twice – once in the series 3 finale, ''Terminal'', and once more in the final episode of the series, ''Blake'', when his character was killed off. Knyvette, encouraged by

Bruce Purchase Bruce Purchase (2 October 1938 – 5 June 2008) was a New Zealand actor known for his roles on stage and television. Born in Thames, New Zealand, he won a scholarship to study acting in England, training at RADA, and went on to become a foundin ...

, a guest actor on ''The Keeper'', wished to study full-time for a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree, studying

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He ...

, and sought to leave the show. She did not appear in any further episodes after series 2. Because of the loss of the titular character, Nation considered introducing a ‘substitute Blake’ character in ''Countdown'', the third story he was scheduled to write that year. It can be speculated that the character of Del Grant, who appears in ''Countdown'', was intended to be this ‘Blake substitute’. The ‘Blake substitute’ also appears in one of the early drafts of Allan Prior’s episode ''Hostage''. While Nation’s original outline for the two-part series finale involved Jenna and Vila being killed, Boucher was aware that Gan’s death had upset some viewers, and chose to have Blake and Jenna disappear from the narrative between the end of ''Star One'' and the opening story of Series Three. Travis was killed at the end of ''Star One'', having no Blake upon whom to focus his vendetta against the ''Liberator'' crew. The only director to return for Series Three was Vere Lorrimer. The other directors appointed were

George Spenton-Foster George Spenton-Foster (11 November 1926 – 26 December 1993) was a British television director and television producer. After producing a few anthology series in his homeland like ''Thirty-Minute Theatre'', he went to Australia in 1970 to pro ...

, Jonathan Wright Miller and

Derek Martinus Derek Buitenhuis (4 April 1931 – 27 March 2014Michael Billington and Toby HadokObituary: Derek Martinus ''The Guardian'', 1 April 2014), known professionally as Derek Martinus, was an English television and theatre director. Originally an actor ...

. Because of the difficulties caused by the use of strike filming, Series Two was recorded using block filming. This filming method involved a month of location filming for the first six episodes before the studio videotape recording of those episodes, each director being assigned to work on two episodes. The process was repeated for the next six episodes and the final episode would be recorded on its own.

Filming and broadcast

Filming on Series Two began on Monday 31 July 1978 at

Oldbury-on-Severn Oldbury-on-Severn is a small village near the mouth of the River Severn in the South Gloucestershire district of the county of Gloucestershire in the west of England. The parish, which includes the village of Cowhill had a population at the 2011 ...

nuclear power station A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

near

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

and finished on Thursday 8 March 1979. The recording of the episode ''Hostage'' was complicated when guest actor

Duncan Lamont Duncan William Ferguson Lamont (17 June 1918 – 19 December 1978) was a British actor.Brian McFarlane (Ed): ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'' (BFI/Methuen • London • 2000) p397''Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen'' (Amalgamated Pres ...

died between the location and studio recordings. Lamont was initially replaced by Ronald Lewis, who proved to be unsuitable for health reasons and was quickly replaced by

John Abineri John Abineri (18 May 1928 – 29 June 2000) was an English actor. Born in London, he attended the Old Vic drama school and described himself as "Well educated from the age of five to eighteen". He spoke a number of languages (including Germa ...

. Vere Lorrimer was unavailable for the recording of ''Star One'', so David Maloney replaced him but was not credited because of rules forbidding producers to direct their own programmes. ''Redemption'', the opening episode of Series Two, was broadcast on Tuesday, 9 January 1979 at 7:20 pm with subsequent episodes following at about the same time each Tuesday. ''Pressure Point'' was broadcast at 8:10 pm because of coverage of the

Variety Club Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

Awards. Competition on ITV came from the popular US programme ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts for ABC. It originally aired from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, airing for five seasons consisting of 115 episodes. It was produ ...

''.

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

opted out of transmission, broadcast regional programming instead and showed ''Blake's 7'' on Sunday afternoons. Ratings averaged 7 million; although two million lower than the previous series, a third series was assured.

Series Three (1979–1980)

Planning

Planning for the third series began in November 1978. Gareth Thomas' departure meant the series would continue without Blake. According to David Maloney, "...a decision had to be made to go with a third series or stop it completely. Terry Nation, naturally, was for going on with it, and I think Ronnie Marsh was too, because of the viewing figures. ..I think it was felt that they couldn't take it off, so why not be cheeky and do ''Blake's 7'' without Blake?".

Storyline ideas

Nation was requested to write several scripts and to influence the format of the new series. As before, a story arc was planned. During the first half of the series, the ''Liberator'' crew would search for the missing Blake and in a mid-series climax would discover his grave. Nation was commissioned to write the first two episodes, which would establish the new format and characters. The final story of the series would, it was intended, conclude ''Blake's 7''. By December, the idea of a new lead character, 'The Captain', was mooted. The Captain, envisaged as being aged between 35 and 55, would be veteran of the Intergalactic War that began in Series Two. 'The Captain' would become the ''Liberator'' crew's new leader and would ultimately betray the crew to the Federation for personal profit. Maloney was concerned that casting an older, well-known actor for the final series of an established series would be difficult. He persuaded Nation to change 'The Captain' – now named Del Tarrant – into a younger character. ''Tarrant'' is a corruption of Nation's name that appears frequently in his work. Nation imagined this new, younger Tarrant as "...someone like the

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...

pilots of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, who were young and didn't know the meaning of fear". Instead of Tarrant, Avon would become the lead character of the series. The intention was to soften the character of Avon and make him more moralistic. This was resisted vehemently by Paul Darrow who believed that it was Avon's

anti-hero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...

ic qualities that appealed to viewers. Darrow was also sceptical of the idea of Avon searching for Blake, considering Avon's oft-stated aim of taking control of the ''Liberator''. The difficulties experienced with the script-writing of Series Three meant that the story arc was largely abandoned, although there are references to Avon's search for Federation torturer 'Shrinker' in episodes prior to their encounter in ''Rumours of Death''. Tarrant became a more heroic character than originally intended. A new title sequence, featuring the ''Liberator'' and three Federation pursuit ships, was created by Doug Burd to replace the original sequence that features Gareth Thomas prominently. It was decided that the series would conclude with the destruction of ''Liberator'', the scenes for which were filmed on the series' final day of recording, Friday 7 March 1980. Special effects designer Jim Francis, who had the task of destroying the sets on camera, recalled; "It was a big set to destroy. ..All the pyrotechnics and the big beams dropping from the ceiling could only be done once, which meant we couldn't rehearse it. Everybody did what they were told, and it looked great".

New characters

Steven Pacey Steven Pacey (born 5 June 1957) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Del Tarrant in the third and fourth series of the science fiction series ''Blake's 7'' from January 1980 to December 1981. Personal life Pacey was born on 5 J ...

was cast as Tarrant. Pacey was told about the part by Chris Boucher at the BBC bar. Remembering his audition, Pacey said, "...reading the character breakdown, and it said, 'Del Tarrant is thirty-five years old-' and I thought, 'This is a bit silly, I'm only twenty-one'. I went downstairs thinking it was a waste of time, and saw other actors who all seemed nearer the right age. When I went to see David Maloney ..his advice to me was to keep my performance as gritty as possible". Maloney was concerned that Pacey's curly hair made Pacey look similar to Gareth Thomas. Judith Smith, Maloney's production secretary, recalled that "...there was all the rigmarole about trying to straighten his hair and can we cut it really short, and what can we do?". To replace Jenna, Nation created

Dayna Mellanby This is a list of characters from ''Blake's 7'', a media franchise created by Terry Nation. Kerr Avon Kerr Avon is a fictional character from the British science fiction television series ''Blake's 7'', played by Paul Darrow (who was recrea ...

, a skilled combat expert partly based on the character of Miranda from

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

play ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

''. Nation "...thought it would be interesting to have a girl who was aggressive, to have somebody who would kill first and ask questions later, and it was nice to give what are generally masculine attitudes to a woman".

Josette Simon Josette Patricia Simon, OBE (born 1959 or 1960) is a British actor who played the part of Dayna Mellanby in the third and fourth series of the television sci-fi series ''Blake's 7'' from 1980 to 1981. She trained at the Central School of Spee ...

was chosen to play Dayna; Simon had recently graduated from the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

and did not have an Equity card.

Writers and directors

Writers Allan Prior and Robert Holmes returned for the new series. New to the series were Ben Steed, a short story writer who had also written for ''Coronation Street'', and ''

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

'';

Tanith Lee Tanith Lee (19 September 1947 – 24 May 2015) was a British science fiction and fantasy writer. She wrote more than 90 novels and 300 short stories, and was the winner of multiple World Fantasy Society Derleth Awards, the World Fantasy Lifetime ...

, a successful

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

novelist; James Follet, who had written science fiction serials for radio, notably '' Earthsearch'';

Trevor Hoyle Trevor Hoyle (born 25 February 1940 in Rochdale, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom) is an English science fiction author. In the late 1970s he gained recognition for his "Q" series, featuring Christian Queghan, a scientific investigator posse ...

, who had published two

novelisation A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

s of Terry Nation's Series One scripts and John Fletcher. Chris Boucher intended to write two scripts, one of which would be ''City on the Edge of the World''. This script was prompted by a request by Michael Keating, who later recalled, "...my daughter, who was about five or six at the time, thought Vila was stupid; Chris Boucher said, 'I'll write you a story where you get the girl'". Difficulties arose with Robert Holmes' story, entitled ''Sweetly Dreaming... Slowly Dying'', and John Fletcher's story about Hell's Angels in space. Both scripts were abandoned. Ben Steed was commissioned to write the replacement for ''Sweetly Dreaming... Slowly Dying'' which became ''Moloch'', while Boucher replaced the Fletcher script with ''Death-Watch''. Vere Lorrimer, the only returning director, directed four episodes in Series Three. The remaining episodes were directed by

Desmond McCarthy Admiral Sir Edward Desmond Bewley McCarthy, (15 November 1893 – 8 June 1966) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station. Naval career Promoted to captain in 1935, McCarthy was the highest ranking B ...

, Gerald Blake, Andrew Morgan,

Fiona Cumming Fiona Cumming (9 October 1937 – 1 January 2015) was a Scottish television director, noted for her work on the BBC television series, ''Doctor Who'', during the show's Fifth Doctor era. Her credits included the 1982 serial, '' Castrovalva'', t ...

and

Mary Ridge Eileen Mary Ridge (23 June 1925 – 20 September 2000) was a British television director, best known for directing episodes of ''Blake's 7'' and ''Doctor Who'' in the early 1980s. Early life Ridge was born in Preston, Lancashire, and raised ...

. David Maloney directed ''Powerplay'', the first episode to be recorded, to help the new cast members to settle into their roles.

Filming and broadcast

Recording of Series Three began on Monday 30 July 1979 and continued until March 1980. During filming on location and at Ealing Studios,

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...

began at BBC Television Centre in late 1979, which disrupted many BBC programmes. When filming was completed and the cast and crew were ready for recording at Television Centre, the strike had ended and ''Blake's 7'' was unaffected. Because ''Terminal'' was intended to conclude ''Blake's 7'', Maloney persuaded Gareth Thomas to reprise the role of Blake. Thomas was not available for the studio recording days so his scenes were filmed in a village hall near Pyrton Hill,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, where the scenes set on the planet Terminal were being filmed. While on location for that episode, an accident occurred during a rehearsal for a stunt;

Deep Roy Gurdeep "Deep" Roy (born Mohinder Purba; 1 December 1957) is a Kenyan-British actor, puppeteer and stuntman. At tall, he has often been cast as diminutive characters, such as Teeny Weeny in '' The NeverEnding Story'', all the Oompa-Loompas in ...

, an extra, needed treatment for a broken collarbone. The first episode of Series Three was transmitted on Monday, 7 January 1980 at 7:15 pm. Competition came from ''Coronation Street'',

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

Give Us a Clue ''Give Us a Clue'' is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1984, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two ...

'' and sitcom '' Keep it in the Family''. Coverage of the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

meant that the episode ''Children of Auron'' was shown on a Tuesday; the series returned to its regular time the following week. The series was watched by an average of 9.5 million viewers. When the final episode, ''Terminal'', was shown on 31 March 1980, the ''Blake's 7'' production office had closed and the cast and crew had dispersed. They were surprised that, during the closing credits of ''Terminal'', the continuity announcer declared that a new series of ''Blake's 7'' would be shown the following year. The Head of BBC Television,

Bill Cotton Sir William Frederick Cotton (23 April 1928 – 11 August 2008) was a British television producer and executive, and the son of dance band leader Billy Cotton. The television and radio presenter Fearne Cotton is related to him, as he was her ...

, was impressed by ''Terminal'' as he watched its broadcast at home. He telephoned BBC Presentation and instructed that an announcement be made during the end credits that the series would return.

Series Four (1980–1981)

Production staff

Producing the new series presented significant challenges since several of the cast and crew were engaged in other projects and the ''Liberator'' sets had been destroyed during the recording of ''Terminal''. Chris Boucher was available and willing to return as script editor. However, David Maloney was now working on ''

The Day of the Triffids ''The Day of the Triffids'' is a 1951 post-apocalyptic novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. After most people in the world are blinded by an apparent meteor shower, an aggressive species of plant starts killing people. A ...

'' and ''

When the Boat Comes In ''When the Boat Comes In'' is a British television period drama produced by the BBC between 8 January 1976 and 21 April 1981. Across the whole series, events are set in the time period from 1919 to 1937. The series stars James Bolam as Jack Fo ...

'' and was not available. Maloney suggested that Vere Lorrimer, who had directed episodes in all previous series, had the necessary experience to produce ''Blake's 7''. Lorrimer travelled to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to meet Terry Nation – who was now working as a Hollywood producer – to discuss the series' new format. Nation approved the changes but played little part in the development of this series. Director Mary Ridge returned, directing the first episode to ensure continuity with Series Three's closing episode ''Terminal''. The other directors hired for the series were David Sullivan Proudfoot, Vivienne Cozens, Brian Lighthill and Viktors Ritelis. When David Sullivan Proudfoot was taken ill during the shooting of ''Assassin'', Vere Lorrimer replaced him to direct some of this episode's scenes.

Story ideas

The ''Liberator''s destruction led to major changes to the series' format. Chris Boucher has suggested that the fourth series can be viewed as an entirely new series. In this series, the rebels would have a planetary base on the planet Xenon – spelt Zenon in early drafts. The

proposed for this series involved Avon recruiting scientists and using their expertise to resist the Federation. Because this would impose a running order on the episodes, and because the rebels could become too powerful, the scripts often ended with the scientist dead and the rebels gaining nothing. Avon, still the leader of the group, was portrayed as being increasingly determined to destroy the Federation, in contrast to the first series where Avon had dismissed Blake's aims as insane, his own being to obtain wealth. Avon becomes increasingly self-centred and paranoid: in ''Stardrive'' he showed few reservations about causing the death of a scientist in order to escape Federation pursuit ships; and in ''Orbit'' he threatened to do the same to Vila. In ''Blake'', Avon kills his former comrade whom he accuses of betrayal, unaware that Blake was playing a double game in order to recruit freedom fighters genuinely opposed to the Federation. From an early stage, Lorrimer and Boucher doubted that ''Blake's 7'' would be renewed for a fifth series. Boucher was disappointed; he thought that an additional series would have enabled the cast and crew to become comfortable with the new format. The first proposal for the series' conclusion, titled ''Attack'', involved Blake returning to lead an assault on the Federation on Earth, finally defeating them. This idea was rejected by Lorrimer, who thought it "...would be like five men trying to defeat the German army". Influenced by the films ''

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western (genre), Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, k ...

'' and ''

The Wild Bunch ''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang ...

'', Boucher decided that concluding the series in a shoot-out would provide a more memorable ending. Apart from Blake, the characters' fates would be deliberately ambiguous in case a fifth series was commissioned. Blake was to be given the dying words; "Oh Avon, I didn't take any of them on trust... except you... You are my... only friend", but these were removed because Blake's ability to deliver them after the violence of his shooting stretched credibility.

Character changes

At the early planning stage, it was unclear which of the regular cast would be returning. Jan Chappell had become dissatisfied with the role of Cally. Chappell was asked to reprise the role, first for six episodes, then three and finally one. She declined, but recorded an uncredited voiceover for Cally's death in ''Rescue''. To replace Cally, Boucher created Soolin, a 25-year-old gunslinger. The character's name partly derived from Boucher's wife's name, Lynn. Soolin had killed the man who raised and trained her in revenge for his murder of her parents.

Glynis Barber Glynis Barber (born Glynis van der Riet; 25 October 1955) is a South African born British actress. She is known for her portrayals of Sgt. Harriet Makepeace in the British police drama ''Dempsey and Makepeace'', Glenda Mitchell in ''EastEnders ...

, who had played a Mutoid in the first series episode ''Project Avalon'', was cast as Soolin. Barber would later attain fame in ''

Dempsey and Makepeace ''Dempsey and Makepeace'' is a British television crime drama made by LWT for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham. Lead roles were played by Michael Brandon (Lieutenant Dempsey) and Glynis Barber (Sergeant Makepeace), who got married ...

''. Jacqueline Pearce had fallen ill and was hospitalised shortly after Series Three had finished recording. Believing that Pearce may not be available, a new female villain – Commissioner Sleer – was devised. When Pearce indicated her availability for the series, Sleer became Servalan's pseudonym, Servalan being considered dead by the Federation's new regime. Gareth Thomas agreed to return for a final appearance as Blake on the condition that his character would be irrevocably killed.

Sets and models

Vere Lorrimer decided that the new series should be darker and less glamorous than its predecessors. The crew would acquire a new spacecraft that should be somewhat cramped and more functional, akin to the ''Nostromo'' from the film '' Alien'', than the ''Liberator''. Chris Boucher, writing the opening episode, ''Rescue'', created the ''Scorpio'', describing it as "a fairly small and undistinguished looking cargo ship, moderately scruffy and beaten up". The ''Scorpio'' model was designed by Jim Francis and constructed by Ron Thornton, later of

Foundation Imaging Foundation Imaging, Inc. was a CGI visual effects studio, computer animation studio, and post-production editing facility. History The company was founded by Paul Beigle-Bryant and Ron Thornton. It pioneered digital imaging for television prog ...

. The ''Scorpio''s interior was designed by Roger Cann and director Mary Ridge, who worked to make the new set easier to shoot on and less fragile than the ''Liberator'' sets had been.

Writing

The first six scripts were commissioned from writers familiar with the series – Ben Steed, Robert Holmes, James Follet, Allan Prior and Roger Parkes. Scripts for the second six episodes were commissioned from established writers Robert Holmes and

and from new writers Rod Beacham, Bill Lyons, Colin Davis and Simon Masters. Scripts that were commissioned but abandoned were ''Ragnarok'' by former ''Doctor Who'' producer Graham Williams and ''Man of Iron'' by Paul Darrow, about an attempt by Servalan to regain power using

androids An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being, often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids existed only in the domain of science fiction and were frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot techno ...

created by the scientist Algor on the planet Epsilon. Because of the uncertainty over Jan Chappell's availability, most of the early scripts were written for Cally, whose lines were given to Soolin. A scene of Vila crying while hiding from Avon, whom he believes is intent on killing him, was removed from the final edit of the episode ''Orbit'' as it was felt to be too strong for a family programme.

Filming and broadcast

Filming for Series Four commenced on Monday 23 February 1981 on location at Pyrton Hill for the scenes in ''Rescue'' set on the planet

Terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devices for a computer * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together ** Battery terminal, electrical contact used to ...

. Location filming for the final episode, ''Blake'', took place between 13 and 15 October 1981. Following rehearsals, recording began in the studio at BBC Television Centre on 5 November 1981. The final shoot-out was recorded on 6 November. Recording on ''Blake's 7'' concluded on Saturday 7 November 1981. A new title sequence, featuring a new logo for the series, was created by Doug Burd. Vere Lorrimer wrote lyrics, titled ''Distant Star'', for the series theme music with the notion that Steven Pacey would sing them over a new arrangement of the theme by

Norrie Paramour Norman William "Norrie" Paramor (15 May 1913 – 9 September 1979) was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff Richard and the Shadows, both together ...

. Pacey did not agree with this idea, and Dudley Simpson created a more lively arrangement of the theme for the closing titles. Unknown to Ridge, Thomas was determined to eliminate any ambiguity over Blake's death. He had arranged with the visual effects team to ensure that as much blood as possible was seen when Blake was killed. Ridge was somewhat shocked when Thomas set off the charge to create the gunshot effect during the recording of his final scene. The final series of ''Blake's 7'' began transmission on Monday 28 September 1981, competing with ''Coronation Street'', game show ''

Bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...

'' and sitcom ''

Never the Twain ''Never the Twain'' is a British sitcom that ran for eleven series from 7 September 1981 to 9 October 1991. The series starred Windsor Davies (previously known for ''It Ain't Half Hot, Mum'') and Donald Sinden as rival antique dealers, and al ...

'' (replaced mid-series by ''

Astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

''). The series attracted an average of 8.5 million viewers. The apparent massacre at the end of the final episode provoked a strong reaction from many viewers, who were upset to see their heroes meet a grisly fate. Chris Boucher believed that the date on which the final episode was broadcast – 21 December 1981 – was unfortunate, and has since described himself as "the man who killed

Father Christmas Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrela ...

References

{{Blake's 7 Blake's 7

Origins (1975–1976)

Series One (1977–1978)

Script and character alterations

Casting and production staff

Filming and broadcast

Series Two (1978–1979)

Planning

Writing

Cast and crew changes

Filming and broadcast

Series Three (1979–1980)

Planning

Storyline ideas

New characters

Writers and directors

Filming and broadcast

Series Four (1980–1981)

Production staff

Story ideas

Character changes

Sets and models

Writing

Filming and broadcast

See also

References