| Blake's 7 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Title: | Blake's 7 |
| Format: | Live-Action |
| Running time: | 50 min. |
| country: | UK |
| Network: | BBC1 |
| Seasons: | 4 |
| Episodes: | 52 |
| Production | |
| Production company: | British Broadcasting Corporation |
| Producers: | David Maloney Vere Lorrimer |
| Principal cast: | Gareth Thomas Sally Knyvette Michael Keating Robert Beatty Robert James Jeremy Wilkin Michael Halsey |
| Air dates | |
| First aired: | January 2nd, 1978 |
| Last aired: | December 21st, 1981 |
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction program, which aired for four series (seasons) on BBC1 from 1978 to 1981. Each series consisted of thirteen episodes. The show was created by Doctor Who alumni Terry Nation with David Maloney producing the first three series. Vere Lorrimer produced series four. The BBC began issuing Blake's 7 on videotape from 1985. The initial releases, which were made available on both VHS and Betamax formats, comprised four compilation tapes containing selected episodes from the first three series. Starting in 1991, the entire series was released, in order, on VHS with two episodes per tape over twenty-six volumes. The plot of the programn centered on Roj Blake, a political refugee who escapes the totalitarian regime of the Terran Federation along with six other like-minded individuals aboard their star ship the Liberator.
Characters
| Character | Actor | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Roj Blake | Gareth Thomas | Roj Blake was a political dissident, who actively spoke out against the corrupt Terran Federation. He was captured after attending a proscribed political meeting outside the Domed City. Blake was brainwashed into becoming a model citizen, but soon found himself involved with another resistance group. The authorities hatched a plan to discredit Blake by framing him for child molestation and had him sentenced to life on the prison planet Cygnus Alpha. Blake led a prison revolt that involved several others who eventually became known as "Blake's 7". |
| Cally | Jan Chappell | Cally was a native of the planet Auron and was a guerrilla fighter for the anti-Federation resistance forces on the planet Saurian Major. The only alien amongst Blake's confederates, Cally was a telepath and could transmit her thoughts to the rest of the crew. |
| Kerr Avon | Paul Darrow | Avon was an aloof electronics and computer expert and erstwhile fraudster, who was found guilty of an attempt to embezzle five hundred million credits from the Terran Federation banking system. |
| Jenna Stannis | Sally Knyvette | Jenna was a beautiful but cynical smuggler and self-styled "free trader". She was captured by the Federation and sentenced to be transported to the prison colony on Cygnus Alpha. She befriended Roj Blake and assisted him in a mutiny on the transport ship and escaped with him aboard the Liberator. |
| Olag Gan | David Jackson | Olag Gan was a native of the planet Zephron. When a Federation officer murdered Olag's girlfriend, Gan killed him out of revenge and was sentenced to Cygnus Alpha. He met fellow inmate Roj Blake and participated in his escape attempt, but was left behind when Blake escaped on the Liberator. |
| Vila Restal | Michael Keating | Vila was a thief and a member of Earth's Delta grade criminal underclass. He met Roj Blake while trying to pick-pocket him inside of a prison cell block. Vila later participated in the rebellion aboard the transport ship London but was left behind when Blake escaped in the Liberator. |
| Zen | Peter Tuddenham | The main computer aboard the Liberator, Zen was a veritable artificial intelligence. |
Episodes
Series One
| Episode | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1x1 | The Way Back | January 2nd, 1978 |
| 1x2 | Space Fall | January 9th, 1978 |
| 1x3 | Cygnus Alpha | January 16th, 1978 |
| 1x4 | Time Squad | January 23rd, 1978 |
| 1x5 | The Web | January 30th, 1978 |
| 1x6 | Seek-Locate-Destroy | February 6th, 1978 |
| 1x7 | Mission to Destiny | February 13th, 1978 |
| 1x8 | Duel | February 20th, 1978 |
| 1x9 | Project Avalon | February 27th, 1978 |
| 1x10 | Breakdown | March 6th, 1978 |
| 1x11 | Bounty | March 13th, 1978 |
| 1x12 | Deliverance | March 20th, 1978 |
| 1x13 | Orac | March 27th, 1978 |
Series Two
| Episode | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 2x1 | Redemption | January 9th, 1979 |
| 2x2 | Shadow | January 16th, 1979 |
| 2x3 | Weapon | January 23rd, 1979 |
| 2x4 | Horizon | January 30th, 1979 |
| 2x5 | Pressure Point | February 6th, 1979 |
| 2x6 | Trial | February 13th, 1979 |
| 2x7 | Killer | February 20th, 1979 |
| 2x8 | Hostage | February 27th, 1979 |
| 2x9 | Countdown | March 6th, 1979 |
| 2x10 | Voice from the Past | March 13th, 1979 |
| 2x11 | Gambit | March 20th, 1979 |
| 2x12 | The Keeper | March 27th, 1979 |
| 2x13 | Star One | April 3rd, 1979 |
Series Three
| Episode | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 3x1 | Aftermath | January 7th, 1980 |
| 3x2 | Power Play | January 14th, 1980 |
| 3x3 | Volcano | January 21st, 1980 |
| 3x4 | Dawn of the Gods | January 28th, 1980 |
| 3x5 | The Harvest of Kairos | February 4th, 1980 |
| 3x6 | City at the Edge of the World | February 11th, 1980 |
| 3x7 | Children of Auron | February 18th, 1980 |
| 3x8 | Rumours of Death | February 25th, 1980 |
| 3x9 | Sarcophagus | March 3rd, 1980 |
| 3x10 | Ultraworld | March 10th, 1980 |
| 3x11 | Moloch | March 11th, 1980 |
| 3x12 | Death-Watch | March 24th, 1980 |
| 3x13 | Terminal | March 31st, 1980 |
Series Four
| Episode | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 4x1 | Rescue | September 28th, 1981 |
| 4x2 | Power | October 5th, 1981 |
| 4x3 | Traitor | October 12th, 1981 |
| 4x4 | Stardrive | October 19th, 1981 |
| 4x5 | Animals | October 26th, 1981 |
| 4x6 | Headhunter | November 2nd, 1981 |
| 4x7 | Assassin | November 9th, 1981 |
| 4x8 | Games | November 16th, 1981 |
| 4x9 | Sand | November 23rd, 1981 |
| 4x10 | Gold | November 30th, 1981 |
| 4x11 | Orbit | December 7th, 1981 |
| 4x12 | Warlord | December 14th, 1981 |
| 4x13 | Blake | December 21st, 1981 |
Notes & Trivia
- The series was created by Terry Nation, the man responsible for developing the popular Dalek species featured in the Doctor Who program.
- The plot of the series is very similar to the central theme from Farscape.
See also
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