Blake's 7 reboot from Doctor Who director

Blake's 7 fans (myself included) have been here before.

The adventures of a band of freedom fighters battling a corrupt Earth Federation and stumbling upon an ultramodern alien starship, the Liberator, Blake’s 7 was the brainchild of Terry Nation. He was already fêted for creating the Daleks for Doctor Who and the post-apocalyptic series Survivors. The latter made for chilling viewing in lockdown.

Despite a restrictive budget and starting within a week of the original UK cinema release of Star Wars, Blake’s 7 was rarely short of ambition and quickly became a hit, averaging 9.22 million viewers for its first series. Nation had planned for the Daleks to appear in the second series, but this was blocked.

Talk of reboots has percolated for years. Back in 2013, Microsoft planned to bring the beloved sci-fi series to Xbox LIVE! However, Deadline reports a reboot is in the works from Doctor Who and The Last of Us director Peter Hoar.

“The Blake’s 7 story is legendary because they were given the [British police show] Softly, Softly slot that was intended for police drama with a budget intended for one big set and a few location shoots,” said double-BAFTA winner Hoar, whose credits include It’s a Sin and Umbrella Academy. “At the time it felt like it meant something. Those shows got into my veins. I could tell they didn’t have money but I was able to compartmentalize and enjoy the ride knowing that the sets wobbled.”

Hoar compares Blake’s 7 to Disney+ hit Star Wars: Andor, which he thinks is a success not because of its circa-$25 million per hour budget but “because of the integrity, wit and sophistication.”

On the subject of Doctor Who on Disney+.

“I don’t think anybody would doubt the skills at the front line of that show but something went wrong,” he added. “I think there were lots of areas you could point fingers at but ultimately it wasn’t a better show with more money. And that’s a good thing, because we haven’t got the money anymore, nobody has.”

Hoar has opened a "genre-based" production company, Multitude Productions, and has acquired the intellectual property (IP) for the iconic 1970s and 1980s cult sci-fi hit, along with executive Matthew Bouch and producer Jason Haigh-Ellery.

Bouch said: “We’re driven by our passions but also seeing that there is a gap in the market in the UK – particularly with the well-publicized dropping off of Doctor Who – for genre-based British IP.

“We look back at when we were young with a degree of nostalgia but also thinking about the 70s and 80s as we were growing up and the amount of genre material that was available, whether it was Blake’s 7 or the Narnia adaptation. We are looking to the international market and seeing if there is a way of dovetailing that British low-budget sensibility with international markets. We know in the U.S. there’s a big contraction and we all need to think about finding ways to make things more economical.”

Buy the original Blake's 7 series on Amazon (affiliate link).

Until a reboot is down and safe, what are your thoughts on Blake's 7? Let me know in the comments below.

New Year's Déjà Vu of the Daleks

Happy New Year! Doctor Who is back for an uplifting and quirky New Year's Day special, Eve of the Daleks.

50 years ago, Day of the Daleks began with Jon Pertwee as the titular Time Lord. The story is notable for the return of the Daleks following a five-year hiatus after Patrick Troughton's The Evil of the Daleks - Terry Nation wanted to launch a Dalek spin-off series in America. So, I'll be rewatching Day of the Daleks on BritBox as part of my birthday month celebrations.



Read the official synopsis for Eve of the Daleks:

"New Year’s Eve. Sarah is working - again. Nick is her only customer - again. Same old same old. Except this year, their countdown to midnight will be the strangest and deadliest they’ve ever known. Why is an Executioner Dalek targeting these two people, in this place, on this night? Why are they having to live through the same moments again? Can the Doctor, Yaz and Dan save them and survive into the New Year?"

Eve of the Daleks, the first of three specials in 2022 marking the end of Jodie Whittaker's era, is on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and BBC America. Stay tuned for Nick Smith's review soon.

How Blake's 7 ruined Christmas 1981

It's the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. Forty years ago, the finale of Terry Nation's Blake’s 7 ruined Christmas and traumatised a generation of fans (myself included). It would be left to Santa to save the big day, which he did with bounty from a galaxy far, far away...

Witnessing a battle-scarred Blake (brilliantly played by the late Gareth Thomas), seemingly betraying his former allies a la Lando Calrissian in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, left a younger cousin unable to eat their Fish & Chip supper (I had warned an aunt and preemptively set a timer recording on the new Panasonic VCR at home).

As for myself, it was an exciting, shocking and scary conclusion to a beloved sci-fi series synonymous with the early years of rehabilitation in the wake of a life-changing childhood injury. The final, fatalistic, image of Avon (Paul Darrow), surrounded by Federation troopers, became an unforgettable ghost of Christmas past.

Years later, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story would achieve a similar feat.

Talk of Blake's 7 reboots has percolated for years. Microsoft purportedly planned to bring it to Xbox!

A new generation of fans can watch Blake's 7 ill-fated rebels on BritBox. Grahame Robertson's love letter to his favourite series, Blake's 7 Annual 1982, continues to raise money for charity. Now, that's a legacy worth celebrating halfway out of the dark.

Blake's 7 is available to stream exclusively on BritBox.

What are your Blake's 7 memories? Let me know in the comments below.

Blake's 7 Annual 1982

For years I've tried and failed to coax Grahame Robertson, friend and fellow sci-fi geek, to write a blog post about Terry Nation's Blake's 7! The beloved BBC TV sci-fi series debuted in 1978 as Star Wars blasted its way onto cinema screens across the UK.

Finally, that day has arrived ahead of the 40th anniversary of the series finale that traumatised a generation of children (myself included) and ruined Christmas 1981.

Guest post by Grahame Robertson

My earliest memories of primary school from 1978 - 1980 were playing Blake’s 7 in the playground with friends. We made teleport bracelets out of strips of cardboard and replayed every episode in minute detail the following morning. I was always Blake.

By the time the show ended in 1981, I had moved on to high school, and the programme had become even more important to me. An official Marvel Comics magazine became a highlight of the month, sparking an interest in magazine design and graphic design that was to be instrumental in my future career path.

As with many shows at the time (Doctor Who, The Tomorrow People, Sapphire & Steel), World Distributors produced a 64-page hardback annual that was to be a staple of every kid’s Christmas. Containing fiction that sometimes only loosely resembled the programme - bizarre articles on astronomy, terrible artwork and even worse attempts at humour. But we loved them and poured over every page.

Blake’s 7 ran for four series, and thankfully World Distributors graced us with an annual for each of the first three series. An annual had been planned, and quickly shelved, for the fourth series - and until now it’s been a source of frustration to fans who like their collections to be complete.

40 years later, now we have one! It began when I sent a joke tweet out last December with a mock-up cover of how the missing Blake’s 7 1982 Annual might have looked. A day later I was inundated with messages asking if it was available to buy, so in a fit of lockdown pique, I thought ‘Why not do it? I’m stuck at home and I’ve nothing better to do!’ My background is in graphic design and magazine design, and to be honest as a fan of Blake’s 7 it was a dream project to take on.

The original plan was to produce a 64-page annual in the style and tone of the original World Distributors annuals from the 1970’s. When it was discovered that there had been tentative plans to produce a Blake’s 7 Annual in 1982, eager fans pointed me towards Mike Wild, a prolific writer for the old World annuals in the 70’s and 80’s.

Mike had written stories for the Doctor Who annuals, and previous Blake's 7 annuals. It turned out he had two Blake’s 7 stories that had been written for that shelved 1982 annual and he kindly agreed to let us publish them. What a coup, and what an incentive to make the annual happen!

After I put a call out for submissions on social media, the response was overwhelming. World-class author Dr. Una McCormack (Doctor Who, Star Trek, Firefly) and novelist Trevor Baxendale (Big Finish, Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, Torchwood) both offered to submit new short fiction, along with dozens of other fans of the show.

The annual also features a number of contributions from Jonathan Helm (better known as @MakingBlakes7 on Twitter). Jonathan has been incredible, and so helpful in making the annual more than I ever hoped.

Fans will learn brand new things about Series D and see pictures that had long been confined to the archives, unseen. Longtime fan Andy Spencer has also given us access to incredible amounts of information and archive material about the location filming of the final series. We’ve been so lucky to have all these amazing contributors and fans on board.

Everyone who has contributed has poured so much enthusiasm and passion into their work.

The annual also features brand new interviews with Dicken Ashworth (Gunn Sar in the episode Power), Sasha Mitchell (Arlen from the episode Blake) and Vila himself, Michael Keating. Both Sasha and Michael have nominated charities who will benefit from the sale of the Annual. It’s hugely important that nobody makes any financial gain from this project.

From the start, it’s been a passion project to celebrate the cast, crew, and writers of Blake’s 7 and to give fans something - hopefully - that they will genuinely enjoy. With that said, we felt it was important that this project benefit charity. Michael Keating has chosen Save The Children, and Sasha Mitchell has chosen Axminster & Lyme Cancer Support. £1 from each sale will go to each of these nominated charities.

The fan-created, non-profit Blake’s 7 Annual 1982 will be available to buy from 28th September 2021 at 7.20pm - 40 years to the minute that the final series of Blake’s 7 aired on BBC 1 in 1981. It’s a print-to-order hardback publication (using the Lulu platform) with 252 pages, at a cost of £43.72 (including £2 charity donation). For details of how to order, follow @cult_edge on Twitter, or visit the Facebook page: Blake’s 7 Annual 1982.

Blake's 7 is available to stream exclusively on BritBox and currently airing on Forces TV.

What are your Blake's 7 memories? Let me know in the comments below.

Daleks!

Ahead of the Doctor Who holiday special, Revolution of the Daleks, Nick Smith, our US-based stellar scribe, has been checking out the latest spin-off series streaming on YouTube.

Daleks! Tell on...

Guest post by Nick Smith

It’s not easy being mean. Just ask the Daleks, who sucker-punched their way into pop culture almost six decades ago, thrilling and chilling readers and audiences ever since.

My first encounter with the Skaro squad came with Genesis of the Daleks back in the mid-seventies. But it was their search for Davros in 1979’s Destiny of the Daleks that really captured my imagination. I didn’t care that they were a bit tatty, or that Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor made fun of them. I found them fearsome, fascinating and most important of all, easy to imitate in the school playground. The bullies of the small screen took my mind off the real-life bullies I couldn’t exterminate [you had me at exterminate - Ed].

A few years later I got hooked on a periodical called Doctor Who Monthly (DWM). One of the strips I loved to read was a reprint of Dalek adventures first published in TV Century 21 magazine from the sixties. Ron Turner’s art was packed with eye-catching design and colour, the supporting characters were memorable, and the Daleks’ devious plans were a big draw too.

Since then, I have been drawn to any little reference to those comic strips, whether in the Dalekmania documentary or in the hovering Dalek hordes of Bad Wolf. Imagine my delight when BBC’s new five-part animated series Daleks! delivered a golden emperor, hoverbouts, galactic machinations and conniving robots, all Terry Nation and David Whitaker-spawned staples retooled for 2020. Furthermore, this was new Who material, the first official on-screen spin-off since 2016’s Class [I didn't get beyond the pilot with Twelve - Ed].

Storywise, my expectations were low. This was a show for kids, surely; at just over ten minutes, the episodes didn’t have room for deep themes or grand character arcs. I was pleasantly surprised.

The Daleks in this show are fallible, backstabbing, on the run from a powerful space entity but still as devious as ever. The brass-bumped emperor is pompous and the scarred old strategist is loyal. Along with the entity, they face stubborn librarians, reprogramed rivals and (finally, after 55 years) the Mechanoids. I‘ve always had a soft spot for these big bots from the First Doctor story The Chase, with their beautiful architecture and their high-pitched voices, speaking a mix of code and broken English. It’s a delight to see them back in action.

Although the episodes are brief, there’s enough meat in them to tell a solid story, develop the main Dalek characters and squeeze in a twist or two. These Daleks aren’t as menacing as they appear in Doctor Who but their threat is in their numbers – we see their armada in full force – and in their Machiavellian antics.

The animation is uneven; while most of the spacecraft and alien cities are highly detailed, the explosions and robots are highly simplified and unrealistic [should've used the Unreal Engine - Ed]. Nevertheless, the faceless Daleks, obviously easier to animate than humans, are imbued with life and momentum, as are the slick ‘camera’ moves.

Daleks! provides a great opportunity for a new audience to familiarize themselves with Doctor Who’s main menace, and for die-hard fans to get a fix before the New Year’s Revolution. I dearly hope that this show leads to more seasons and more spin-offs. Anyone for Saturday Morning Cybermen? [an excellent suggestion - Ed]

Watch Daleks! for free on YouTube and let us know what you think in the comments below!

Movie Daleks in The Jungles of Mechanus!

In the week both Dalek movies arrived on BritBox and a five-part animated series tie-in with Time Lord Victorious, Daleks!, was announced, Character Options started fulfilling orders for its online exclusive - The Jungles of Mechanus set.

John Rivers, our newly appointed chief Dalek operator, is on hand to explain why the release has generated so much buzz from fans and collectors alike.

Guest post by John Rivers

A quick glance at Doctor Who Twitter over the past week would have shown you much excitement about some Dalek toys. Not just any old Dalek toys, but the Character Options 'JUNGLES OF MECHANUS' set. Given that Character Options produces a number of Doctor Who figures each year, why all the fuss? The reason is simple - these are MOVIE DALEKS!



Most fans are familiar with the differences between the BBC Daleks (small ears... at least until 2005) and the movie or AARU Daleks (big ears, bigger bases) created for the the show's two big screen outings: 'Dr Who and the Daleks' (1965) and 'Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.' (1966). In most classic 'Doctor Who' stories we rarely see the Big-Eared cousins, except for a couple of occasions. One of those was The Chase.

By the time The Chase went into production in April 1965 filming on 'Dr Who and the Daleks' had been completed. This meant that there were spare Dalek props available to reinforce the meagre Dalek force residing at the BBC. Despite their popularity, Dalek props from the first two stories The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth had been repurposed or given away. Thus three movie stunt Daleks (designed to be non-operable and the sort you would use to be in the background or blown-up), that had been fitted with plungers like their TV counterparts, ended-up onscreen in The Chase. They are most prominently seen on the planet Mechanus where the Dalek force has tracked down the Doctor and his companions, only to tangle with Mechanoids.

The movie Daleks would have one more notable outing in the classic series as the Supreme Dalek in Planet of the Daleks was a repainted combination of two AARU props from the second Dalek film, plus had a funky light up eye stalk/torch.

And that's why fans have been so excited - small toys of big screen Daleks! My two (I've yet to name them) look fantastic and are up to Character Options usual level of detail.

You can still buy the Jungles of Mechanus set here. And for more Dalek prop information, visit the excellent Dalek 63•88!

If you have a related product for review, please get in contact.

Blake's 7 arrives on BritBox

BritBox, the streaming service co-owned by the BBC and commercial broadcaster ITV, is rapidly becoming the home of cult sci-fi and fantasy film and television series in the UK.

Last month saw Sapphire & Steel, Space: 1999, The Prisoner, UFO and more added. Now, Blake's 7, the two sixties Dalek movies starring Peter Cushing as Doctor Who among other cult classics will be available this September. Blake's 7, from Dalek creator Terry Nation, was a dystopian space opera with a series finale that ruined Christmas 1981 for a generation of geeks (myself included).

10th September

Blake’s 7 (1978)

All 52 episodes and four seasons of the cult British sci-fi show from the mind of Terry Nation. In the third century of the second calendar, after the chaos of the intergalactic wars, a powerful dictatorship has risen to dynamic proportions and engulfed most of the populated worlds. Liberty has become a crime punishable by death, and the majority of the population lives in a drug-induced state of docility. This tyrannical authority fulfils George Orwell's prophecy of 1984 to its most terrifying extremes. This government is known as the Federation. Each world has its share of rebels who either turned to crime or the Resistance. This is the story of one such group of rebels, led by a man named Blake. His group is largely composed of escaped convicts, thieves and smugglers, who are thrown together by chance.

The Avengers (1961)

The two complete surviving episodes of the first season, plus the iconic Emma Peel & Tara King seasons of the series starring Patrick MacNee, Diana Rigg & Linda Thorson as the incorrigible secret agents extraordinaire. Together they defeat criminal masterminds and solve unfathomable mysteries in the original cult TV classic.

Doctor Who and the Daleks (1965)

The first big screen spin-off from the television series featuring the infamous Daleks. Eccentric Earth inventor Doctor Who (Peter Cushing) is demonstrating his space/time craft, the TARDIS, to his niece's boyfriend, Ian (Roy Castle), when he manages to whisk them all off to the planet Skaro. There they encounter two races: the blue-skinned, peace-loving Thals, and the biomechanical Daleks.

Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150AD (1966)

The Earth of 2150 AD is a desolate and hostile ruin of a planet, crumbling at the edge of civilisation, slowly disappearing into the darkness of space. For the future of planet Earth now belongs to The Daleks, a destructive army of alien invaders who have turned the human race into cowering slaves.

Meanwhile deep within the London Underground a group of resistance freedom fighters are planning an attack. But there's only one man who could possibly help them succeed in destroying their extra-terrestrial enemies and take back control of planet Earth. A man of mystery, a man of time and space, a man known only as... The Doctor. Starring Peter Cushing.

One Million Years BC (1966)

This spectacular prehistoric adventure was promoted as Hammer’s 100th production and gave the world the iconic image of star Raquel Welch in a fur-lined bikini. The highlight of the movie was the stop-motion dinosaurs that were subsequently added by legendary special effects animator Ray Harryhausen. The result was Hammer’s biggest commercial success, the most famous dinosaur epic until the release of Jurassic Park 26 years later.

Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

Hobbs End, Knightsbridge, London. Whilst working on a new subway tunnel for the London Underground, a group of construction workers uncover a strangely shaped skull amongst the rubble. Nearby is another discovery: a large, mysterious and impenetrable metal object. Initially mistaken for an unexploded bomb the origins of the object and its strange power are far more horrific and terrifying than anybody could have possibly imagined. Is it of this Earth? Could it be the ancestral link to mankind’s evolution? Or could it be an ancient link to unleashing ultimate evil? There’s only one man capable of unravelling the clues, his name is Professor Bernard Quatermass, a man of science who thrives on the dark mysteries of the world, a man with answers.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Nicolas Roeg directs this classic 70s sci-fi drama starring David Bowie as an alien who arrives on Earth in search of water to save his own dying planet. Assuming the name Thomas Jerome Newton, he soon forms a lucrative partnership with patent attorney Oliver Farnsworth (Buck Henry) by creating revolutionary products. As their business develops into a hugely successful financial empire, Thomas plans to use the profits to build a ship that will return him to his home world. However, while he waits for his ship to be ready, he begins to fall prey to earthly pleasures and failings.

17th September

Survivors (1975)

All three seasons of Terry Nation's acclaimed BBC science fiction drama in which 95% of the population have been wiped out by a freak plague, leaving the remaining survivors to rebuild civilisation.

BritBox is already the exclusive home of classic Doctor Who. If you've held-off, will the arrival of Blake's ragtag rebels spur you to subscribe? Let me know in the comments below.

Eggs and Daleks: Soufflé Girl's winning recipe

I've been most remiss in not posting my thoughts on Doctor Who series 7, which is about to conclude its first half-season run with this weekend's The Angels Take Manhattan! A potentially infamous storyline witnessing the departure of longterm companions the Ponds. I'll shed a tear for the girl who waited...

Back to the present. Series 7 opens audaciously with Asylum of the Daleks, the Ponds estranged, and an unexpected cameo from forthcoming new companion Oswin Oswald, played with chutzpah by Jenna-Louise Coleman. The best-kept secret since the Cybermen's surprise return in Earthshock steals the show in a riveting, scarlet-lipped, performance as the girl trapped in a haunted house.

A haunted house filled with menacing, dysfunctional, Daleks. Note the use of the words menacing and dysfunctional. Terry Nation's creations are always best served in a shadowy world and here we're treated to an inspired mashup of The Dead Planet and Genesis of the Daleks: set within the walls of an asylum.

These Daleks are the rejects; broken; too dangerous to control; nightmarish. All the better for it. A rare return to the Daleks home planet of Skaro provides the icing on a deliciously dark cake.

An epic exchange between the Doctor and a Dalek culminates in the chilling revelation: "We have grown stronger in fear of you!" A line worthy of Star Wars' Darth Vader.

Bravo, Mr Moffat.

The Macra: Masters of Terror

Last Saturday's episode of Doctor Who, Gridlock, refreshingly brought back the dreaded Macra, the celebrated crab-like enemy that Patrick Troughton's Doctor faced, four decades before, in 1967.

This riveting adventure, framed against an homage to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (Scott was commissioned to design the Daleks (Terry Nation only provided the scantest of descriptions), but passed duties to Raymond Cusick)), reintroduced the Face of Boe and the 'revelation' that the Doctor is not the only Time Lord to have survived the last great Time War with the Daleks!

This lends further, possible, credence to online speculation that The Master is set to return. As noted previously, I remain hopeful that John Simm will indeed play the role!