Category: Blake’s 7

Servalan’s new right-hand man and tactical advisor takes Tarrant on in a battle of strategy in space and on foot on the deadly planet of Kairos, but Avon’s obsessive search for an elusive new weapon hinders the Liberator crew’s efficiency – but saves them in the end.

written by Ben Steed
directed by Gerald Blake
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Andrew Burt (Jarvik), Frank Gatliff (Dastor), Anthony Gardner (Shad), Charles Jamieson (Guard), Sam Davies (Carlon), Christopher Douglas (First Leader, Third Leader), Hywel David (Interceptor Captain, Second Leader)

Notes: In a 1986 interview with Time Screen magazine, Paul Darrow said that this episode was “the one that made Jan Chappell decide to leave.”

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Vila is bullied by Tarrant into assisting an unknown party on Keezarn, a remote planet, in exchange for some weapons crystals needed on the Liberator. The unknown party shortchanges Tarrant, sending a bomb instead, which is what Avon anticipated. As he and Cally teleport down to rescue Vila, the thief discovers that he is to be working for a criminal known as “Bayban the butcher” – a man with a reputation for mayhem “second only to Blake” (a comment to which Bayban himself reacts badly). Bayban wants Vila to break into an impossible door, which is what Vila does, taking Bayban’s attractive gunhand with him. They discover an infinite-range teleport system that sends them to the planet the real people of Keezarn are destined to reach and there Vila discovers the type of crystals Tarrant needed. On returning to Keezarn, they find that Avon and the others have captured Bayban’s forces. Vila has a chance to go off with Kerril or return to the Liberator – and then Bayban himself prepares to destroy the city.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Colin Baker (Bayban), Carol Hawkins (Kerril), John J. Carney (Sherm), Valentine Dyall (Norl)

Notes: This script was written by Chris Boucher especially for Michael Keating when Keating’s young daughter, watching an earlier Blake’s 7 episode, turned around and told her father his character was stupid! It also set the stage for a rematch between Paul Darrow and Colin Baker in the arguably forgettable 1985 Doctor Who story Timelash.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Cally’s twin sister, Zelda, sends out a telepathic distress signal when the planet Auron is ravaged by a plague which has, in fact, been unleashed on the pacifist Aurons by Servalan in an attempt to capture the Liberator and its crew.

written by Roger Parkes
directed by Andrew Morgan
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally, Zelda), Michael Keating (Vila), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Rio Fanning (Deral), Ric Young (Ginka), Jack McKenzie (Patar), Beth Harris (CA Two), Ronald Leigh-Hunt (CA One), Sarah Atkinson (Franton), Michael Troughton (Pilot Four-Zero)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Avon sets out to avenge the death of his lover, Anna Grant. He kidnaps a Federation “prison psychologist” (torturer) whom he believes is responsible for her execution, but information gained from that encounter leads Avon and the crew back to Earth in a raid on Servalan’s mansion – which has been taken by a rebel group already – where Avon discovers that Anna was never killed…nor was she ever, in fact, alive.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by Fiona Cumming
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), John Bryans (Shrinker), Peter Clay (Chesku), Lorna Heilbron (Sula, Anna), Donald Douglas (Grenlee), David Haig (Forres), Philip Bloomfield (Balon), David Gillies (Hob)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

After visiting a derelict alien “tomb-vessel,” Cally is inhabited by the soul of a long-dead creature who begins to take her shape, draining her of her energy, and takes over the ship and, one by one, the crew – except for Avon, the one member of the crew who is determined not to surrender into slavery. But the alien possessing Cally has predicted Avon’s presence and his resistance.

written by Tanith Lee
directed by Fiona Cumming
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Liberator is captured by an artificial planet whose inhabitants wish to use the ship as the centerpiece of a sort of galactic museum. The crew is studied too, though they discover that after Ultraworld’s organic central brain digests all the information about them that it can, it intends to digest them physically as well to keep itself alive.

written by Trevor Hoyle
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Peter Richards (Ultra), Stephen Jenn (Ultra), Ian Barritt (Ultra), Ronald Govey (Relf)

Notes: Trevor Hoyle also authored several novelizations of the series, which combined and condensed the plots of several episodes in each book, aimed primarily at a younger audience.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Liberator crew follows Servalan’s star cruiser to a cloaked planet on the edge of known space, where they discover a band of rogue Federation troops who are inviting criminals to join their new world. The planet’s every need is provided by a computer called Moloch – or at least everyone assumes it’s a computer until its reveals its true nature to Avon.

written by Ben Steed
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), John Hartley (Grose), Mark Sheridan (Lector), Davyd Harries (Doran), Sabina Franklin (Chesil), Debbi Blythe (Poola), Deep Roy (Moloch)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Tarrant’s brother, Deeta Tarrant, first champion of the planet Teal, is killed in a gunfight which decides the fate of two warring worlds who use gladiators instead of conventional weapons to fight their battles. Tarrant challenges the victor, which Avon and Orac discover to be an android placed in combat by Servalan, who hopes the two governments will suspect each other of cheating, resulting in a real war which would allow the Federation to take over both planets.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by Gerald Blake
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Del Tarrant, Deeta Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Stewart Bevan (Max), Mark Elliot (Vinni), David Sibley (Commentator), Kathy Iddon (Karla)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The launch silo doors needed to reach Scorpio and leave Dorian’s base are locked by some means even Vila doesn’t know how to open, and Avon’s mission to gather raw materials for a teleport system gets him captured by the Hommiks, the male faction of the planet’s people. Vila is visited by Pela, one of the last three surviving Seska, who are the women of Xenon, and he is told that unless the door is opened every 48 hours which will soon come to pass since Dorian is dead, a nuclear compression charge will destroy the base. Tarrant and Dayna find Avon and, with the help of the Seska, free him from the Hommiks. Avon then reveals that he in fact has the teleportal worked out, but Pella, driven by a hunger for power, uses telekinesis to open the door and board Scorpio, taking off. Avon boards using the teleportal and kills her. At this time, the others also come to Scorpio, ready to begin the fight anew, now with Soolin at their side.

written by Ben Steed
directed by Mary Ridge
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Dicken Ashworth (Gunn-Sar), Juliet Hammond Hill (Pella), Jenny Oulton (Niria), Paul Ridley (Cato), Alison Glennie (Kate), Linda Barr (Luxia)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Tarrant and Dayna teleport to Helotrix, which Orac has informed the crew as being the latest Federation acquisition in an unprecedented new period of expansion and conquest. Tarrant and Dayna discover that a new pacification drug, Pylene-50, is being used to control the normally ruthless Helots while the Federation takes over. They also discover that the inventor of the drug, “Commissioner Sleer,” is, in fact, Servalan, having miraculously escaped from the destruction of the Liberator. Avon, however, doesn’t think highly of that miracle…

written by Robert Holmes
directed by David Sullivan Proudfoot
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Malcolm Stoddard (Leitz), Christopher Neame (Colonel Quute), Robert Morris (Major Hunda), John Quentin (Practor), Edgar Wreford (Forbus), Nick Brimble (General), David Quilter (The Tracer), Neil Dickson (Avandir), Cyril Appleton (Sgt. Hask), George Lee (Igin)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Scorpio is disabled in an attempt to hide from detector beams behind an asteroid and limps back to Xenon Base. On the way, the ship is approached by three Federation pursuit ships which suddenly explode for no apparently good reason, which is what they investigate back at base. The cause of the ships’ destruction is a space-chopper, the orbital equivalent of a Harley-Davidson, with the significant exception that this one moved at time-distort 15 and was well-armed. The repaired Scorpio visits the base of the space-chopper, where Plaxton, once one of the best minds of the Federation, is devising powerful stardrives for an interstellar motorcycle gang. Dayna and Vila manage to distract the gang long enough to get Plaxton and her biggest and best stardrive out of the base safely. Scorpio is approached by a flotilla of Federation ships while Plaxton is in the engine room connecting her drive. If Avon starts the engine as soon as Plaxton connects the final wire, Scorpio will escape but the firing of the drive will kill its creator.

written by James Follett
directed by David Sullivan Proudfoot
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Barbara Shelley (Dr. Plaxton), Damien Thomas (Atlan), Peter Sands (Bomber), Leonard Kavanagh (Napier)

Notes: Scorpio apparently used the new stardrive to escape danger in Animals, the next episode, but afterward it seemed as though the new engine system was nowhere to be found – you’d imagine it would have helped them out of a few scrapes such as…crashing on Gauda Prime?

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Dayna visits a friend of her father’s, who she discovers is conducting needlessly painful experiments on some intelligent animals on that planet. Meanwhile, Scorpio is attacked after Dayna teleports, and it barely gets back to Xenon Base. When Avon and the others return to get Dayna, they find Servalan in control of the animals and of Dayna’s mind.

written by Allan Prior
directed by Mary Ridge
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Peter Byrne (Justin), William Lindsay (Captain), Max Harvey (Borr), Kevin Stoney (Ardus), David Boyce (Og)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Tarrant and Vila are sent to pick up a scientist whose cybernetic genius could help the crew of Scorpio fight the Federation, but they slowly begin to uncover the truth – the cybernetic progeny of Muller, a student of Orac’s creator, has assumed its creator’s identity and is on a murderous rampage to find the only other computer worthy of its attention and join with it: Orac.

written by Roger Parkes
directed by Mary Ridge
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), John Westbrook (Muller), Lynda Bellingham (Vena), Douglas Fielding (Technician), Nick Joseph (Android), Lesley Nunnerley (Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green