Blake's 7

Blake's 7 was a BBC science fiction television series created by Terry Nation that ran four seasons from January 2, 1978 to December 21, 1981.

Trivia

• When Terry Nation originally scripted the show, he intended Blake to have seven companions, hence the name Blake's 7. Due to budget constraints, however, Blake's crew never included more than six human actors at one time (including Blake, who was now counted as one of the seven). The show subtly addressed this discrepancy by counting one or more computers as members of the crew. Thus, the original seven were:

::Humans: Roj Blake, Kerr Avon, Jenna Stannis, Vila Restal, Olag Gan, Cally (6)

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::Computers: Zen (1)

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:By the end of the series, the lineup had become

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::Humans: Kerr Avon, Vila Restal, Del Tarrant, Dayna Mellanby, Soolin (5)

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::Computers: Orac, Slave (2)

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:Using this system, the total does actually add up to seven with fair consistency throughout the series. Kerr Avon and Vila Restal were the only members of the seven to remain throughout the entire run of the series.

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• The preceding list demonstrates the characteristic attrition of main characters (including Blake himself!) over the course of the series:

:* Gan killed early in Season B (replaced in the count by Orac; thereafter never more than five humans at one time)

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:* Blake and Jenna lost at the end of Season B (replaced in the count by Dayna and Tarrant)

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:* Zen destroyed and Cally killed at the end of Season C/start of Season D (replaced in the count by Slave and Soolin, respectively).

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:Travis, one of the main villains of the first two seasons, is killed at the end of Season B. He is never replaced by a recurrent character, as Servalan, the other main villain, henceforth has a tendency to quickly lose her sidekicks either by accident or by design.

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• The on-screen logo gave the series title as Blakes 7 without the apostrophe; fans often abbreviate the title as "B7".
• Matt Irvine, who produced the series special effects (along with work on Doctor Who), later revealed that the Liberator ended up facing the wrong way. As originally designed, the spherical end would face in the direction of travel. The mixup was blamed on a member of the BBC props department.
• The fourth season wasn't originally supposed to be made, but the ratings success of the third season caused a fourth to be made. In fact the first that any of the cast and crew heard about a fourth season was a continuity announcement after the first showing of Terminal. This change of heart occurred so late that producer David Maloney had been re-assigned to the BBC's production of Day of the Triffids. With a new producer needed, the BBC offered the job to Terence Dudley, who refused as he wanted to retire from producing and directing. Instead, the job was given to Vere Lorrimer, a frequent director on the series. Script editor Chris Boucher was being considered to replace Christopher H. Bidmead as script editor of Doctor Who, but opted to stay on for the fourth season of Blake's 7.
• Michael Keating (Vila Restal) is the only actor to appear in all 52 episodes of the series. In second place is Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon) who appeared in every episode except the first. In third place is Peter Tuddenham who variously voiced Zen, Orac, Slave and various other computers in forty-nine episodes, missing out the first two and also the second season episode Countdown,
• Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon), Michael Keating (Vila Restal) and Jacqueline Pearce (Supreme Commander Servalan) are the only cast members to have stayed with the series throughout its entire run. Peter Tuddenham (Zen/Orac/Slave) also provided the voices for all of the Seven's computer members throughout the show's run. Although of these, only Keating appeared in the first episode.
• Gareth Thomas (Roj Blake), Michael Keating (Vila Restal) and Mike Mungarven (Prisoner/Duty officer) are the only actors to appear in both the first and last episodes of the series.
• Many of the cast have appeared in Doctor Who (see also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who):
• Brian Croucher in The Robots of Death
• Paul Darrow in Doctor Who and the Silurians, Timelash and the audio drama The Next Life
• Stephen Greif in the audio drama Primeval
• Michael Keating in The Sun Makers and the audio drama The Twilight Kingdom
• Sally Knyvette in the audio drama Spare Parts
• Jacqueline Pearce in The Two Doctors and the audio drama The Fearmonger
• Gareth Thomas in the audio drama Storm Warning
• Peter Tuddenham in The Ark in Space, The Masque of Mandragora and Time and the Rani
• David Jackson in the audio series Sarah Jane Smith and Jan Chappell in the independent spin-off video Shakedown have also appeared in the Doctor Who universe but without the Doctor.
• Reversing that trend, John Leeson, the voice of Doctor Whos K-9, appeared in the Blake's 7 episodes Mission to Destiny and Gambit. Richard Franklin, Captain Mike Yates in Doctor Who, appeared in the Blake's 7 episode Aftermath. Future Sixth Doctor Colin Baker appeared in City at the Edge of the World and Richard Hurndall (later to replace William Hartnell as the First Doctor in the 20th Anniversary story The Five Doctors), also appeared on Blake's 7 in Assassin.
• The Doctor Who and Blake's 7 universes are tied together in the Kaldor City audios, where Carnell, the psychostrategist from Weapon, appears with characters and situations created by Chris Boucher for his Doctor Who story The Robots of Death.