BLAKE'S 7
AS BLAKE’S 7 COMES TO BLU-RAY WE DISCOVER HOW THE BBC’S VERY OWN SPACE REBELLION BEGAN
WORDS: NICK SETCHFIELD
I HAVE A FEELING BLAKE’S 7 was a whole lot better and more important than those of us who were working on it realised, certainly when it started,” reflects veteran director Michael E Briant. “I mean, we all knew it was rather good. It wasn’t just any 13-part series. We all knew it had quality.”
Welcome to the third century of the second calendar – or, rather more mundanely, the first week of January 1978. As Star Wars orbits the UK like some Odeon-conquering Death Star, the BBC is launching its own weekly counterstrike. Just like George Lucas’s cinematic wonder, it’s a tale of scrappy cosmic rebels battling totalitarian overlords. This war, however, is waged on an altogether smaller screen, on a very different budget to its Hollywood rival.
“When we signed our contracts with the BBC I don’t think any of us were particularly aware of Star Wars,” Briant tells SFX. “But when I was in my office in TV Centre I became screamingly aware, because everyone was talking about it!
“My feeling was ‘Yeah, whatever… I don’t want to go and see it because it’s a feature film, and we’re making a TV series.’ On the other hand Pennant [Roberts, fellow Blake’s 7 director] went virtually to the opening night. I discovered him in his office the next day, with his head in his hands and tears streaming down his face!
“When I eventually saw Star Wars I could understand why. I’m not aware that it actually did us any harm, just in terms of viewing figures and publicity. It stopped science fiction being a niche market. It made it far more mainstream.”