Blake's 7 was great. It was great for a number of reasons. The scripts sparkled with life. The dialogue was sharp. The stories were well thought out (with a couple of exceptions I admit). The characters were three dimensional people. Importantly, little was black and white - there were no "goodies and baddies" here. The "goodies" shot people in the back and caused the deaths of civilians during their crusade against the Federation. The chief "baddie" was a super-cool sexy female who could weep for her dead children whilst almost simultaneously coldly executing an innocent officer (hats off to Jaqueline Pearce - she was excellent).
However, nothing quite captured the public's imagination quite like the way Blake's 7 ended. After 4 years of drama - 52 episodes worth of our slightly unhinged anti-heroes struggling against the evil system - we watched in disbelief as they were surrounded by Federation troops, and gunned down without mercy. As an 11 year-old at the time, this was shocking stuff. It's still shocking today. Have other series' ever dared kill off their main cast to end the series? I know it wasn't 100% intended, but what a way to go.
So who cares if the walls wobbled a bit, and some of the models looked like washing-up liquid bottles on string (they probably were), and some of the acting could be a bit rough round the edges? Blake's 7 still resonates, is still talked about, and still has relevance. As a series, it was great as I said, but thanks to this final episode, the series will remain one of the iconic moments of British TV drama.
However, nothing quite captured the public's imagination quite like the way Blake's 7 ended. After 4 years of drama - 52 episodes worth of our slightly unhinged anti-heroes struggling against the evil system - we watched in disbelief as they were surrounded by Federation troops, and gunned down without mercy. As an 11 year-old at the time, this was shocking stuff. It's still shocking today. Have other series' ever dared kill off their main cast to end the series? I know it wasn't 100% intended, but what a way to go.
So who cares if the walls wobbled a bit, and some of the models looked like washing-up liquid bottles on string (they probably were), and some of the acting could be a bit rough round the edges? Blake's 7 still resonates, is still talked about, and still has relevance. As a series, it was great as I said, but thanks to this final episode, the series will remain one of the iconic moments of British TV drama.