DB7

Sky One to resurrect sci-fi classic Blake's 7

* Published: 23 April 2008 17:34
* Author: Rob Shepherd

Sky One is planning a remake of iconic British science fiction series Blake's 7.

B7 Productions, the production arm of licence holder B7 Media, is developing the 6 x 60-minute series, which originally ran for four seasons from 1978 to 1981 on BBC1.

Sky One commissioning editor Elaine Pyke has ordered two scripts for a potential series.

Created by Terry Nation, Blake's 7 is set in the future and follows the exploits of the revolutionary Roj Blake as he leads a band of reluctant rebels against the totalitarian Federation which rules the galaxy with an iron fist.

The Federation controls the citizens by a number of methods, including mass surveillance and brainwashing.

Pyke will work alongside Andrew Mark Sewell at Blake 7 Productions to reinvent the show.

"At a time when science-fiction shows often discard good storytelling for overblown visual effects - and following the lead of Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica - the time is ripe for a revival of a show that represents the best traditions of the genre," said Pyke.

The show will form part of Sky One's eight-figure investment in HD drama over this year and next.

The original Blake's 7 was sold to more than 40 territories worldwide.

johng

Good - but a lot of use that is to the many thousands of people who are on cable and who no longer get Sky 1 after the dispute with Virgin which never seems to have been resolved despite Virgin apparently at one time going to take Sky to Court. Seems to have fizzled out.

julian_craster

Three cheers for the return of Blake's 7
By Andrew McKie
Daily Telegraph
25/04/2008



For those of us of a certain generation, it is the most exciting news since the relaunch of Doctor Who. The return of Blake's 7, the gritty, cynical science fiction series first shown in the late 1970s, should cause unqualified rejoicing. We're just hoping that Sky, which has commissioned the new version, makes a better job of it than the team behind the new Bionic Woman.
But why is it that the return of such programmes so cheers viewers of a certain age? Part of it is nostalgia, of course, mixed - for those of us in our late thirties - with the joy of seeing our children receive much the same excitement and pleasure from, say, Doctor Who, as we did.

But it is also because science fiction seems grown-up now. That may appear an odd claim to make for a genre which many people regard as adolescent. (The old joke is that the Golden Age of science fiction is 14.) But the new version of Battlestar Galactica, for example, has been compared with The Sopranos.

Heroes returned to prime-time last night on BBC 2, and Lost, after a period when it lost its way, is continuing to keep viewers engaged. The hottest writer in Hollywood is Philip K Dick, who died before Blade Runner, the first film of one of his books, was released. The same movie was recently voted by Telegraph readers as their top film, 25 years after it came out.

There are several reasons for all this. The perennial one is that science fiction offers the chance to explore big questions: philosophical, social and religious themes are its very bread and butter. Another is that it offers writers what is now a rare opportunity to engage with both mythic themes (something The Bill or EastEnders have trouble with) and simultaneously examine current political questions. Blake's 7, which involves a group of freedom fighters (or terrorists, depending on your perspective) challenging an oppressive superstate, is certainly likely to address a number of contemporary issues, though I'm obviously hoping there will be silver suits and laser guns as well.

Another is that technology is now a dominant part of almost everyone's life, and the moral and social issues which it raises have become unavoidable. And of course the technology of cinema and TV now mean that almost anything one can think of can be convincingly rendered on screen, which helps a great deal with the suspension of disbelief.

But stories that ask "What if?" are no longer just about exoticism and fantasy. They're how we examine urgent questions which are far from theoretical in ordinary political discourse. The kind of issues raised by genetic research, the information economy, globalisation and climate change affect us all.

What does it mean to be human? What constitutes intelligence? What rights and duties do we owe other species, or the ill, or intolerant religious movements, or those with different sexual or social behaviour, or the unborn? All these are themes any science fiction reader or viewer will regard as the staple ingredients of the form.

But I suspect that the main reason for the popularity of this is shown by something that Joss Whedon (the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer) said at one point during the DVD extras on Serenity. (And yes, I realise that may be the geekiest sentence ever written.) He had been considering some such high-falutin' political consideration, he said, and "it brought to mind the Millennium Falcon, because…" At that point he paused, and admitted it was because almost everything makes him think of something from Star Wars. People have always had a need for the heroic, the fantastic and the bizarre in storytelling. There is nothing wrong with the realistic novel, or the gritty play for today, or the soap about adultery in Hampstead or Stepney, but occasionally we demand, as viewers and readers, a sense of wonder, a window into bigger, broader worlds. It may be, too, that as the speed of the world becomes more relentless, our desire to make sense of it demands the kind of fiction which space opera and superheroes ideally lend themselves to.

But whatever the reasons, the appetite for such programmes is there, and - thanks to the internet - so is the capacity to lobby for what the audience wants. The above-mentioned Serenity was a big-budget feature film. It was made because, when Whedon's television series Firefly was cancelled, the fans were so outraged that they demanded the return of the characters. People apparently feel the same way about Blake's 7 (though Avon was the really cool one, of course).

Now, will someone please commission a new series of The Tomorrow People?

Steve Crook

If it's been resolved how come we still don't get any Sky channels?
Not that I want many of them but The Simpsons are good and I'd like to see Blake's Seven again

Steve

Moor Larkin

I thought Paul Darrow owned Blakes 7.........?

Oh! For the days when we still had Territories.............

Shadwell

I'm sure I read somewhere that Paul Darrow (Avon) owns the rights to Blake's Seven. Of course I could be wrong. From the original cast, Avon was simply the best and the new one wouldn't be the same without him....

Time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man...

Shadwell

Damn! you beat me to it by a minute!!!

Time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man...

Moor Larkin

The truth will out. He's easily young enough to be in it as Avon again, so if they don't give him the gig.................. don't let 'em have it Paul!

CaptainWaggett

Darrow used to be involved with the people who owned the rights but I'd be fairly sure the Terry Nation estate wouldn't hand something like that over permanently.

batman

I saw Paul Darrow as Elvis in 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?' .... he was brilliant, much better than the AK-TOR formerly known as Doyle.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

CaptainWaggett

I feel I should declare an interest here. Blake's 7 is simply my all-time favourite tv-series and I could rant for Britain on how it did dark sci fi long before Buffy or Star Trek DS9 and yes, we know it's cheap and the fans laugh at it but that's the whole point and Avon is simply the best tv character ever and...

Ahem. Sorry. Got carried away. But I do love it.

batman

I have been madly in love with Jacqueline Pearce since the 60s (I started early), Sally Knyvette and Josette Simon were cute too. My favourite character was the cowardly one, Vila. I am not a huge fan of sci-fi (Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon and the Quatermass films are usually enough for me) but Blake's 7 was cool.

I think that good writing and careful casting will be all important for this remake to succeed. No ex-soap stars or 'flavour of the month' faces .... proper actors with charisma and talent are the order of the day.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

CaptainWaggett

Sally Knyvette once actually said 'Don't you know who I am? I used to be in Blake's 7' to one of my colleagues who wouldn't let her put up a poster advertising private acting lessons. Josette Simon has always been a bit ungracious about it considering David Maloney gave her a leading role in a prime time drama series at a point when she hadn't even got an Equity card.

Blake's 7 was cool

Moor Larkin

Around the time of the first series I was living in a largely TV-free zone but we got wind of Blakes-7 somehow, on some young persons grapevine, and we got hold of a 12inch B&W portable from somewhere, which we used to tune in to the show every single week, before retiring to the pub, with stars in our eyes.

Avon was the stand-out guy even when the curly-headed bloke was being tough and that gorgeous bird in boots was strutting her stuff.

I lost track of it in, what I gather were later series, but the magic still lives in my head. So far as dodgy sfx........ on a tiny B&W hand-powered portable, we never even noticed.....

[code]http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487363@N02/sets/72157606700675506/code]

Brigger

Does anyone else think the Beeb have missed a trick here, surely they are aware of the fondness with which this great series is remembered, and having established a ready made time slot as Saturday evening treat to alternate with Dr Who & Robin Hood; I feel with Batmans pre-requisite of good writing & casting they would have had a sure fire winner.