Someone joyfully stated to me that Die Hard is a Christmas film, then in the next breath insisted that the classic James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is not. I could not let this second statement lie, so here is why they are wrong. For those unfamiliar with the film’s plot, it sees …
I have always known Look-In as the junior TV Times – it even says so on the cover – and therefore know it won’t be covering any BBC programmes. The ‘junior’ part and most of the (mainly 1970s) cover images I’ve seen led me to believe the target market was fairly young. However, Look-In‘s readers …
Issue 3 is the final edition of Blake’s 7 Monthly to be released while the programme is still on air and I can’t help but feel a tad sorry for the team behind it. Ideally, the magazine would have been launched after Series B and it could then have had a fairly decent lifespan while …
Every year, for a few weeks my Twitter feed fills up with people watching The Box of Delights. This has become a Christmas tradition for many and it seems to bring them a lot of joy. As I tend to find myself drawn back to the same films and sitcom specials every year, I fancied …
After a couple of debuts, Blake’s 7 is back to a proven writer with Sand penned by Tanith Lee. Despite needing to watch Series C’s Sarcophagus twice to understand much of what was happening, I had enjoyed it for being so interesting and different. Sand would provide something equally weird. I like that Tanith Lee …
With Games I noticed we had another new writer in Bill Lyons. I felt Avon and Vila were written well, with the latter getting the sort of humour that’s felt somewhat absent. I also loved the character of Belkov and Stratford Johns provides a wonderfully entertaining performance, which helped make Games such fun. Another scientist… …
Until Assassin, Series D has relied on writers who have written for Blake’s 7 before. Positioning a new one in the middle of the series probably felt safer, especially as Rod Beacham was not an experienced television writer, but looking back at the first half of Series D this hardly mattered. Considering the overall series …
Headhunter was the most fun I’ve had all series. I loved that even the title confounded my expectations – I was expecting a bounty hunter to come after Team Avon, so to have an actual head was marvellous. I really enjoyed Blake’s 7 as a horror film, with various familiar aspects from the genre to …
After watching Animals, I discovered that I appear to be in a small minority of Blake’s 7 viewers who got some enjoyment from this episode. Lucky me! I tend to use the term ‘least favourite’ for episodes lower down my rankings of anything because there is usually more good than bad. Series D isn’t exactly …
In the same month that issue 2 of Blake’s 7 Monthly reached newsstands, Marvel UK also published issue 39 of Starburst magazine. The monthly magazine has covered Blake’s 7 in several issues and this one takes us behind the scenes of its visual effects. The November 1981 version of Starburst has a tagline of ‘The …
We’re four episodes into Series D of Blake’s 7 and now have another issue of Blake’s 7 Monthly to keep us going between episodes. Let’s take a look at some of the features from issue 2, published in November 1981. It’s another bright cover for Blake’s 7 Monthly, with the series logo once again done …
This is the first time I’ve ever struggled with Blake’s 7 and I needed something from Stardrive, just a little bit, to liven up Series D. Just a machine I’ve given up entirely on Orac, whose personality increasingly resembles his creator: a grumpy old man who wanted to be left alone to get on with …
After the last episode I mentioned that there were a couple of writers I was hoping to see again – Robert Holmes was one of them. What the plot One aspect I liked from Robert Holmes’ previous stories was his ability to write two separate but fun, compelling plots. This worked particularly well in Gambit …
I approached Power with a degree of trepidation as I had been frustrated by Ben Steed’s previous Blake’s 7 scripts. It had been reassuring to learn from other viewers that I was not alone, but I was also informed that I had another of his stories to come in Series D. Blake’s 7 Monthly delivered …
The Blake’s 7 fans of the 1980s had a long wait between Series C and D, with the former finishing in March 1980 and the latter not starting until October 1981. This was longer than the usual 12 months or so between series but I actually think it’s impressive, having been informed since I finished …
Doctor Who had had its own magazine for two years by the time Blake’s 7 Monthly launched. After just over a year of being published weekly, the magazine went monthly. On the cover of issue 57 it is simply titled Doctor Who, but inside it’s clear that the contributors now consider the magazine to be …
It’s Autumn 1981. With Series D of Blake’s 7 on the horizon, what better time to launch a magazine devoted to the programme than just before the final series airs? Enter: Blake’s 7 Monthly! In between watching Series D, I’ll be sharing a few features from each issue. Throughout the magazine, there is no consistency …
‘Terminal’ is associated with death and can be where a journey ends, so I was curious about this episode’s title. The reveal that is was simply a planet’s name was initially underwhelming. But overall ‘terminal’ stands for an endpoint and this was Blake’s 7‘s most emotional one yet. Avon’s deception Avon’s change of character was …
Early on, I thought I could happily observe the combatants, with the Liberator crew sipping cocktails while commenting on proceedings, for the entire of Death-Watch – a kind-of Blake’s 7 version of Gogglebox. But when the crew did teleport from the ship, more fun was to be had and I wanted it to last longer. …
Ben Steed? That name is familiar. Have we had one of his stories before? Oh, we have. Oh no. I was frustrated by how Ben Steed wrote Servalan in The Harvest of Kairos and after viewing Moloch it’s abundantly clear that the word ‘feminism’ has never registered. I did not find Moloch as bad an …
I’m unsure why Dayna says she doesn’t like the look of Ultraworld as I don’t think there is anything inherently nasty about a spiky silver disco ball. It matches several of the crew’s outfits. I do feel the crew should be less trusting of the universe by now. As Cally’s voice came over to them, …
After meeting Burnside and the rest of SIS in Series 1 of The Sandbaggers, we had just about got to grips with the many acronyms of Whitehall and were soon ready to delve into Series 2. I rejoined Spybrary host Shane Whaley and fellow fans Jeffrey Westhoff and Peter Newman to discuss more on The Sandbaggers. …
First broadcast: 20th December 1970 on BBC-1 This was my favourite episode I’ve seen so far. The Goodies decide to take advantage of the recent introduction of commercial radio licences – at least that’s how it appeared to me. My knowledge of the history of commercial radio is slim but nonetheless, 1970 seemed a tad …
There have been some strange episodes of Blake’s 7 up to this point but Sarcophagus takes the trophy. It’s not unusual for there to be some mystery about where an episode is going but I spent almost the entire of Sarcophagus absolutely baffled. I struggled, got bored and walked away slightly disappointed with the story. …
Cecily First broadcast: 13th December 1970 on BBC-1 The Goodies are struggling to find work and one does wonder whether ‘anything any time’ is just too vague for the general public. McCall’s newspaper advert in The Equalizer is similarly brief but at least he narrowed it down to helping people that had a problem with …
Rumours of Death feels like a rare privilege to learn more about Avon’s emotional past, and I daren’t look away in case we never get such access again. It’s another strong character piece from Chris Boucher, whose scripts have been my favourites in Series C so far. The opening scene had me gripped from the …
Gender Education My next episode of The Goodies moves us swiftly further along to series 2, episode 11. At the Goodies’ headquarters, a well-turned-out, mature woman with glasses sneaks up on Tim and Graeme. She’s instantly recognisable as a faux-Mary Whitehouse and I must admit I was surprised that I saw this so quickly, yet …
I find it fascinating when programmes reflect contemporary events or appear prescient of future ones, either by intent or sheer coincidence, but I haven’t had that with Blake’s 7 – at least I haven’t noticed it. One attractive element of the series is that its setting makes it somewhat timeless. 40 years on, film-making techniques …
I first watched The Goodies without realising. In my early forays to YouTube, I was searching for Doctor Who content when I came across something featuring Patrick Troughton up against three other blokes. Split into two videos, there were no titles and when it finished I still I had no idea what it was but …
Spybrary‘s focus has always first and foremost been spy books, but the podcast has also explored the exploits of real-life spies, as well as espionage in film and television. Having collaborated on undercover operations with Shane Whaley in the spy hot-spots of London and Berlin, I knew he could be trusted and I had no …