“You can be like God!” I’d had small reservations about Chris Boucher after Shadow but Weapon has alleviated those. His stories have a different style to Terry Nation’s and I’m reluctant to try to define that yet, but I’m finding it interesting. Bonus points for starting an episode by blowing something up. I was thrilled …
“To have total control you must control totally.” While I’ve enjoyed Terry Nation’s Blake’s 7 scripts, I had been intrigued to see what someone else would do with the programme. I wasn’t sure how long I might have to wait so it was nice to get one so soon with Shadow. I’ve been seeing Chris Boucher’s …
“I think we just lost our ship.” Having resisted the temptation to simply plough on with more Blake’s 7, I took a short break to let everything from series 1 sink in. What fun it had been! As I sat down with Redemption, it felt as though I was about to be reunited with old …
Only a machine “I have waited. Far too long.” I was excited for Orac. I’d had a minor spoiler in that I had seen the episode title before I rewatched Deliverance, but it had little bearing, except I knew Orac was going to be significant in the final episode. A week had passed so there …
Power “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” “Probably.” Several months ago, Deliverance became the first Blake’s 7 episode I ever watched as part of Transdiffusion’s Back in Time For TV, in which I spend a week with the television schedule of each year. I scored well with 1978. I remember enjoying Deliverance’s story and every single …
Not a chocolate bar in sight “At the expense of your friends?” I had a reticent feeling about Bounty, though I’m not sure why. I have been concerned that the quality of Blake’s 7‘s episodes may drop towards the end of the season, though still hope it will end on a relative high. There are …
The edge of destruction “I’ve just had a comforting thought. We may all be dead before we find out why this is a danger zone.” On the surface, Blake’s 7’s Breakdown may appear to be about Gan. The episode’s plot is built around his urgent need for brain surgery, but as he is unconscious or …
Rebels and rescues “Another idealist. Poor but honest.” Until I encountered this Blake’s 7 episode, Avalon was simply the name of a Roxy Music song and album. Here she is an anti-Federation enthusiast that Travis uses to try to lure Team Blake into a trap – this is becoming a running theme. While Blake has …
A psychopath and bloody Blake the Hero. “I shall enjoy taking your life, Blake.” TRAVIS IS BACK. I had loved the introduction of the sadistic Travis in Seek-Locate-Destroy so was delighted to see him return so quickly. His confrontation with Blake enables us to glimpse further into both Travis and Blake’s characters. Elsewhere, I pondered …
Marple in Space “I don’t like an unsolved mystery.” Someone described Blake’s 7’s Mission to Destiny as ‘Marple in Space’. Avon is definitely playing the role of little old sweet detective. With a spaceship as isolated as any country house, the programme’s step into murder mystery made perfect sense. The episode opens with the murder …
A sadistic sod. “The man who killed 20 of my friends.” This was undoubtedly my favourite story so far, primarily because we meet a marvellous villain called Travis. I was also pleased to see some more worldbuilding as we start to learn about the Federation’s structure when we are introduced to Servalan. Once again Blake’s …
Team Blake They’re fighting for their lives. Who isn’t? We are Blake’s 7 at last! Having seven lead characters in each episode won’t always work. As previous episodes have already been doing, it is easier to split them up and take it in turns to go down to the planet each week. I’ll say one …
The Full Blake’s 7 “I’m just wondering how long we’re going to live to enjoy our newfound skills.” If we were in any doubt, in Time Squad Blake firmly asserts his leadership by dragging The Liberator’s crew to a planet so they can blow up a communications system. I gather this is Blake’s plan from …
Blake’s 5 “I’m free. And I intend to stay that way.“ It’s hard to pick one single aspect, but this was the episode that finally grabbed me enough to say, “This programme is brilliant and I am loving it.” The bizarre Blessed-led religious community, the vileness of Cygnus Alpha, the emerging contrast of Blake and …
Blake’s 3 “Wake up, Blake! You may not be tranquilised any longer but you’re still dreaming!“ With Blake having failed to escape the Federation’s swift and efficient justice, he’s on a spaceship with a group of fellow convicts, on their way to a penal colony on the planet Cygnus Alpha. In Space Fall we meet …
Blake’s 7 is something I have been planning to look into for years but I didn’t actually know much about it – a BBC science-fiction series with a bunch of people on a spaceship. Was it just going to be a duller, dryer, version of Red Dwarf? I’d first come across it in the pages …
Bringing back a popular show can be enormously tempting. It worked once, so why wouldn’t it work well again? I wasn’t keen on the idea of a revival and reviews from others set my expectations low, then lower again, so I had put off watching this for some time. Wet Job does start reasonably well …
Armchair Theatre was one of several anthology series on television during the 1960s and 1970s. Others include The Wednesday Play, Play for Today, Theatre 625, ITV Playhouse and Thirty-Minute Theatre. Upon first hearing about these, I was rather bemused because there is little resembling an anthology series on television today. Also, they are referred to as ‘plays’, which made me imagine them …
A few years ago I stopped binge-watching television. It wasn’t an entirely conscious decision. I had begun viewing a few programmes and they were so good that I wanted to drag out having ‘new’ episodes of them for as long as possible. I didn’t want to race through them, be done with it and then …
I have spent the last few years exploring several programmes, each of which has given me a different glimpse into an era long before my birth. I am fascinated by the window on a world that is slightly familiar, but not quite. It feels within touching distance. Though not planned, I found myself watching a …
There is something lovely about looking at what was on telly 50 years ago today. It’s that nice round number – 49, or 51 just won’t do quite so nicely. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now. Although I was already interested in a few programmes, an enormous influence on me delving …
My View… Keep drama out of the TV rut Producer and scriptwriter Philip Mackie enthuses about the continuation of the television play. Looking through schedules for this period, there are plays in abundance. There are one-offs and more so, there are those under what Mackie calls ‘omnibus titles‘. He names Love Story but there is also …
Callan Edward Woodward graces the cover this week as TV Times promotes Callan, which started last week. The second episode is now missing though. 007 Goes Back To Fairfield In 1967 Sean Connery worked for a month for free, directing and narrating a documentary on the Fairfield Shipyard in Glasgow. The Bowler and the Bunnet, referring …
This week, colour has arrived on British televisions! But alas, that means absolutely nothing here as it was only for BBC2. Independent Television would have to wait a while longer yet. The BIG news – from ITN The new arrival on Independent Television this week is News at Ten and this itself is quite a big …
A selection of articles and adverts for the week of 17th June 1967. The State of the Nation An article promoting The State of the Nation in which the Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, will face tough questions on his economic policy. There will be questions from men from unions, men from industry, men from …
A selection of articles and adverts for the week of 27th May 1967. Miss Anglia Will Need Beauty Plus… This article sets out to find some hints on ‘How – To – Make – Yourself – Sparkle – Before – The – Judges‘ for Miss Anglia ’67. I must say I am baffled by the …
A selection of articles and adverts from TV Times for the week beginning 20th May 1967. Lanning at Large – Up With The Cup! It’s FA Cup Final week and ITV are covering it – Tottenham Hotspurs and Chelsea. The BBC will be broadcasting the match too. Not many club matches were broadcast on television …
A personal pick of articles and adverts from TV Times for the week of 13th May 1967. A Cathedral For Our Times Two pages are given over to an article by the Archbishop of Westminster on the opening of The Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool’s new Roman Catholic cathedral. It had more glass than any …
Until last year, I believed Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was a sitcom set in a pet shop. I have no idea exactly why or when this image of a northern pet shop had formed in my mind. Suffice to say, it was a tad off the mark. One day, perhaps someone will write about the hilarious adventures of the …
I have been dragging myself through The Space Pirates and ‘dragging’ really is the most appropriate word. No one with any foreknowledge of it has ever happily sat through the entirety of The Space Pirates. I am now quite certain of this. All I knew was that there were six episodes and a few episodes in …
