Blake's heaven
The stars of Blake's 7 were reunited at the weekend.
Many of the original cast of Blake's 7 gathered to celebrate the long-expected release of the first series on DVD last Saturday. The special event was held at the London Film and Comic Con at the Wembley Conference Centre.
The reunion was organised by fan group Horizon. Attending were stars Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan/Sleer), Jan Chappell (Cally), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Brian Croucher (Travis Mk2), Gareth Thomas (Blake), Peter Tuddenham (Orac/Zen/Slave), David Jackson (Gan), Michael Keating (Villa) and Paul Darrow (Avon). They were joined by Matt Irvine (BBC Special Effects) as chair.
The audience were also treated to a series of bloopers, containing hilarious trips, line fluffs, out-of-control models and mis-firing guns.
Jan Chappell was in a mischievous mood and revealed that she wished she and Jenna had done more horse riding on the planets!
Sally Knyvette spoke of her frustration with the character despite her enjoyment of the show and how Terry (Nation) wished he'd met the cast before writing, as he'd have tailored the scripts to the actors more.
Servalan star Jacqueline Pearce spoke of how her character was originally written for a man and changed, which is why it was such a stronger female role.
Steven Pacey pondered why no one ever paid any attention to the girls on the ship and that when anyone fell in love their partner would be dead by the end of the episode!
Blake himself, Gareth Thomas said he was keen on the costume he wore in the final episode Blake and that episode generally; he spoke fondly of the series and shared many of his acting experiences from on the stage.
David Jackson revealed how Gan's costume for season two was changed to a bright orange string vest thing, which David Maloney (the Producer) luckily vetoed.
Paul Darrow was cryptic when asked to describe the artistic differences on the recent revival project (a project he has departed from). 'They were artistic and differences' was his clever response.
Michael Keating joined in a discussion on the state of TV drama and revealed his worst episode was Ultraworld because he had to remember loads of riddles.
Peter Tuddenham treated the audience to his vocal talents as the three famous computers and joked with Gareth about his three pay salaries compared to the rest of the cast.
Unfortunately the panel was over far too quickly and it would have been good to have had a mike that the audience could use, rather than shouting at the guests. However the general buzz was positive.
Ian Garrard
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