Blake’s 7 reboot possibly on the horizon

[Rushy]

https://deadline.com/2026/01/blakes-7-reboot-peter-hoar-matthew-bouch-multitude-productions-1236682580/

Topic

[Flap Jack]

I refuse to believe a Blake’s 7 reboot is happening until I see it in the TV schedules. This news story has happened too many times now.

Maybe the BBC will buy it, and it’ll air on the same night as Red Dwarf: Titan and Lazarus.

[Dave]

Call it Blake’s 6-7 and it’ll get instantly commissioned by Netflix.

[Rushy]

The developer, Peter Hoar, just put this up on Instagram, with RTD liking it. 

[International Debris]

Not having it. There’s no apostrophe in the Blakes 7 logo and we all know it.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Was Blake’s 7 the inspiration for Simon Fuller’s Club 7?

[Moonlight]

Call it Blake’s 6-7 and it’ll get instantly commissioned by Netflix.

Only if every two or three minutes one of the characters turns directly to the camera and explains every plot beat thus far to the audience.

[Warbodog]

There’s no apostrophe in the Blakes 7 logo and we all know it.

It’s a prequel about his adventures in primary school.

[Flap Jack]

If I were pitching a Blake’s 7 reboot, I’d make “This time there’ll actually be 7 crew members without counting either Zen or Orac” my opening line. Commissioned instantly.

[Meteo]

Maybe this Reboot should flesh out the background of the System more.

[Rushy]

it only just hit me that we’re (possibly) getting new Blake’s 7 and Paul Darrow will have nothing to do with it. No little cameo as a guest baddie somewhere, no chance to guard over the legacy as he undoubtedly would try to. I’m not ashamed to admit I teared up quite a bit. I loved that man. He was magic. He should be here for this.

I’ll be rereading his books. As he put it, they’re “not exactly literature”, but they’re so rich in his own personality and warmth and wit that they are nevertheless sincerely some of my favourite works of art ever. 

[MANI506]

There’s a great long running Paul Darrow bit on the Doctor Who podcast Wheezing Groaning Sound. The joke is that he always says the opposite of what he thinks you expect and then says ‘ha har’. It has had me in nice giggling fits.

[Unrumble]

Claire Grogan to play Servalan.

[Flap Jack]

it only just hit me that we’re (possibly) getting new Blake’s 7 and Paul Darrow will have nothing to do with it.

Also Gareth Thomas, Terry Nation, Jacqueline Pearce, David Maloney, Vere Lorrimer, Chris Boucher, Peter Tuddenham, David Jackson, Stephen Greif, and Dudley Simpson.

[Rushy]

Also Gareth Thomas, Terry Nation, Jacqueline Pearce, David Maloney, Vere Lorrimer, Chris Boucher, Peter Tuddenham, David Jackson, Stephen Greif, and Dudley Simpson.

I haven’t forgotten a single one of them. I adore the whole cast. But I singled out Paul because of how earnestly he loved the character and how much effort he put into trying to bring the show back. He personally got the rights from Terry Nation’s wife, collaborated on a 1990s movie script. He was a champion for it all through the years. 

[Technopeasant]

it only just hit me that we’re (possibly) getting new Blake’s 7 and Paul Darrow will have nothing to do with it.
Also Gareth Thomas, Terry Nation, Jacqueline Pearce, David Maloney, Vere Lorrimer, Chris Boucher, Peter Tuddenham, David Jackson, Stephen Greif, and Dudley Simpson.

And an infinite amount of people who were not involved but are still in fact dead.

[Ben Saunders]

How’s Terry Nation’s writing for Blake’s 7? Does he still just regurgitate the same handful of ideas from the 50s until someone begs him to do something more interesting?

[Rushy]

How’s Terry Nation’s writing for Blake’s 7? Does he still just regurgitate the same handful of ideas from the 50s until someone begs him to do something more interesting?

That endearing quirk is definitely still there, but the characterisation being more gritty helps to lift up the drama. The fiery moral debates between Blake and Avon in particular. 

It also helps that the characters are allowed to evolve naturally, they’re not just stuck being stereotypes. Chris Boucher definitely had a lot to do with that, but it gives Nation more to work with later on. Especially in Terminal, which imo is his masterpiece. 

[Rushy]

Absolutely love this whole conversation. Nation’s on a roll here. 

[International Debris]

Yeah, it’s definitely more Genesis of the Daleks than Planet of the Daleks. Although there is a character called Tarrant.

[Unrumble]

[Rushy]

Darrow’s series 4 performance is the stuff of legend

[Rushy]

Sally Knyvette’s thoughts on the reboot:

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/blakes-7-sally-knyvette-reboot-exclusive-newsupdate/

[Flap Jack]

—

Knyvette wanted to be “careful”, but unfortunately this lead to her not actually explaining what she means by “too woke” or “soapbox for lots of different ideologies”. So I’m afraid I can only assume she means “Up the women, but keep the queers out of it, yeah?”.

[Rushy]

I think she means that it should be written earnestly, and not be performative. People can tell when something is a product being sold to them, rather than a genuine story about interesting characters. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I think she means that it should be written earnestly, and not be performative. People can tell when something is a product being sold to them, rather than a genuine story about interesting characters. 

Yeah we wouldn’t want a series of Timewave

[Flap Jack]

She doesn’t say anything about earnestness though, so I think for that interpretation she’d have to believe that people who are “woke” past a certain level – or outspoken on certain topics – are being inherently performative and do not genuinely believe what they’re saying.

[Meteo]

—

Knyvette wanted to be “careful”, but unfortunately this lead to her not actually explaining what she means by “too woke” or “soapbox for lots of different ideologies”. So I’m afraid I can only assume she means “Up the women, but keep the queers out of it, yeah?”.

And leave out the other multi-hyphen smegwieners; – and/or other wet ends, bozos, and self-dooming stupidasses.

      Except for a few coincidences; oddities, and maybe some stuff with elaborate planetary/station settings.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

[Flap Jack]

[Dave]

[International Debris]

I’d say it definitely benefits women if they just strongly put up with being treated like shit rather than whining about it all the time. 

[Rushy]

Ellen Ripley would definitely be a much more beloved feminist icon if she took time out to patronise her crew and the audience every now and then rather than SHOWING everyone that she takes no crap. 

[Flap Jack]

I mean you’re arguing with a ghost here Rushy. Nobody is suggesting that Blake’s 7 should patronise its audience, and Knyvette gave no indication that “patronising the audience” is what “too woke” means to her. The proper definition of “woke” is “to be aware of systemic oppression and injustice” and the reactionary right wing definition of it is “when people express that they’re more liberal than I personally am, or when people who belong to minority groups have the temerity to exist where I can see and hear them”. Whichever definition you take, it’s not something it’s possible to have too much of in a story about fighting a fascist regime.

Even the “patronising” point is a matter of perspective. Blake’s 7 is a show all about revolutionaries, who would be naturally inclined to argue people over to their cause. One person’s “Avon’s speech about the rights of man was so epic!” is another’s “Oh my god we get it, slavery bad, jeez, just shut the fuck up already”.

It’s funny that Alien is your example too, because I’m convinced that if it had come out in the 2020s but with no other changes, YouTube would be filled with videos titled things like “WOKE DISASTER? Ridley Scott sells out to the feminazis!”.

[Dave]

I think I could happily live out the rest of my days without hearing anything referred to as Woke ever again.

[Rushy]

I think I could happily live out the rest of my days without hearing anything referred to as Woke ever again.

Same tbh.

I think woke has become a shorthand for the kind of patronising I described, however. The proper definition has been obscured for years now. 

It’s worth noting that the only time Blake’s 7 ever mentioned race was when Dayna asked if she’d stand out on Helotrix, and Avon casually replies that all Earth races were represented on the colonies. Not the slightest implication of inequality.

Which to me brings Star Trek to mind, the scene where the facsimile of President Lincoln refers to Uhura by an insulting outdated term and Uhura says that she doesn’t care because the entire concept of racism was regarded as irrelevant by the 23rd century. The equivalent of someone calling a person with glasses “four eyes” or picking your nose in public. You just shrug at such inane stupidity in faint disbelief. That to me is a much more positive and profound message than if Uhura had become outraged and sneered at Lincoln. Racism is so far beyond her that it doesn’t even get under her skin. 

The point I’m trying to make here is that if you normalize the idea that racism isn’t even worth the argument, you completely neuter it. Someone trying to be racist is automatically a pathetic child that gets put in the corner. Save the arguing for situations where each side has a relatable reason to defend themselves. The Federation strives to bring order to the galaxy, to wipe out lawlessness, but it has become corrupt. That’s something worth arguing the pros and cons of. 

Blake’s 7 is a show all about revolutionaries, who would be naturally inclined to argue people over to their cause.

I would argue that Blake’s 7 is a show about Blake and Avon, and how they affect each other in a doomed world. Actual ideological debate is rare in the first two seasons, and virtually non-existent by the time Avon takes over because the majority of the crew are shameless mercenaries. 

Blake doesn’t have fleshed out convictions, he only has blind moral outrage. He’s a populist. A benevolent well-meaning one, but still. 

[Technopeasant]

The equivalent of someone calling a person with glasses “four eyes”

Given a Trump administration official has ranted about a Star Trek show having the audacity to depict someone wearing glasses, probally not the best example. If that was once considered supposedly innocuous then we are definitely going backwards.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

It’s all well and good Uhura not being affected by racial slurs (and I get the point is meant to show that humanity is so progressive now that bigotry is dead) but I’d defy anyone to hear any language aimed at them or simply used around them with the intent to insult, causes pain, dehumanise, and not have a reaction. 

Taking the piss out of someone wearing glasses  (effectively having a disability) isn’t on regardless of how far you think the world has come since the school play ground days. 

[Flap Jack]

Personally I think the original run’s reluctance to include overt prejudice by the Federation is a flaw, not something that should be unfailingly preserved in a reboot. Depicting a future society that is basically a social utopia except for it being totalitarian is just cowardice and/or laziness. It’s simply not how any fascist regime operates – the reason they feel entitled to power in the first place is because of prejudice, and the way they keep that power in place is by convincing the population to hate each other more than them. Of course you can achieve this world building with invented alien races instead of just the regular human ones, but no racism at all? That’s more of a fantasy than faster than light travel.

(Incidentally, if anyone reading this hasn’t watched Andor, please consider it.)

Saying that Blake’s 7 is about Blake and Avon and their relationship is generally fair, but there’s no reason it has to be about only that. Blake’s 7 can be multi-layered, and as far as I’m concerned it always was. At the very least it should be about the other characters too, or you and Sally are clearly at odds on the “new Blake’s 7 should give women more of a role” point. After all, Red Dwarf is about Lister and Rimmer, yes, but the show would be far worse if every episode was Balance of Power or Marooned or Bodyswap.

[Dave]

Incidentally, if anyone reading this hasn’t watched Andor, please consider it.

Not least because it basically features the Star Wars version of Rimmer.

[Rushy]

Personally I think the original run’s reluctance to include overt prejudice by the Federation is a flaw, not something that should be unfailingly preserved in a reboot. Depicting a future society that is basically a social utopia except for it being totalitarian is just cowardice and/or laziness. 

There is one more thing to consider, which is that Blake’s 7 is also very much a work of pulp fiction. Characters like Bayban the Butcher are straight from the pages of a comic book, and Servalan and Travis are reincarnations of the Sheriff and Sir Guy of Gisborne.

While episodes like “The Way Back” are indeed grimdark and challenging, they’re more atypical for the show. Not that you can’t or shouldn’t expand on those themes – the Big Finish audios did it expertly – but I don’t think Blake’s 7 should become the poster boy for exploring contemporary political questions. 

If it isn’t also a highly entertaining romp through the stars, then I think a vital part of its DNA would be lost. 

[Rushy]

Incidentally, if anyone is interested in more challenging Blake’s 7 media, then I would heartily recommend the audios “Logic” and “Spoils” from the Liberator Chronicles. I think they’re some of the best stories written for Blake’s 7. 

[Technopeasant]

Incidentally, if anyone reading this hasn’t watched Andor, please consider it.

but I don’t think Blake’s 7 should become the poster boy for exploring contemporary political questions. 

If it isn’t also a highly entertaining romp through the stars, then I think a vital part of its DNA would be lost. 

How are they mutually exclusive though?

Taking the piss out of someone wearing glasses  (effectively having a
disability) isn’t on regardless of how far you think the world has come
since the school play ground days. 

In the context of Miller and Musk, and speaking as a four eyes since the age of 12, my bigger beef with their stupidity is that wearing them basically doesn’t negatively affect my life (they fog up occasionally, that’s all), so frankly a character still choosing to wear them even if there is some sort of sci-fi cure (which was implied in Star Trek II, but maybe she has the same allergy to the drug as Kirk) strikes me as perfectly plausible. Especially since from what I have heard the same character often eschews shoes (I don’t really have any intention of watching Starfleet Academy but I am not going to obsessively hate it either). 

[Warbodog]

(they fog up occasionally, that’s all)

Dishwasher fun.

[Technopeasant]

[International Debris]

I think woke has become a shorthand for the kind of patronising I described, however.

It was certainly that for a while, which was when it became weaponised. It was used to describe people whose sensitivities about social issues were perceived as eclipsing the seriousness of them. Those days have passed though, and it’s become used to describe anything socially liberal. Lists of ‘woke games’ include any game that happens to include a LGBTQ+ character, regardless of whether they are there to hammer home a message or simply exist. 

For a while it was just the latest in a long run of terms – snowflake, SJW, PC – but now it’s become a really problematic word that gets trotted out as an increasingly successful way of shutting down anything that represents marginalised groups in some form or another. 

[Dave]

Those days have passed though, and it’s become used to describe anything socially liberal. Lists of ‘woke games’ include any game that happens to include a LGBTQ+ character, regardless of whether they are there to hammer home a message or simply exist. 

For a while it was just the latest in a long run of terms – snowflake, SJW, PC – but now it’s become a really problematic word that gets trotted out as an increasingly successful way of shutting down anything that represents marginalised groups in some form or another.

Yes, exactly this. When someone rolls their eyes and dismisses something as woke it’s basically a just-about-socially-acceptable way of being bigoted.

There are very narrow contexts where I can appreciate it being used as criticism of progressive ideas that are positive but which are being communicated in blunt or heavy-handed ways, but most of the time these days it’s not that, it’s the other thing.

[Technopeasant]

It was certainly that for a while, which was when it became weaponised.

“Social justice warrior” was indeed similar as it originally had some veneer of reffering to the trendy and unserious, but broadly ended up used in opposition to social justice broadly. I still use the phrase keyboard warrior to describe people of any idelogical conviction who just wish to argue for arguments sake.

[theycallhernebraska]

I think woke has become a shorthand for the kind of patronising I described, however.

It was certainly that for a while, which was when it became weaponised. It was used to describe people whose sensitivities about social issues were perceived as eclipsing the seriousness of them. Those days have passed though, and it’s become used to describe anything socially liberal. Lists of ‘woke games’ include any game that happens to include a LGBTQ+ character, regardless of whether they are there to hammer home a message or simply exist.

Its even wider than that honestly, people were freaking out over the Fable trailer being woke because they thought the main character was ugly. It sits right alongside ‘cultural marxism’ and ‘they can use third spaces’ as a signifier that whatever comes next won’t be thoughtful or engaged but simple from the heart hatred.

Know alot of people fighting the good fight find these trite catchphrases irritating and a blocker to useful discussion but honestly i kinda appreciate the obvious heads up that someone’s not worth the time. There’s a entire planet of bullshit to have a crack at, you could live a thousand years and debating someone who takes their political cues from Robert Jenrick still wouldn’t be a worthwhile use of what time you get.

Blake 7 sounds cool though, always skirted it cause Dr Who was never my jam and assumed it was a BBC thing. Shame is doesn’t seem to be streaming anywhere,  never understand why all this old shit doesn’t show up on the iplayer.

[Rushy]

Blake 7 sounds cool though, always skirted it cause Dr Who was never my jam 

It’s only comparable in the way it was filmed. The tone and the pace are wildly different. 

[Cardinal_Hordriss]

The rights to this have been bouncing around for so long… I think XBox had it at one point. I’ll leave my hopes in the downward position until the cameras roll. If it does happen I just hope it’s a faithful remake that focuses on character drama and not constant action… I also hope they don’t mess around with the spaceship designs too much.

[Author]

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