I wasn’t going to do a Blake’s 7 episode when I conceived my podcast Very British Futures. I felt that show already had several excellent podcasts covering it and my series was about the less celebrated UK shows. In time however, I found that listeners want to hear about the shows they had watched, as well as ones they’d never heard of, and besides which, Blake’s 7 has got so much in it to enjoy and discuss.

For such a significant episode I needed first rate guests and I was fortunate that my invitations was accepted by actor and old friend Amy Elizabeth, not to mention author, presenter, academic Dr Una McCormack. They were both great company.

Does Blake’s 7 need much of an introduction? Here’s the quick version: Created by Terry Nation and running for 4 seasons in the slipstream of Star Wars, the drama followed the adventures of a group of criminals turned reluctant resistance fighters in a space-faring future. Humanity is ruled by the bleak tyranny of The Federation. Blake and his recruits have stolen an advanced alien warship rechristened Liberator. The show was famous in British pop culture largely for two factors, the characters who were much more complex and witty than most SF heroes, and a BBC budget stretched to breaking point.

But as we reveal in our talk, Blake’s 7 was made by people who cared, who wanted to make this show as rich as they could. Terry Nation and Chris Boucher did fantastic worldbuilding and in many ways the programme is an early example of the kind of story arc which is now expected in modern television drama.

You can listen to the episode on your favourite podcast app and right here on Spotify.

The list of shows influenced by the series included Babylon 5, Firefly, Dark Matter and Intergalactic.

You can watch Blake’s 7 on ITVX.