Teleporting in—welcome to Federation Strike: A Journey Through Blake's 7!

Blake's 7 is (hopefully) making a comeback, and we're here for it! We chat about what it could mean for the series, the casting possibilities, and how it might connect with a new audience while keeping the old school charm alive.

Whether you're here for the sci-fi nostalgia or just curious about what Blake's 7's future might hold, join us for this laid-back chat about one of our favourite British sci-fi shows.

We're teleporting out for now! Thanks for listening and don't forget to follow and subscribe on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode.

You can also join the conversation and stay updated by following us on Twitter/X and Bluesky, we'd love to hear your thoughts and theories!

Join us next time as we continue our journey through the universe of Blake’s 7.

We've actually got some Blake's 7 news to talk about. So myself and my good friend Adam, my co host, thank you very much.

To those of you that have listened through all of our first season, we thought it would be a good idea to jump on, chat about some upcoming Blake's 7 news, and also give you a bit of a reminder about Some other Cool Blake's 7 stuff that's coming up this year. Not related to the reboot, but just as cool otherwise. So thank you very much and mate, it's been great to finally jump on and talk some more Blake's 7.

You and I have been absolutely itching to get back and record and do some more Blake's 7. Obviously, those of you know that we do a Doctor Who podcast, the Big Blue Box, that kind of ticks over nicely.

We do all that stuff and the Blake's 7 Federation strike stuff we do seasonally to try and coincide a little bit with the Blu Ray releases and so on. So, mate, it's very good to chat to you again and talk all things Blake's 7.

Just. Just hearing that music at the start, I was just like, ah, I've missed this. Just love that theme. It gets me in the mood straight away.

So, yeah, but obviously we're going to talk a little bit news today before we actually, you know, crack on with the series. But yeah, it's good to be back for sure.

Indeed. Dede. Yes. And before we crack on with the bulk of the episode, which is the. A very exciting bit of news.

Well, depending on your viewpoints, could be a very exciting bit of news for Blake's 7. A gentle reminder that you can listen to our first season, which we run through Series A.

The if this is your first time listening to the podcast, then welcome, of course, those of you that listened to us from the beginning, then welcome back. It's great to have you here. But if you've not listened before, the. The premise is Adam is a lifelong Blake's 7 fan.

It's been his favorite show for decades, as long as he can remember, I think. Is that right? It's just your thing, your favorite up there. Number one, isn't it?

Favorite ever, mate. Number one show of all time. I just. It is. It's absolutely my favorite show ever.

He loves it. He Absolutely loves it. And he's been banging on for years about wanting to do a Blake's 7 podcast.

So we, we started from the very beginning, essentially, episode one, Series A, coming at it from two very different angles. So I'm fresh to the, to the show.

I've never seen it before, and Adam's obviously a lifelong fan, so we've got two very different viewpoints and dynamics, and it just works very nicely. He's rewatching it for the millionth time. It's a. It's a day one fresh watch for me. And it was very, very cool to go through that first series.

And although I dipped my toe in the water very briefly a couple of times a few years ago, I could never quite get past those, that first little bit, that first half an hour into the first episode. But Adam was relentless. He's like, just give it a go. Just stick with it.

You know, I know you're gonna love it once, once that series kicks off and we get into the meat and potatoes of it, you're gonna love it. And he's absolutely right. I did love it. And it's a fantastic show. So go and check that out if you've not listened to that before.

At the end of that first season, we've also got a few bonus episodes where we interview some of the people involved in the Blu Ray sets and behind the scenes and stuff. So that's really cool. Go and check that out. So if this is your first time listening, please make sure you hit the.

Whatever your podcast app says, whether it's, follow, subscribe, anything like that. That way you won't miss the future episodes, because we're going to start recording our reviews for series B very shortly in the next week or two.

We're gonna, we're gonna start smashing through those reviews. Now that the Series B Blu Ray set has been released, it's game on, mate, for series B.

It is. I asked Father Christmas for it. I was like, you know, there's just one thing on my list this year, and it's the Blake's 7 Series B. He said, I don't.

Can't find it listed. It says series two here on Amazon. I said, no, it's series B, Santa. So. So yeah, I got the.

Got the Blu Ray set and I'm itching to get into it and review these episodes with you. It's interesting you said about, you know, that you tried once or twice to watch the series before we started in the podcast, and I think you got.

You got past episode one and half of episode two initially Before, I persisted relentlessly to get you to carry on and you ended up really enjoying it.

I got a friend actually, who just the other day, he will remain nameless, said, oh, I bought Series 1 on Blu Ray when it came out and I. I watched the first episode and that was enough for me. I couldn't watch anymore. And I was like, honestly, it was like red, red rag to a bull, mate. I was like, what?

So, yeah, I mean, that's the thing that's always interested me about Blake's 7. It's being so passionate about the show and loving it.

The way I do is to know where to tell people to start, because obviously you want them to start at the beginning, but I think it does start off quite bleak. I mean, I love the first episode, but is it the best, you know, for somebody now? Is it the best starting point for someone?

Or do you say, I'll watch this episode first and then, you know, you know, get to know the characters? But I think the way we've done it, just starting from the beginning, obviously you.

There is a progression there and you do get to know the characters from that very first episode onwards. And I think that's why you grow to love it, isn't it? Because you. Because of the characters, you just grow to get to know them and love them and.

Or hate them or whatever and. Or love to hate them. And, you know, I think in some ways it's. You have to start at the start.

So I'm just glad you enjoyed it as much as you did series one. Let's see what you make of series two. Maybe a slightly different film.

Hmm. Indeed. Yeah. It was interesting when they dropped the trailer for the.

When they announced the series B Blu ray, you were like, I'm not sure if you should watch this, Garry, because. Oh, yeah, it contains a rather obvious spoiler for a bit of a character. Obviously, I couldn't. I couldn't avoid watching it. That's a.

It was everywhere. So, yeah, that was an interesting watch. But fortunately it didn't spoil anything. Any sort of story beats or. Or anything throughout the series.

I think it was just that obvious actor change for a certain character.

Yeah, I mean, it's a bit like they did a BFI event in the uk. Was that a month or so back, quite recently?

I think it was October or November. Yeah, something like that.

And they showed the first episode of series B and this and the last episode and I couldn't go because, sadly I wasn't in the country. But you were set to go. I think you had Tickets. But at the last minute you couldn't go.

And I was like, this is a double edged sword because I really, really wanted you to go. I knew that seeing those, they're two really good episodes as well, the first and the last episode.

I thought seeing them on the big screen is just going to blow your mind and you're just going to be raring to go. You get even more than you are now for series two.

But I also thought it's gonna tell you the ending because there is a bit of an, an arc for series B. You know, it's gonna, it's gonna be a bit of a spoiler there if you see the last episode.

So I was like, you know, I really wanted you to go, but when you said you couldn't go, I was sort of slightly relieved in a way cuz I thought, well, okay, so now at least you don't know the ending to series B. So that was good. But I think you would have loved that event, mate. It's a shame. You can go. I heard it was really good.

I heard they had a couple of guests on stage talking about it, I think. Was Jan Chapel there? I can't remember. I don't. Can't remember. They had a couple of guests.

They did, yes. And I was gutted, mate, that I couldn't go. What an absolute failure. I was gutted for you. Okay. What an absolute fail.

I thought I had it all ironed out already but you know, a bit of a calendar clash and I had to prioritize something else, which is a real shame. But like you said though, on one hand it's kind of a, it's not too bad because now I, I've not been.

Because if they're showing the last episode that would have been like, crikey, I've got all. I want to watch everything before that, before we get on to the finale. So yeah, like you said, bit of a double edged sword.

My, my biggest challenge is trying to keep and how you haven't had this spoiled already. I don't know. My biggest challenge listeners is to try and keep Garry from finding out the ending to Blake's 7.

I'm talking about the ending of series D, the last series, you know, because most people listen to show, I'm assuming have watched it, but there may be people like yourself that haven't.

But yeah, trying to keep that ending from being spoiled for you is a challenge, but one that I hope that we manage to do because obviously it's going to be a couple of years until we get to That, I guess, maybe.

Yeah.

So it's a long time for it not to be spoiled. So just. It's difficult in this day and age, isn't it, with, you know, all the Internet and everything. But he doesn't know listeners.

I don't know how he doesn't know. He doesn't know the ending to Blake's 7, which I'm imagining most of you listening probably do, which is trying.

Yeah.

Yeah. So got to try and keep that from. You got to try and save that somehow.

Yeah, I'm doing well.

It's a mind blower.

Yeah, I'm doing okay so far. I've not actively dived into anything too in depth online or anything that might reveal the ending. So I've done all right so far.

And yeah, so even like on the socials where we.

We speak to other Blake seven podcasts and so on, other creators even just doing that stuff, nothing's jumped out as like, oh, this is the, this is like the Last bit of Blake's 7 or this is how it all ends or anything. So, yeah, I'm quite, I'm quite happy with that.

And talking of socials, by the way, getting back to you guys being able to follow us and stuff, as I said, it would love it if you were to follow us on your, your go to app for podcast, whatever you're listening to this on. As Adam and I will be putting out the series B reviews very soon. We're going to start recording in the next couple of weeks.

Uh, so they're gonna start trickling out, which is gonna be great. And also we are on Twitter and bluesky. You can find us. Our name is nice and simple. It's just Blake's 7 podcast.

So you find us on there and, and give us a like and a follow over there. Because we do chat various Blake seven bits and bobs throughout recording episodes and between seasons and so on.

So we'd love to have you over there to chat all things Blake7, so that'd be very cool. And I think, buddy, there is a. There is one of the other Blake's 7 podcasts which has been around for donkeys years, has literally just ended sadly.

I think they've just finished up their last. That's what I gather anyway from. I'm just finding it now.

I think they've just finished reviewing all of Blake's 7 and they've just done their, their last kind of wrap up episode which is just talking about the show as a whole now that they've. They've gone through it or whatever you do.

Don't listen to it yet. I'm not.

That's what I mean.

Just spoilers.

Yeah, I'm not going through that, but I think it's called maximum power.

Oh, maximum power.

Yeah. Yeah. You know those guys, don't you? If you're. If you're in the Blake's 7 sphere of online stuff, then you would have heard of those guys.

It was one of the first podcasts that I started listening to after we started our podcast. And yes. So their. Their last sort of proper tweet, if you like, was on 29th of December.

It just says, and it's au revoir from us as we finally get to talk our way through four years of sequins and trauma with our spiciest takes on the entire run of Blake's 7. All our most urgent questions will be answered in the whole damn show retrospective. So I think they're kind of done. I don't.

I assume they're not just going to disappear off. Off of Twitter or blue sky forever, but. Yeah, sounds like those guys are done, mate, with all their.

That is going to be a bittersweet moment. As I say, we're. That's. That's far in our future, but obviously at some point that's gonna happen.

And yeah, when we do finally get round to the last episode of series four, I mean, I can't wait. But I don't want to wish away all the stuff in between. But that is going to be a moment for sure. But that's a long way. That's a long way off. We got.

Let's get series two done first.

Yeah. That is hopefully a while off, because I'm loving and listening. You're probably thinking, come on, guys, get on with it.

But I must say, as Adam said, he was right. He had his crystal ball just tuned perfectly.

He was like, if you just stick with it, once you really get into, like, the flow of the series, you'll love it. And I've absolutely loved it. And I've missed talking about Blake's 7, so I'm hoping that's a way off yet before we're done with everything. So.

And also, it does depend. Which is a lovely segue into our main theme for this episode. That also depends on when a certain thing might land in the future.

So this is not breaking news, because you guys would have probably heard this already over the last three or four days, maybe five days since this news broke, but a Blake's 7 reboot is finally looking like it's on the cards. I'm gonna.

Before we get into the story, I just want to ask you A question, mate, because I've seen quite a few people comment on this story and it's been a common theme in their replies where they've said things like, at last, after many attempts, it looks like this reboot might actually happen and that kind of thing. So have you heard of this? Have you heard of Blake's 7 being attempted a reboot in the past?

Yeah, Yes, I have, yeah. I mean, I think the IP, you know, that I don't think the BBC owned the IP of Blake's 7 anymore or something like that.

It's been moved around quite a bit. I think somebody. All the rights to it. I'm not sure how it works.

I'm not very sort of good on this sort of thing, but I believe a couple of different companies or people, whatever, have like, bought the IP or the rights to do it over the years and it's never happened. And this is the first time where there's been a sort of. I was going to say official announcement because it's still not set in stone.

It's just that, you know, that somebody else has now bought it and said, you know, there's a good chance that we're going to make or bring black, bring back Blake's 7. So it sounds very hopeful at the moment.

And also the people involved are fairly well known within the sort of Doctor Who circles and Big Finish and, you know, their names that perhaps a lot of people know. So it sounds a little bit more authentic that this actually could be a thing.

But, yeah, I think there's been a few attempts to bring back OR reboot Blake's 7 over the years. And so I think that's why some people don't want to get their hopes up too much, those that want it.

And that's why other people are saying, yeah, yeah, heard it all before, because it's. There's been a few attempts, I think, but maybe the times. Right, mate.

I feel like with the Blu Rays coming out and definitely more people discovering Blake's 7 for the first time because of the Blu Ray sets and because of word of mouth and. And stuff, it does seem to be finding a new audience.

So maybe one of my favorite sayings that you say is maybe the stars have lined a little bit here and it could actually happen. We'll see.

Indeed. Yeah. So this broke last week. I think it was deadline first put the report out and then some other people latched onto it, like radio times and so on.

But the reason why I think this, this might have legs and like you just mentioned, the stars might align on this one is because it seems to all be wrapped up in a nice ball already. So you mentioned a minute ago about the rights to Blake's 7 being sold to various people and so on.

The last person to buy it to purchase the rights from the Terry Nation estate directly is a guy called Jason Hay Ellery. And Jason is one of the names who has set up a new studio with executive producer Matt Bausch and director Peter Hoare.

They've set up a new company called Multitude Productions and they have acquired IP for iconic 70s and 80s sci fi hits. Blake's 7 being one of them.

So it sounds like these guys are going after that kind of old school genre based British sci fi that back in the day, I mean, I think nowadays, I think Doctor Who's slightly different just because it stood the test of time in terms of TV broadcast. It's just continuously been going, hasn't it?

Whereas more kind of lesser known sci fi like Blake7, which is very popular around, you know, I don't want to say it but you know, sort of the older sci fi fan, you know, you and I still in our 30s, but we, you know, we're very aware of, of Blake's 7 and you've got like really another show that you and I have talked about, the Prisoner and that kind of thing.

These are sci fi shows that if you were to ask, you know, a Millennial or a Gen, A Gen Z or whatever it is, chances are they're not going to hear about it, they're not going to know about it.

So I think what these guys are getting at, and I'll read a couple of quotes from this interview in a second, is that they think there's a bit of a gold mine in very good classic British sci fi that's not been tapped into either because it's been just no interest in it or it's been attempted to get off the ground before and not really happen. Like you said, it's. There's been attempts to reboot Blake's 7 in the past, hasn't really gone anywhere. So these three sound like they've.

They've got it, that they've got something here. And Peter Hoare is directly linked to sci fi. He's directed a few episodes of Doctor Who.

Most recently he's been famous for directing some stuff from the Last of Us. Very popular TV show. Yes. And so let's crack into the article a little bit.

So, as I mentioned, those guys have set up a production company called Multitude Productions and they've acquired the IP for Blake's 7. And the exec producer Matt Bausch had said that they would love it to go to the BBC. That's their preference.

They say that's where the show originally aired from 78 to 81. And I loved how they describe this as well.

It depicts the political dissident Rog Blake and his untrustworthy rebels amid their battle with the totaler. Totally totalitarian, totalitarian Terran Federation.

He then goes on to say that the Blake's 7 story is legendary because they were given a softly, softly slot that was intended for a police drama with a budget and a big set and then a few location shoots. But at the time, they say that that felt like something.

The show got into their veins and they could tell that they didn't have the money, but they were able to sort of put that aside to enjoy the ride, even though they knew that the sets wobbled and so on. So it's very akin and very similar to the old Doctor Who classic years, which often gets labeled as like, yeah, wobbly sets and all that stuff.

Matt Bausch is basically saying, yep, even though you knew that was the case, you loved it anyway because it had a kind of charm to it. Yeah. And then they go on to say, we've driven.

We're driven by our passions, but also seeing that there is a gap in the market in the uk, particularly with the well publicized dropping off of Doctor Who for genre based British ip. And then Peter Hoare, the director, goes on to then say, I know this isn't a Doctor Who podcast, but it's kind of relevant.

He goes on to say that, I don't think anybody would doubt the skills at the front line of Doctor Who, but something went wrong. I think there were lots of areas you could point fingers at, but ultimately it wasn't a better show with more money.

And that's a good thing because we haven't got money anymore. Nobody has. So I think what Peter Hoare's saying here is because he compared. He compares Blake's 7 to Andor from Disney, the Star wars show. Yeah.

Love it. Yeah.

So he thinks that the success of Andor is not because of the huge budget, but because the story had integrity, wit and sophistication, is what he said. And I think what he's getting at with this is you don't need to pile a huge pile of cash onto something for it to be successful.

If the story's there and there's interest in the characters and there's some sort of integrity to the actual storytelling, people will watch it regardless of the budget.

I would agree with that. Yeah. I mean, I hope that that's. That's promising, isn't it, to hear someone say that?

Because, you know, with this reboot, yeah, you can, you can give it the biggest budget in the world, but if you haven't got the stories and more importantly, the casting right, it would just be money down the drain. As we've seen with a lot of sci fi shows recently.

You know, I won't list them, but you know, you know the ones I'm talking about where they look great, but it's all style over substance, you know.

So, yeah, if it has a smaller budget, but they've got good stories and we'll talk about the casting, I'm sure, in a bit, but you know, those are things they got to get right.

And if that's what they're acknowledging as the people that are gonna potentially be making another Blake's 7, then that's good, you know, I like the sound of that.

Yes. Yeah. And it sounds to me like this might be a similar situation to Bad Wolf Studios where Bad Wolf have set up.

That was set up with Julie Gardner and Russell T. Davis and so on. They needed a production studio to make Doctor Who for the BBC.

So it sounds like these guys are going after a similar thing where they've set up their production studio and it's their preference that these things will be either co funded or ultimately exclusive for the BBC.

How do you feel about that? Do you think Blake's 7 belongs on the BBC? Part of me does, I think, sort of feels like that's its home.

But also another part of me feels like, well, would it be an exciting new show for, you know, a big streamer like Amazon or Prime or somewhere? I don't know. Is it time for it to find a new home? I don't know. I'm a little bit conflicted on that. What do you think?

Yeah, I'm also conflicted with that, mate, because I think in the uk, regardless of what channel it's on, it will do okay. Just because there are. You've still got that generation of fans who are, you know, a bit older. Older. Not saying old, I'm saying older.

You've still got that generation who watched it when it first went out and they would obviously, you know, if it's done correctly and if it's done right, then that's an audience right there. You've already got, you know, an audience of some sort of.

Yeah, but with the international stuff, I think, and I don't want to compare this to Doctor Who too much, although they are very similar shows, admittedly in a lot of ways. When Disney took on Doctor Who, that was marketed really poorly. And it's.

What's crazy is that there was a story that came out a couple of weeks ago to say that Doctor Who was having a bit of a revival on Disney plus already. It's like a load of people that either missed it the first time around or didn't even know it was on there.

And it had a bit of a spike in viewership because a lot of people were like, what's this, what's this show Doctor Who about? I've just watched it, it's awesome, you know. Or, you know, conversely, I've just watched it and it's bloody awful.

The good thing is there was not much indifference. It was just this train that sort of picked up a bit of pace and people started watching it again. But that's because of word of mouth.

It wasn't because Disney marketed it and spent a bit of money to, you know, get it out there.

So I worry that if Blake's 7 does get sort of a dual broadcasting deal with, with the BBC plus a streaming partner or just a streaming partner like Amazon or whatever, I fear that they're not going to throw enough money at that marketing to let people know that it's there. That's my only concern with that.

And also, um, to go back to Peter Hall's point about, about budget these days and production companies and, and studios not having much of it. Unless you're Disney, of course, or a Netflix. I honestly think that I'd. I'd love to see some just good old fashioned TV making again.

And I think Blake's 7 could be a fantastic example of that. Where you mentioned it, mate, where it's quite often we see it with a lot of shows where you see this style over substance going on.

Yeah, we saw it in Doctor Who in the last season where you had pointless, ridiculous CG characters and some, some CG slop being thrown around and so on, because the budget's there.

And it kind of falls into this, this old school way of thinking that a lot of people have had for decades now, where you get given some money and if you don't use it when it comes round to doing budgets again the next year, they'll be like, well, you didn't spend that, so you don't need it. So we won't give you as much.

So the train of thought is, well, we've got the money, let's just throw it at some CG stuff because the, the budget's there and all the rest of it and then you end up with that kind of result. So I'd love to see just good old fashioned physical sets a bit more, some location stuff a bit more.

And just not as much green screen or blue screen, which, you know, take your pick. And Blake's 7 could be fantastic for that.

Yeah, I mean, I can absolutely see it. I mean, I think that's the thing. If it's on the BBC, I feel like it's already got a fan base eager to watch it on the BBC.

Would that fan base go out of their way if it was only on Amazon prime, for example? You know, let's say someone like myself who hasn't got Amazon prime, you know, am I going to then subscribe to it just to watch Blake's 7?

I mean, you know, I'm a hardcore fan, but am I going to subscribe just for that?

You know, if that's what I feel like it belongs on the BBC and sure, I don't mind if it goes on and other streaming platforms as well, you know, get it out there in the ether.

But yeah, I feel like there's a nice little Blake seven family, you know, there's a nice little hardcore fan base out there, no matter how big or small it is, that would absolutely tune in to watch this on the BBC already, you know, but whether they'd follow it to another platform that they have to pay for, it's a different thing. But, you know, there's that nostalgia factor, isn't there?

Like you said, a person of a certain age, if they saw trailer on the BBC for Blake's 7, they'd be like, oh, I used to like that. They'd sit and watch it, you know, they don't even need to be a hardcore fan. It would, you know, prick their interest straight away, wouldn't it?

Oh, Blake's 7 bringing that back, are they?

You know, so you'd have your hardcore fan base that are absolutely there for it, plus I think a few nostalgic people who would also tune in if it was on the BBC. So, yeah, I'd like to see, I'd like to see it on there, I think.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think while, while the BBC is still with us.

Yeah, well, there is that, yeah.

Listener.

If you're outside of the UK, there's for the last, I don't know, 10 years at least there's been this ongoing kind of battle with a large portion of the British public because the BBC is funded by the TV license that we all have to pay here in the uk.

And there's always been this kind of butting up of opinions where it's even gone to government a lot of times where the government have insisted that the BBC have reforms and they change the way that they. They do things and how they charge people and so on. It never really goes anywhere, but.

But it does seem to be a bit of a turning of the tides recently.

And so I'm not sure if the BBC are going to move to more of a subscription model like your Netflixes and Amazons and so on in the future, or they're just going to, you know, segment it all into different bits and you pay for it. I don't know, something like that. But while the BBC is still with us, it would be cool to have it on there.

Haven't they just announced something on YouTube, actually, just as a side note, are they partnering up with YouTube for something? I don't know. They're looking to ways to. I wouldn't say survive, but for one of a better to progress.

They're looking at ways to progress, you know, and survive, I think, in the future. Because I don't think it's any secret that the BBC is struggling at the minute in lots of different ways. So there is that.

I just want to ask you, mate, just before we move on, what was your initial reaction when you heard the news, when you woke up in the morning and you saw Blake's 7, you know, reboot coming, or Blake's 7's coming back, or, you know, because I woke up, obviously I'm in the US at the minute, so I'm a few hours behind you. And I woke up and opened my phone and it was all over my socials, it was everywhere. And I was like, what, Blake's 7 reboot?

And my initial reaction, because I'm a grumpy old so and so, and I have softened on this, I will admit. My initial reaction and I had literally just woke up and opened my phone was, oh, no. Because I think I just love the show so much.

Just the thought of it being modernized, just instantly I was like, oh, no, don't leave it alone. Just leave it be.

But then obviously, once I got up and had a cup of tea and got out of my grumpy old man, you know, stupor, I was like, I started to think about it and I was thinking, well, no, this, if it's done right, you Know, if they get the casting right, if it has good stories, you know, it. It could bring it to a new audience. And I've already said about, you know, the fact that the Blu Rays have.

Have found, you know, a new audience, people who've never watched it before, a younger audience are picking up the Blu Rays and, you know, I know people that are watching this for the first time, a bit like yourself. So it's definitely. There is a new audience there as well as, as I said, a nice comfy fan base that would love to see it.

And I thought, taking my sort of grumpy hat off of, oh, they'll mess it up, sort of, you know, attitude to think positively about this and thinking if they do get it right, you know, it would be nice to see it get a new lease of life, you know, and people will go back and look at the classic series, you know, as it was, I would hope. And yeah, I've sort of come round to the idea of it. I think that.

I think the fear with me, as someone who loves this show, is that they'll mess it up. You know, it'll be. It'll be. I don't want to swear it'll be rubbish and. And then that'll taint the, you know, the classic series.

And I think that's the fear. You just think there's that saying, isn't there? Does lightning strike twice? And I just. For me, the, you know, Blake's 7 as a program was just.

It wasn't perfect, but it was just beautiful. And I just think, can you do that again? And I think also because of what we're saying about a lot of other great shows, Star Trek, Star wars, etc.

Doctor Who in particular, because we have sin. The quality of those, you know, perhaps dip, depending on your point of view. I wouldn't want to see that happen to Blake's 7.

So there's just that side of caution with me as someone who loves the show, to think, like, what would they do? What will they do with it? You know, will they change even little down to little details? Will they keep the theme tune?

But the more I thought about it, the more I think it's a good thing that it's being rebooted. But my initial reaction was grumpy. I was, oh, no. But I'm, you know, I've softened. I am all for it. I'M very intrigued to see if it happens.

But what was your initial reaction? I think you were probably more positive about it. I, straight off the bat, I'm gonna.

Guess I was quite excited.

Yeah, I thought you would be.

When I saw that, I was quite excited because actually I was reasonably excited. But I did have a thought into my head immediately which was and please don't take. If you're listening to this in the US we love our US friends.

We love our US listeners. And I say that with confidence because Adam lives in the U.S. well, six to nine months of the year now he's there.

I'm in the US A lot with work and travel. I'm in the US at the end of this week, in fact, for a week. So we love our, our US friends and so on.

And I say this with, with, with much love and respect, but I thought, please let it not be a US production. Please let it not be a US production. And, and that's just because we've been, we've been burnt a few times in the past with that stuff.

A couple of really good examples would be they tried to do Red Dwarf in the US once it got as far as the pilot. Yep. You can watch the pilot. It's. If you just YouTube Red Dwarf US pilot. And they sent Robert Llewellyn over there, he stars as Crichton in it. And.

But the rest of the cast are all us. And mate, it is the most awful, cringe worthy, just. Absolutely, yeah.

Concrete parachute of a, of a, of a, of an attempt to get that going in the U.S. and then I think we also had.

I didn't know that was the thing, by the way. I had no idea that that was a thing.

Yeah, yeah. Those of you might have heard of a comedy here in the UK called the IT Crowd. Oh yeah, they tried to do that in the US and again, same approach.

In order to provide a little bit of quirkiness and a bit of familiarity, they sent over Richard Aoardi to star in that as well. He was Moss. The rest of the cast, us absolute epic fail. Just right.

So there's a couple of examples and it's happened a few times on top of that as well. So that was my initial thought. And like I said, US listeners, we love you.

But so I thought if this is a British thing, if this is like a going back to the BBC, I was like, if this is a BBC thing or whatever, this could be really cool. I'm quite excited about this. And then when I saw the, the interview with Peter Horror, Matt Bausch and so on.

I thought, yeah, this, if they do this right, this could be a belter of a reboot if they do it right. And it sounds like they could do this.

For me, mate, there's two really big sticking points. Stories have to be good. Obviously. I think for me, I can only talk personally in terms of Doctor Who.

The last two seasons, the stories have been pretty poor. So the stories have got to be good, which sounds like a given, right? But it's not, you know, they have to be well written.

I mean, yeah, I was going to go down a rabbit hole there, but I won't. But for me, the other major thing they have to get right for this to succeed, probably even more than the stories, is the casting.

And that is so difficult with Blake's 7.

Because one of the things I've always said about, you know, Blake's 7 is the, you know, when people are trying to get into it, I say, yeah, yeah, the budgets, you know, didn't have a budget, it looks dated, whatever. The cast are so good. Once you. Once you start watching it, they'll carry you through even a poor episode. Because the cast are so good.

In the original series, I'm saying, is it. I don't want to say original series because there is no other series.

It's Blake's 7, but you know what I mean, for the want of a better phrase, let's just call it the original series. Whatever. So the casting has got to be spot on. If they do a reboot, if they, you know, whatever, if they bring it back.

And I think that's the difficult thing in this day and age is. Is getting the right actors for these parts. I mean, as I said, I don't want to go down a rabbit hole.

I watched a bit of Starfleet Academy and I'm just. Some of the acting in it was just atrocious. I was like, well, how did these people even get cast? You know, not all of them.

As I said, I don't want to go off on a tangent here, but some of it was just cringe. And that's exactly what I don't want to see with Blake's 7. So have you thought about the casting? Have you sort of pictured anyone?

Because even before this announcement, you know, you know what us Doctor Who, Blake's 7 geeky fans are like. Sometimes we just sit and we just imagine, oh, who would I. If I was making Blake's 7 tomorrow, who would I cast as Blake? Who would I cast as Avon?

And I've, you know, I've had this conversation go around in my head. Many a time when I've just been sat daydreaming and I find it really hard to think of people that could fill those shoes.

I'll be honest with you, we've got some great actors out there, but. Yeah, who.

Have you got anybody in mind that you think would be good as a particular character, a particular actor that you could see playing a particular role in Blake's 7? Just. Just off the top of your head.

I've got a couple. One of them is completely okay. One of them is completely ridiculous. Oh, no, but it could work. It's like a Heath Ledger situation.

Not Joe Pasquale, is it? Who is it?

You know, when Heath Ledger was announced and everyone was like, what? Yeah, this guy is the joker. He must be mad. And ended up being just fantastic.

Yeah.

So I've got, I've got.

The first one I think is actually okay, bit of an elder, an older gentleman, but I think could have that kind of distinguished nature about Blake while also being a bit sarcastic and a bit, you know, when he's having a bit of a 2 in and throw in with Avon. I think it could come. Crew come through quite well. Is Colin Firth. Colin Firth, yes. You know who I mean? You know, you must know Colin.

Yeah, yeah, Colin Firth. Yeah.

I think he would be a good Blake. I'm not saying you put the curly, you know, the perm wig on or anything, but just how he is. I think that could be cool.

And then the other one, which is completely bonkers because I don't think he's. The other one for me would be Garry Oldman. Just because.

See that?

Yeah, just because he's got that. But it's difficult because I. I can't really see him as like a seer, as a. A low budget series actor. Maybe I think he's a bit too high profile, but.

They'Re quite big names. Yeah, I was sort of thinking more small scale, like TV actors. But I mean, I can see where you're coming from with them, to be fair.

Because Garry Oldman did. Was it not Poirot? What did he do recently? Completely random casting choice, I thought, and he was really good in it.

Was it Poirot, one of them detectives, you know, so he can play parts. But yeah, I was sort of thinking more small scale. I mean, I've struggled with this one. I don't know if I'm just being grumpy, but I.

And you may disagree with me on this, but I don't want a young trendy cast. I don't want them trying to make it. Or let's appeal to the Gen Z. Oh, don't just. You've got a fan base or already.

Don't try and be hip and cool, which even the words hip and cool aren't hip and cool anymore. I mean, just. That's what I don't want.

Me personally, I felt like they went down that route with shooting out where, as much as I really liked him when he first, you know, was cast as the Doctor for his first couple of episodes, he showed great promise. But then they just tried to make him all cool and coming out of all this stuff, and I really would hate to see them try and do that with Blake's 7.

So I would like to see, you know, slightly older, more mature people cast in the roles. Don't be afraid to do that. You know, it's a bit like when they cast Peter Capaldi's the Doctor. There was a bit of a rumble between the.

Well, it would have been Gen X then, I guess. I don't know. Oh, he's too old. You know, don't be afraid to stick to the sort of source material, you know, don't try and make it all modern.

That's what I. Personally, I would like to, you know, not see that happen. So I thought for. For Blake, I've got two names that are possible.

Stephen Graham, you know, the guy from.

No, no, Stephen Graham.

Steve Graham. What's it. What's that show called?

Adolescence.

Adolescence, yeah. Yeah. No. Okay. All right, let's scrub him off. What about Tom Burke from Strike?

Tom.

Yeah, from Strike, the detective show. You watch any of that? He's got that gritty. Google him. Google. Picture him while I'm moving on. Avon's the difficult one, so. Yeah, Tom.

Tom Burke put in Tom Burke's Strike BBC.

Oh, him, yes.

Yeah. Yeah. What do you think?

Yeah, that could work. Yeah.

He's got a bit of grit to him, isn't he? So I've crossed out Stephen Graham. Avon's the difficult one. Anyway, what do you think about Ben Miller? Ben Miller, it's got that sort of quirky.

You know, he was in, like the early series of Death in Paradise.

Yeah, I could see that, mate.

Yeah, I could sort. Because he's got that slight weirdness about him, and I mean that in the nicest way, Mr. Miller. But he's got that slightly weird.

And he's able to do a bit of comedy, but also keep straight laced and. Yeah, because Avon's a really. Avon's the one you got to really get right, you know? Yeah. So I don't know Villa. I've got.

I put Martin Freeman, but then I was like. He was in. You may not know this.

I really can't remember. I haven't seen it in years. But. But I think Martin Freeman played Villa in that, and I don't know why, but he came to mind.

But I'll tell you, I think it'd be good as Villa, mate. You know, math. Matthew Bainton. Is that how you say his name?

Yep.

Matthew Bainton, I think would be good. Or Rory Kinnear. I can picture him as Villa, you know, Roy Kinnear's son. He's very good. And apart from that, the only other thing I've.

Because I have made lists. I've been thinking about this. I was thinking for Serverland, another one you've got to get absolutely right. How about Ruth Wilson?

Okay, see her as Serverland from. Really bad at remembering TV shows names. What's the show from? Luther. You know, she's. She's Luther. And she was in his Dark Materials as well.

She plays very sinister characters quite well. And just finally, mate, Travis, I was thinking Mark Bonner or Sacha Dwan. Imagine Sasha Duan as Travis.

Yeah, that would be.

Now, you see, it's starting to come together now, isn't it? You can sort of picture these people. But that's what I mean. You get the casting right, you could have a really good show on your hands.

You get it wrong and you try and make it all. I don't know, you don't stick to the source material. It's gonna. It's gonna rub people up the wrong way. I think so, yeah. I don't know.

Few ideas there, mate. I've been thinking about it.

Yeah. A few popular names that I've seen being kicked around on the interwebs. And everyone else is a guy called Andrew Scott.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sherlock.

Yes. Yeah, for. For Travis.

Yes, can see that.

And quite comedically, Nick Frost as Gan.

Now. Now, actually, I could see that he'd be great as Gan, actually. Yeah.

Okay.

I've got. I've got another one for. No, I think he'd be good. I got another one for you, Jenna. You like Jenna?

How about either Jessica Rain from, you know, Venture In Space and Time Played. Or Alex Kingston. How about Ace Kingston as Jenna? No.

No.

All right, cross that out.

I can't. I don't know.

Not as Jenna. No. Okay.

Possibly.

All right.

She's not.

That's what I mean. Is Alex Kingston.

Yeah, she's 62, mate.

No way.

Really? Yeah.

Wow. Oh, I also had Mark Addie down as scan. He could be Gan.

Oh, yeah, I see that.

You can see that the difficult thing is to try and think about the performance rather than the look. Because when you try and recast someone, you sort of instantly go for, oh, he looks a bit like so and so. He'd be good.

But actually it's not really about that, is it? You sometimes you gotta cast someone who doesn't look anything like them, but he's just got that, you know, that X factor, if you know what I mean.

Like with Avon, we want someone who looks like Avon, but actually if they've got that the mannerisms and the delivery doesn't have to look like Paul Darrow. And I think that's.

That's sometimes a mistake we make is we try and think of people that look like them rather than someone who would be good as that character, if you know what I mean.

Yes. Yeah, for sure.

Well, some good names there. I'm sure that.

Also seen Jason A gallery.

And Peter Hoare. Is it Peter Hoare listening?

So sorry. Not Jenna. Callie. I've seen Phoebe Waller Bridge. I've seen her name around.

Not after what she did to Indiana Jones. No.

Okay.

I hate that last film With a passion.

Yep, yep. Lastly, mate, this is quite an important one as well on the old casting is who's going to do the voice of. Of Zen. This is an important one.

It is, it is. The thing is, immediately Nick breaks sprang to mind, but I don't actually think. I don't know that he would be.

Sod off, mate. Come on, we've got to let someone else have a go.

Yeah, let's have a. Yeah, that's right. He does 10. He does hog that microphone, doesn't he? Let's let. Let someone else have a go. Who do you think?

Just want to say, I don't want to talk Nick Briggs out of a lucrative contract here for several Blake's 7 series. I'm very sorry, Nick, but yeah, who would else. Who else would be a good.

Because the thing is with the robotic voice and the computerized voice is that you can go one of two ways with it. You can go down the road of somebody trying to do a very obvious computerized Voice.

Yeah.

Which could work, you know, if you get that kind of voice treatment right, in post, you know, in post production, you try and get that, that nail. That could be cool.

The other way to do it, and I'm sorry to reference Red Dwarf again, is you could go down the holly route with it and just have a very human voice, but has that kind of inflection that's not quite right. So you're like. And the reason why I say that, dude, is because we live in such a prolific AI world now.

Everything is because obviously Blake's 7 is set in the future. Right.

So would it make sense that given the world we live in now where AI is very prolific in terms of like voice cloning, person cloning and stuff like that, would it be that in the future that's. It's like that, but just times a thousand. So it would make sense for a computer to sound like a human.

Yeah, yeah, I hear what you're saying, you know.

Yeah, so it could be that. But there's like this.

They could do something weird where the actor phrases things in certain ways or their pitch is done in certain ways where you think, is that a computer or is that a human? And it's got that kind of ambiguousness about it where it's like, huh, I'm pretty sure that's a computer.

But it sounds like a. I don't know, they could go down that road.

Yeah, no, I think you're right because if you think about Zen and Orac, they. They don't particularly sound robotic, do they? They do, they do sound so human. You know, Zen doesn't talk like a robot.

You know, he talked, he's like confirmed. But he, he's very precise in his delivery, but he doesn't. I don't think they've got any modulation on him or anything like that.

So, yeah, I think, I think you're right to go down that route. What about somebody like Bill Nighy? Do you think Bill Nighy would do it?

Bill Nye, yeah, that could be cool.

He's got a nice sort of soft. Can imagine him saying, you know, walk by 10 or, you know.

Yeah, confirm.

Yeah, I can imagine Bill Nye doing it.

Yeah. The good thing is, is that I'm not blowing our own trumpet or anything, but we do have a very, very good pool of, of acting talent here in the uk.

So if they want, if they wanted to keep it UK based casting, that we've got quite a few good options, I think, for each character. You know, it's not like they're having to look further afield or scrape the barrel. I think we've got a very decent.

So my, my last thing on the casting thing actually would be, I do hope that they have a mix of well established actors and new actors as well. I think if you try and cram it with lots of established, well known people, number one, that's your budget blown.

But number two, I think you have a lot of competition for screen time, which is very difficult to do because when you and I were reviewing series A, there was a few episodes that we mentioned where it's like, okay, so that person was either on holiday or the, the story. Just, it was just necessary for them to have a lot more screen time. And unfortunately we didn't see some of these other guys in the story.

So what would happen is if you cast big names, they're likely to be like, well, okay, well, you know, I'm not going to be cast in this thing and then I'm just going to be sidelined for three out of, you know, whatever, however many episodes.

Whereas if you have upcoming talent who are just eager to be in something to get their name out there and, you know, they're good actors and so on, I think that provides a bit of balance there.

Yeah, I think that's the thing. It's okay to have I think a couple of big names maybe to sort of draw people in.

But yeah, I think it's nice if you have unknowns because otherwise you associate those characters, those actors. Sorry. With other characters, don't you?

I mean, I think I made that mistake with Alex Kingston because you're gonna straight away say, oh, that's not Jenna, that's River Song.

Yeah.

You know, so, you know. Yeah, you gotta, gotta balance it out. But I think one or two sort of big names or bigger names, you know, are okay. Or well known names.

Not necessarily big names are okay.

Yeah.

Great. Yeah. You don't want to have a full cast of a list celebrities fighting for screen time. No, that wouldn't be good. Too many egos in the room.

Yeah, we'll have Henry Carville, Millie, Bobby Brown. Yeah, we'll have them all in.

Yeah.

Imagine if there's. Imagine if there's a really high profile famous star who absolutely loves Blake's 7. It's like, I'm definitely doing that.

You're like, well, yeah, I can't afford to pay you. Like, no, no, I'll do it for nothing.

Do it for the love.

That'd be amazing. Like some huge actor. I don't know, like, imagine Hugh Grant.

Well, I, I'd really like to play Avon because I'm just a, you know, a boy stood in front of a serverland. Yeah, it'd be terrible, wouldn't it? How would you say no to him? He'd be like, ah, thanks, thanks, Hugh.

Now that would be interesting if only.

You'D popped in yesterday. Yeah, we've already got someone.

Yeah, sorry about that. Yeah, you have to go back to blinking your eyelids a thousand times somewhere else, mate.

Yeah, that could be a fun conversation to have for hours about casting on that. That's probably a good drinking game as well.

It would be, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So let's finish up just back on this article for a second then, because they do go on to say, just to wrap up a couple of things, they say that this is Matt Bausch, by the way, the executive producer who's, who's formed this production studio.

He says we look back when we were young with a degree of nostalgia, but also thinking about the 70s and 80s as we were growing up and the amount of genre material that was available, whether it was Blake's 7 or the Narnia adaptation. You and I have spoken about that Narnia, that BBC adaptation, it's very, very good.

He says, we are looking to the international market and seeing if there's a way of dovetailing that British low budget sensibility with international markets. We know in the US there's a big contraction and we all need to think about finding ways to make things more economical.

So again, I think what, what they're saying here to look at this through a wider lens is the budgets that are being allocated to TV across the board is being, is just shrinking slowly due to whatever factors that might be, the wider economy, whatever that might be.

And he's saying that now's potentially the perfect time to look at these genre based things from the UK from back in the day that were made at the time on a shoestring budget.

If we bring them forward now into more modern day production way of doing things, we still don't have to spend buckets of money because the way that they made those TV shows and the quality of the storytelling and the characters was there regardless of the money.

So if we, if they can kind of insert that into a shrinking economy for tv, they can say, actually look, we haven't got piles of cash here, but we've made this really, really good TV show which happens to be in this case a Blake's 7 reboot.

So he goes on to say that and, and then they finish up with Some notes on showrunners and they say that we've never really had a typical showrunner model here in the uk. And I think it's full of problems because it doesn't necessarily speak to that collaborative nature.

He goes on to say that Russell T. Davis is Russell, but I think those people are relatively few and far between, which is absolutely right.

So someone like Russell T. Davis, I think he, and maybe just a couple of other people kind of have that more typical US based showrunner hat on and they are saying that they're quite happy to not go down that road because they want to, they want to have that more kind of let's get all the good writers in to write for a show rather than just one person, you know, so doing all that stuff. So, yeah, they finish up on that stuff. So, mate, this is all sounding like they're all saying the right things, if that makes sense so far.

Yes. Yeah, I'd agree with that. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I mean. It all sounds promising.

It looks like they've looked at, you know, perhaps what's happened to other shows as they thought, right, we want to, you know, I wouldn't say learned by other people's mistakes because, you know, everyone's got to do their own thing the way they think is right. So I think, yeah, they've, they said they're definitely saying the right things and it's, it's promising, let's put it that way.

Yes, it is promising. Yeah.

So we wish them the best of luck not just with Blake's 7, but with their production studio and their, their approach to television making and more importantly, what they're going to, to inspiration, which I absolutely love and I'm sure you do as well, going back to 70s and 80s, you know, very cool shows that we had back in the day. And looking at how they can either reboot or look at that for inspiration. I think that's a really cool thing, a good mindset.

I'm really curious what other IPs they bought. What else have they got? I'm thinking if they got the Prisoner, because I absolutely adore the Prisoner and it did have a remake. Gosh, when was it?

But the Prisoner is such a great show. I'm thinking that's something that I could absolutely see being remade for the, you know, for modern audience sort of thing.

But yeah, I'm curious what other IPS they've got. Be interested to see because it sounds like they're going for the sort of niche, you know, classic sci fi that, you know, that we love.

So be interested to see where they go as a company. Definitely worth keeping an eye on. Yeah, yeah.

They have got a few things already on the go, which is good. So they're working on a TV series version of something called the Search for the Diceman and the sequel to the cult classic Dice man novel.

So that sounds like a good book adaptation for which Paramount currently owns the rights to that. So they're working on that with Paramount.

And they're also working on something called Skeleton Creek, which is a book series by Patrick Carman and that has been described by Peter Hoare as the British Stranger Things crossed with skins. If you've seen either of those shows, you should have seen one of them by now. Yeah, which is cool.

And then they also go on to say that they're also working on an adaptation of a very well known video game and a science fiction series of which is currently in development with UK broadcaster itv, but they're not releasing details of that at the moment. So they've got some stuff going on. They've pitched the reboot for Blake's 7.

I think their preference is for that to go to the BBC, which makes sense, as we were saying. But they have got some, some cool stuff on the go. Looks like they've targeted some. Some old school book series stuff from.

From back in the day and a video game. So, yeah, a good plethora of stuff. Sounds like.

Yeah, sounds like they've got a few things in the pipeline. Interesting.

Yeah. So that's the, that's the breaking news. Oh, well, I say breaking news. That's our view on the breaking news that came out last week regarding the.

The hopefully to be lifted off the ground Blake sim reboot. Just a couple of other wee things to finish up on. Just to continue your updates, what's going on in the world of Blake's 7 a bit further afield.

So just a reminder that Big Finish dropped their latest Blake's 7 story towards the end of last year. It was. It was a story called Afterlife, written by Tony Atwood and read by Alistair Locke.

And the synopsis for this one is, did Blake's death really mean the end of the fight against the evil forces of the Federation? I think I've just spoiled the end of Blake's 7.

I'm saying nothing.

Was the vulnerable thief Villa killed or just wounded? What happened to the computer Orak with The scheming server land, regain her old power base. I don't think I've spoiled actually.

This doesn't sound like the end to me. And what of Avon himself? The unbeatable, unpredictable paranoid who had ended it all? So this is essentially a story all around Avon.

And this was from Big Finish back in the day. I'd almost started listening to this, you.

Know, I don't think you should by the sound of it. It's going to be too spoiler heavy, I think.

Yeah. Now that I've just read the synopsis. I don't think that's the ending though. So I'm. I'm safe in the knowledge that, that that is not the ending.

That sounds like a mid story kind of twisty thing to me. But anyway, so Big Finish, I could.

I'm just going to put your mind at rest. It hasn't, it hasn't spoil it because it's, it's not what it sounds like. That's all I'm going to say.

So yeah, you can, you can sleep knowing it's not been spoiled for you.

Yes, my. My very small amount of knowledge garnered just from one series of Blake's 7 has.

I mean, I'm safe in the knowledge that I don't think that's the ending. So thanks for that, dude.

So Blake's 7 Afterlife, that went out towards the end of last year from Big Finish and we also have another convention that's going to be happening here in the UK later on this year based off of the success of previous ones. And this is the Northern Horizon convention, which is happening up in Newcastle on Saturday 9th August between 10 and 4.

And that's at the Tyneside Irish Centre up in Newcastle upon time here in the UK. Tickets are starting at £20. I think they do a VIP version as well, which I believe is around £80, I think. Something like that. 70. £80.

And they've got some cool guests there. We have. Who do we have? We have Jan Chapel there Play Cali. We've got Sally Navet Jenner, we've got Brian Croucher, Travis Version two.

We've got Sasha Mitchell who played Arlen, we've got Chris Thompson and Matt Irving who are the model makers and those dudes who are working on the. The kind of remastered set. So I think Matt Irvine's just got a personal collection of models. Right. And all that stuff.

He's got some of the originals. Yeah.

Yes. And then we've also got John Ainsworth who is a senior producer and writer over at Big Finish. He's going to be there as well as.

Yeah, Chris Thompson, he's gonna be there as well, and a few other people. So that sounds very, very cool. Yeah. So the.

The vip ticket is 80 pounds and that gives you meet and greet with all the guests, photographs, two personal signed items signed, all that stuff. So we'll stick a link to this in the show notes.

If you're in the UK and you're around, you got nothing to do on that weekend of the 9th of August, or even if you do cancel it, book your ticket, get up there. If. If that weekend is free, we'll definitely be there. If you're here in the uk, mate, we'll go and check it out or I'll go up there and have a go.

Sounds pretty definitely, mate.

I was saying before we kicked off recording, we was having a chat about conventions and I was saying to Garry that I used to go to a convention once a year, I think it was in Steventon hall or something like that, somewhere between Oxford and Abingdon, I think. And it was such a cool meetup, like Blake's 7 fans are. And I mean this in the nicest way. We're all very geeky.

We love getting together and chatting about the show and they were great little events and, you know, they did. Even though they were small events, they managed to get, you know, great guests.

I mean, Paul Darrow was at the last one I went to, Michael Keaton was at the last one, you know, it was. It's always lovely to get a bit like when we go to Doctor Who events, mate, it's always lovely to get together with people who love this show.

And yeah, I was going to say, if I am in the country, I'll definitely go. I just would love to go to another Blake's 7 convention. It's been.

It's been a while since I've been to one, just to meet up with people and chat Blake7. So if I'm not in the country, mate, but you are free, I would definitely recommend go into it and. And geeking.

Out of all the other Blake's 7 fans, it's. You definitely won't regret it. And Brian Crouch is a great, great guest to meet as well. I met him not that long ago, actually.

It's the first time I met him and he was funny. He's funny. He's quite off the wall, I think it's very safe to say. And I mean that with love. He was. Yeah, it was fun.

Yeah. He does sound like an interesting character. Yeah. So that's going to be really cool and just As a final note on this, this is for charity as well.

So all proceeds from Northern Horizon will go to AGE UK to help dementia sufferers in the in the northeast. So a great cause as well. Right, so check it out. We'll stick a link in the show notes. So that's what's been happening in the world of Blake's 7.

I think I could be wrong, but I think there's a couple more bits and bobs coming up from Big Finish to do with Blake's 7 throughout this year. So we'll let you know what's happening with those as well.

But I think on that note, dude, we will end it there for our our January 26th little bonus EP.

Alright.

Thank you. Thank you very much for listening to another episode of Federation Strike, a journey through Blake's 7.

It was wonderful to catch up with my good pal, my co host, my brother in arms, Adam to talk about all things Blake's 7. I think it's safe to say we've missed recording and doing stuff about Blake's 7, dude.

Oh mate, it's been great to catch up and I mean having this news drop has been an added bonus. So yeah, just as we're gearing up to dive into Series B, we get this news to chat through. It's been great.

It has, yeah. It's been very cool. It's kind of ignited a bit of a spark across the community, which is really cool to see.

I've personally seen a lot more Twitter action and Facebook and whatnot about this reboot and stuff. So hopefully that nudges people to go and check out Blake7 if they've not watched it but before.

And if you're looking for a really cool companion podcast so you can listen along as you watch that, then you've got that right here with Federation Strike. So make sure you're following or subscribing on your go to app that you listen to your podcasts on.

As I mentioned earlier, we're going to start recording our reviews for Series B. They're going to start trickling out soon, so you don't want to miss those.

And if you've just picked up the Blu Ray set, either series A or B or both, then we'd love to hear your thoughts. If you're watching it for the first time or on a rewatch, you can find us on the socials over on X and Bluesky.

Just do a search for Lake 7 podcast and you'll. You'll find us on there. Federation Strike.

Give us a follow on there and yeah, just let us know what you think of the podcast of us, of Blake's 7 in general. Anything you want to talk about, we'll do that over there, mate. I will catch up with you soon when we kick off our reviews for series B.

But it has been very cool to catch up with you again.

Yes. Can't wait to dive into it, mate. Let's. Let's do it.

Let's do it, indeed. So, until next time, take care of yourselves and thank you so much for listening to Federation Strike a journey through Blake's 7.

Sa.