Blake's 7

Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for broadcast on BBC1. Four 13-episode series of Blake's 7 were broadcast between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also created the Daleks for Doctor Who. The script editor was Chris Boucher. The series was inspired by a range of fictional media including Passage to Marseille, The Dirty Dozen, Robin Hood, Brave New World, Star Trek, classic Westerns and real-world political conflicts in South America and Israel.

Blake's 7 was popular from its first broadcast, watched by approximately 10 million people in the UK and shown in 25 other countries. Although many tropes of space opera are present, such as spaceships, robots, galactic empires and aliens, its budget was inadequate for its interstellar narrative. It remains well regarded for its strong characterisation, ambiguous morality and pessimistic tone. Critical responses to the programme have been polarised; reviewers praised its dystopian themes and "enormous sense of fun", and broadcaster Clive James described it as "classically awful".

Blake's 7 (audio drama)

There have been three producers of Blake's 7 audio dramas: BBC Radio, B7 Productions and Big Finish Productions.

BBC Radio

In 1998, the series returned to the BBC on the radio. The stories were set during the fourth series between the episodes Stardrive and Animals. They were broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

In 2006, B7 Productions announced that it had recorded a series of 36 five-minute audio adventures. The new series was broadcast on BBC Radio 7 as three hour-long episodes.

The Early Years

B7 Productions also produced series of 30-minute prequel audio episodes, which explored the earlier histories of the central characters. These were broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra from 2010.

The Liberator Chronicles

In 2011, Big Finish Productions, under licence from B7 Productions, announced that it would be producing a series of audio dramas which would be " ... a series of exciting, character-driven tales that remain true to the original TV series. We’re aiming for authenticity – recreating the wonder of 1978 all over again!”

The Way Back

The Way Back is a 2010 survival drama film directed by Peter Weir, from a screenplay by Weir and Keith Clarke. The film is inspired by The Long Walk (1956), the memoir by former Polish prisoner of war Sławomir Rawicz who escaped from a Soviet Gulag and walked 4,000 miles to freedom in World War II. The film stars Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, and Saoirse Ronan, with Alexandru Potocean, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Gustaf Skarsgård, Dragoş Bucur, and Mark Strong.

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Makeup.

Plot

During World War II, after the Soviet invasion of Poland, young Polish military officer Janusz Wieszczek (Jim Sturgess) is held as a POW and interrogated by the NKVD. The Soviets, unable to get him to say he is a spy, take into custody his wife from whom they extort a statement condemning him. He is sentenced to 20 years in a Gulag labour camp deep in Siberia.

There Janusz meets those with whom he later plans an escape: Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), an American engineer; Khabarov (Mark Strong), an actor; Valka (Colin Farrell), a hardened Russian criminal; Tomasz (Alexandru Potocean), a Polish artist; Voss (Gustaf Skarsgård), a Latvian priest; Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky), a Pole suffering from night blindness; and Zoran (Dragoş Bucur), a Yugoslavian accountant. Khabarov secretly tells Janusz that he is planning to escape south to Mongolia, passing Lake Baikal. Mr. Smith cautions Janusz that it is Khabarov's way to discuss escape plans with newcomers, to maintain his morale, but nothing will come of it. At times Janusz seems to hallucinate the front door of a country home and adjoining window ledge, which holds plants and a rock he attempts to reach for. Janusz follows through with the escape with Mr. Smith, Valka, Voss, Tomasz, Zoran, and Kazik during a severe snowstorm that covers their tracks.

Way Back

"Way Back" is a song written by Jerry Fuller, and recorded by American country music artist John Conlee. It was released in June 1984 as the fourth single from the album In My Eyes. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

Chart performance

References