Written by Jonathan Helm, designed by Grahame Robertson.
For those of us of a certain age, or those who were introduced to its majesty later, Blakes 7 is a hugely important tv show. It ran for only 4 seasons, but at its height over ten million people tuned in to watch, and even at it’s lowest ebb (viewers wise) it attracted over six million. Yes, there were only three channels, but even so the show was very popular.
Regular readers of this blog will know I’ve recently gone through a full rewatch of the series, which has served only to reaffirm my love for it, so when I heard this book was coming out there was little chance I wouldn’t buy it.
Helm has shared much production info on Twitter (some people call it X these days but not me) over the years, but here all that information is collated and bound together in a book that can simply be described by one word.
Sumptuous.
I could go on for some time about how gorgeous the design of this book is, there are dozens and dozens of photos in here I’ve never seen before, along with copies of documents that provide a fascinating background to the show.
This volume is (hopefully) the first of four, each focusing on a different season of the show. Here it begins with Nation making up the title Blakes 7 on the spot in some meeting in 1975, it goes into detail about how the initial set up and pre-production was handled, it details the casting of actors who would go on to play iconic character, and then it goes into detail about the production of each and every episode. There’s detail on the scripts, the effects, the direction, the acting, the costumes…everything you can think of in fact, including the fact that Nation significantly overreached himself in committing to writing all 13 episodes of Series A—thank heavens for Chris Boucher and David Maloney amongst others for polishing the sometimes scant scripts Terry delivered.
The only downsides are the cost ( though it is for charity—the recipients being chosen by Sally Knyvette who played Jenna in the first two season— and frankly it’s so jam packed with information that it’s a must have for any fan of the show) and the fact that on occasion some of the text is quite small and/or a little faint, though frankly this probably says more about my eyesight and my decision to try and read in bed by the light of a reading lamp than the design of the book itself!
I really can’t recommend this highly enough. Can’t wait for the Series B Production Diary!
werewolves on the moon 