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To celebrate 40 years since the first television broadcast of Blake’s 7, Big Finish will be releasing a special story in January 2018.

The Way Ahead, by Mark Wright, is described as “the perfect celebration of the television show”, with the action taking place in three different time periods all linked by the popular character of Avalon who first appeared in the TV episode Project Avalon.

“It’s been a particular honour and pleasure to be responsible for the story that celebrates 40 years of Blake’s 7,” producer and director John Ainsworth explained. “We’ve done our best to include all of the regular characters from the TV series, and I think Mark Wright has written a brilliant script which manages to encapsulate the essence of Blake’s 7, as well as being very dramatic and exciting.”

“It was an honour to be asked to write the 40th anniversary adventure for the crew of the Liberator,” Wright exclusively told Sci-Fi Bulletin. “Blake’s 7 is a series I’ve loved since sitting down to watch The Way Back on 2 January 1978, and writing these scripts has been the highlight of my working year. It was a delight to be in studio and see the casts of the various eras of the series together and talking about their time in the series – as we were recording The Way Ahead, 40 years before, the cast were on location and in rehearsals for the first episodes of series one. I hope we’ve done justice to the work and memory of Terry Nation, David Maloney and Gareth Thomas in this special anniversary adventure.”

Joining Paul Darrow, Michael Keating, Jan Chappell, Steven Pacey, Yasmin Bannerman, Alistair Lock and Jacqueline Pearce are Stephen Greif, who returns as Travis, and Sally Knyvette who once again plays Jenna. And for the first time since the TV series ended, Glynis Barber returns to Blake’s 7 playing a new character (due to licence restrictions, Big Finish are unable to use Barber’s original character of Soolin). Avalon is played by Olivia Poulet who appeared as Emma Peel in Big Finish’s The Avengers: Steed and Mrs Peel audio releases.

Click here to order The Way Ahead from Big Finish.