A trooper’s lot is not a happy one…

This is the sort of audio that you can’t really imagine Blake’s 7 having done on TV back in the 1970s – but which would fit perfectly were the series being made today. As with the most recent Star Trek show, it doesn’t focus on the Big Players overly but instead looks at the life of the troopers, the people behind the blank masks, the ones who are tasked with carrying out the killings and subjugation. And former B7 audio producer Cavan Scott excels himself with this script, able to take advantage of the recasting of the character of Dayna to produce a character piece that I suspect will live for a long time in the memory of those who hear it.

Dayna (like Soolin in Series D) is one of those characters that wasn’t as fully fleshed out on screen as one might like, and Scott delves into her psyche, producing some searing imagery along the way. Paul Darrow is also given an unusual role in proceedings, but it’s Imogen Church’s performance as Niner and Yasmin Bannerman’s as Dayna that sear their way in.

Many of the best Blake’s 7 stories I find are bittersweet, and this one certainly tends to the first half of that description. It’s a look at the underbelly of the Federation that cements what we suspect about the venal regime.

Verdict: One of Big Finish’s best Blake’s 7 stories, and quite possibly Cavan Scott’s finest script. 10/10

Paul Simpson