cagedWith Vila working alongside Travis against them, the crew of the Liberator seem to have reached the end of the road…

The final episode of this first new audio season of Blake’s 7 adventures (a second, set in the following season, has just been announced) shows the crew at its lowest ebb – even Blake seems to have had the fight knocked out of him by their capture by Travis and the revelation that the President will apparently go to any ends to stop them. Authors Cavan Scott and Mark Wright allow this to continue for a large part of the story, before the tables start to be turned.

The “confrontation” between Gareth Thomas’ Blake and Hugh Fraser’s President has the urbanity of the Bond/Scaramanga or Bond/Doctor No mealtime sparring, with Jenny and Cally dolled up to the nines – and Avon off being tortured by Travis (with a little help from Vila). We’ve covered a little of the territory discussed in James Goss’ recent Liberator Chronicle, Spoils, and it reinforces the idea that sometimes Blake’s naivety about what will happen is the most frightening thing about the series.

The entire season has been a well-produced and thoroughly enjoyable adjunct to Series B which has felt like a set of stories that we simply didn’t get the chance to see 35 years ago; hopefully this particular crew will reunite for further adventures down the line.

Verdict: A nicely judged conclusion to the series. 8/10

Paul Simpson

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