About us

Col Neal

Col Neal remembers first seeing Blake’s 7 at a very early age. One of his earliest memories is of watching a striking blonde-haired woman in fabulous space clothes shooting herself on a black and white TV screen with a ray gun.

At the time he was left with the impression that the BBC couldn’t afford a colour licence for the screen. Of course, since then, he has learnt this to be true.

James Sellwood

James Sellwood discovered Blake’s 7 at the age of 5, when his father brought home a VHS of The Beginning, the compilation of the first four episodes of Series A, which he’d picked up at the local ABC Shop. Luckily the video was heavily edited, otherwise there may have been some very difficult questions about Blake’s trial!

His love of Blake’s 7 is almost as enduring as his love of Doctor Who! He’s been asking his friends for years, many of whom are on this very podcast: “So when are we doing the Blake’s 7 podcast?”

Nathan Bottomley

“We’re doing it now, darling!”

Nathan Bottomley turned 10 on the day the first episode of Blake’s 7 was broadcast, which makes him a much more dedicated fan than you are. His hobbies include podcasting, web development and ordering people around.

He can currently be heard banging on about Doctor Who on Flight Through Entirety and Jodie into Terror, getting moderately drunk on Bondfinger, and chatting animatedly with Joe Ford about random Star Trek episodes on Untitled Star Trek Project. He lives in Sydney with his husband and several fluffy dogs.

Pete Lambert

A rebel with a cause? A sly wry dry fly guy? A glamorous smugglatrix? An artless dodger? A reverse-charges Telepath? A polite fat man with nothing to do?

Pete Lambert is none of these things and yet somehow also all of them. He watched Blake’s 7 “a bit” as a kid, intermittently as a student, and is enjoying doing it properly now to publicly banish his ignorance.

Si Hart

In the Summer of 1983 Si Hart’s mum sat him down to watch repeats of Series D of Blake’s 7, thinking that as he liked Doctor Who so much, he’d probably like this show too. As always, she was right!

Si followed Blake’s 7 around for years, tracking down the rest of the episodes, on traded off-air copies, pay TV, and finally on BBC Video. Despite this, he’s only actually seen the show from start to finish in order once, until now.

Brendan Jones

Contrary to his status as nerdy homosexual podcast maven, Brendan Jones has only seen the first and third series of Blake’s 7 all the way through, along with two episodes of Series B and four of Series D. You’ll find out why his viewing marathon with his husband didn’t continue past Orac in our discussion of that episode.

Outside of Blake’s 7, he enjoys Doctor Who, freestyle wrestling, and attempting to get a writing career off the ground. Favourite Character: Vila. Favourite Episode: Sarcophagus. Favourite Ship: Cally/Avon.

Mark McManus

A lifelong Doctor Who fan, Mark McManus has never seen any of cult 1970s science fiction series Blake’s 7! But this was to change. Suddenly and terribly, Mark was thrust into the dangerous world of Blake’s 7.

He is watching along with the podcast, with no foreknowledge of future events in the series beyond that point. Mark also appears on Trap One.

Peter Griffiths

Peter Griffiths has had a long and convivial association with Blakes 7, which began when he watched the episode ‘Seek-Locate-Destroy’ in 1978.

He once interviewed Peter Miles and was thereafter frequently telephoned by the actor, who always announced himself by declaring, “It’s your new friend for 1995”. To quote Secretary Rontaine, who can tell what he’s thinking?

Simon Moore

Simon Moore was introduced to Blake’s 7 by fellow podcaster Peter Griffiths in 1990 as a way to get over his withdrawal symptoms from the cancellation of Doctor Who.

His father said he could tell the difference between Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 because the latter “always has that bird swanning around in an evening dress”. Well spotted, Dad.