This is a list of characters from Blake's 7, a British sci-fi drama set in a fictional spaceship Liberator, first broadcast on 2 January 1978 created by Terry Nation.
Kerr Avon
Kerr Avon is played by Paul Darrow (who was recreating the role for the Big Finish Liberator Chronicles and Classic Audio Adventures. In the B7 audio series, Avon is played by Colin Salmon). Initially one of a character ensemble, he increasingly became a lead character. Avon quickly became the show's breakout character, owing to his darker nature, unclear motives, and sardonic wit. Darrow's portrayal led to his being permanently associated with the character; and the actor wrote a novel (Avon: A Terrible Aspect) that examined the early years of the character prior to the TV series.
A child of the colonies, Avon possesses genius-level intelligence, and is an aloof and sardonic computer expert found guilty of an attempt to embezzle five hundred million credits from the Terran Federation banking system. First seen in the second episode, "Space Fall", as a prisoner aboard the London, a cargo vessel transporting a group of convicted criminals to the penal colony on the planet Cygnus Alpha, he assists Blake in his attempted mutiny on the journey, using his skills to take over the ship's computer. He subsequently boards the Liberator along with Blake and Jenna, and becomes a member of the original "seven".
Avon acts self-serving but in reality, when it comes to actions, he is more selfless than any of the others, constantly saving the lives of almost everyone he comes across and including the entire crew several times over, with nothing to gain for himself.
He is a cautious man, tending to think first before he leaps. As a result, he doesn't take many uncalculated risks.
Avon has a contentious relationship with Servalan in season three. During the episode "Aftermath", Servalan offers Avon the chance to rule the Federation by her side; however, regardless of whether she is serious or not, Avon pointedly refuses, shoving her to the ground during their embrace and stating, "I'd be dead within a week." In the episode "Rumours of Death", Avon takes pity upon Servalan who is chained to a wall; similarly, it is she who reveals to him the truth about Anna Grant but still intends to dispose of him.
Vila says he "feels safe" with Avon, but in the third-to-last episode, "Orbit", Vila overhears Avon's decision after a suggestion by Orac to sacrifice Vila so the shuttle that they are aboard must be lightened to achieve a safe orbit. This sacrifice is avoided when Avon discovers an alternative solution.
In the series finale, Avon and the crew rediscover Blake, who appears to be working as a Federation bounty hunter. Avon reacts badly to the knowledge that Blake has apparently betrayed them all, and responds by shooting Blake. He later discovers that Blake's role as bounty hunter was a masquerade, as revealed by a real Federation agent who herself (unbeknown to Blake), was masquerading as Blake's rebel accomplice. Having witnessed the massacre of Vila, Tarrant, Dayna and Soolin, Avon's final action is uncertain. He smiles as he raises his gun. The screen goes black and seven gunshot sound effects are heard.
Avon's first name is usually given as 'Kerr', with a double r. However, it is occasionally spelled 'Ker'; in Darrow's noncanonical novel Avon: A Terrible Aspect, this is explained as a short form of his full name 'Kerguelen', roughly meaning "desolation".
Avon's possible survival It was in the contract of actor Gareth Thomas that Blake's death should be totally unambiguous. Therefore, a different type of gun was used by Avon as well as showing blood and Blake's dead body. By comparison, the apparent deaths of the regular characters at the end of the fourth series are less clearcut, with Avon last seen still standing and the others shot down with weapons that produce no visible injury—in the case of Vila, not even being shown having any weapon pointed at him, nor any onscreen shot fired at him, unlike his crewmates and guard casualties. The ambiguous ending was arranged so that the characters played by those actors who wished to stay on for the proposed fifth series would only be stunned or wounded. The absence of the characters of those who did not would be explained by their having been killed. The end credit sequence for the final episode of the fourth series begins with the sound of a single shot followed by several others in quick succession, before the theme music fades in.
Beyond the series, a number of licensed works have portrayed some of the Scorpio crew having survived the finale. The 1984 non-canonical tie-in novel Afterlife tells of how both Avon and Vila survived the shoot-out on Gauda Prime and, after some time travelling with Korell, Avon's former jailor on Gauda Prime, end up on a new ship (captained by Avon's sister, Tor Avon, just as tyrannical as Servalan) which was christened Blake's 7.
Paul Darrow purchased the rights to the show and was originally part of the early 2000s project which would have been called Blake's 7: A Legacy Reborn. Reportedly, Darrow would have made an appearance as an aged Avon in what he described as "Napoleonic Exile" on a penal planet, his exploits long forgotten, most or all of the others long dead. (This scenario is close to one described by Blake's 7 creator Terry Nation.) Avon would have passed the torch on to a new group of escaped prisoners who would become the new Seven. Avon might have become their leader or instead died; this was not clearly stated. Owing to creative differences, Darrow left the project; and since the actor's death in 2019 there has been no further news about the idea.
Kaldor City, a spin-off audio play series featuring elements from both Doctor Who and Blake's 7 created by Chris Boucher, who had written for both series, features the character of Kaston Iago, played by Darrow, widely thought to be Avon under an alias for Avon. (Under copyright law, Boucher did not have the legal right to make use of Avon, a character he did not create.) Lance Parkin's 2012 edition of his Doctor Who book A History: An Unofficial History of the Doctor Who Universe includes speculation as to how Avon/Iago could have survived the ending of "Blake" by shooting out the Gauda Prime base lights then dropping to the ground and letting the guards confusedly shoot each other down.A History: An Unofficial History of the Doctor Who Universe, Lance Parkin, Mad Norwegian Press, 2012
The 2013 novel Lucifer, written by Darrow, was released in both printed and audiobook (read by Darrow, ) It posits that Avon alone survived and picks up his adventures 20 years afterwards. The old Federation has fallen to be reformed under the leadership of the four leaders known as the Quartet, in an uneasy alliance. Old enemies (including Servalan) and new ones (including Gabriella, Travis' daughter) appear.Big Finish novel Lucifer written by Paul Darrow
Roj Blake
Roj Blake is played by Gareth Thomas, who later reprised his role in the Big Finish Productions audio stories. (In the B7 audio series, Blake is played by Derek Riddell).
A native of Earth, Roj Blake was a leading voice against the corrupt, oppressive Terran Federation approximately four years before the series began. He was captured by Federation forces, led by Space Commander Travis, and his resistance group was massacred ("Seek-Locate-Destroy"). Blake was subsequently brainwashed into denouncing his resistance activities, stripped of his memory of the events and placed back into society as an "ideal model citizen" to break the morale of the resistance. His brother and sister were sent to a distant planet but executed on arrival. Forged tapes were sent to Blake periodically to sustain the illusion that they were alive.
In the first episode of the series, "The Way Back", Blake was approached by members of a new resistance organization preparing to strike against the Federation once more. As Blake took time to consider the revelations about his past, he witnessed the massacre of the group by Federation troops. He was captured once again, and the authorities hatched a plan to discredit him by framing him for child molestation and having him sentenced to life on the prison planet Cygnus Alpha. During the journey Blake escaped aboard an abandoned highly advanced spacecraft, the Liberator, with Jenna Stannis and Kerr Avon. He continued to Cygnus Alpha, recruiting Olag Gan and Vila Restal into the group. By the end of the first series, his group had grown with the addition of the telepathic alien Cally and the super-computer Orac.
These resources gave Blake an unprecedented ability to oppose the Federation. Initially committed to freedom with noble intentions, he began to show increasing levels of stress ("Horizon", "Voice From the Past") and to become more fanatical. Blake began to focus on destroying the Federation's control centre, the computers controlling climate and commerce for hundreds of worlds—a scheme that Avon and Cally thought to be morally ambiguous because of the thousands of innocent lives it would cost. His first attempt was also his first big failure—an attack on Earth's Forbidden Zone at the location publicly advertised as Control was actually an empty room. It was revealed that the real control was somewhere secret and that the advertised location was a decoy. This failure resulted in the death of Olag Gan.
When Blake finally reaches Star One — the genuine control nexus — he discovers that Travis has betrayed humanity to the Andromedans. He subsequently ordered his crew to stop the sabotage so that humanity would have the resources of Star One to fight off the invasion. He also asked Avon to use the Liberator to hold off the invasion fleet until the Federation arrived. Arguably, the events in "Star One" represented his ultimate triumph as the Federation won a pyrrhic victory in the intergalactic war that severely reduced their power.
With Thomas seeking an exit from the show at the end of the second series, Blake was written out, disappearing during the Andromedan War; and Avon became leader of the crew. Avon would continue to search for Blake, sometimes with disastrous results ("Terminal"). In the series finale, Avon revealed that he had earlier discovered that Blake was alive and living as a bounty hunter on the planet Gauda Prime. In an attempt to recruit Blake for his purposes, Avon and his team travelled to Gauda Prime; but their ship was damaged by security forces on the way and the crew were forced to abandon it. Tarrant, the pilot, crash-landed on the planet. Blake encountered Tarrant when examining the crashed vessel but did not reveal that he was using the guise of a bounty hunter so that he could test those who claim to be against the Federation, all the while running a large anti-Federation recruitment campaign on Gauda Prime. Tarrant escaped Blake's custody before Blake could explain everything to him. Unfortunately, Tarrant informed Avon of what he believed to be Blake's betrayal. Avon did not wait for an explanation, and shot Blake dead. Avon and his crew were surrounded by Federation troops led by Arlen, Blake's confidant. Arlen explained that Blake "said he could no longer tell who was Federation and who wasn't. He was right. He couldn't". This revealed that Arlen herself was a Federation spy who secretly knew Blake's real agenda.
Thomas returned on the condition that there was no doubt that Blake would die in a definitive manner; it was in his contract for the series finale. At his request, Avon was to use a different type of gun, not one could be mistaken for a stun ray. After his death, blood would be shown along with Blake's dead body. The character's death was gorier than is normal for BBC television at the time slot.
Cally