Critical responses have been varied; some reviewers praised the programme for its dystopian themes, strong characterisation, ambiguous morality and pessimistic tone, as well as displaying an "enormous sense of fun", but others have criticised its production values and dialogue, and accused it of lacking originality.

En route, he and fellow prisoners Jenna Stannis, Vila Restal, and Kerr Avon break free and escape on a technologically advanced alien spacecraft, which its central computer 'Zen' informs them is named Liberator.

[8] Series creator Terry Nation pitched Blake's 7 to the BBC as "The Dirty Dozen in space", a reference to the 1967 Robert Aldrich movie in which a disparate group of convicts are sent on a suicide mission during World War II.

[13] Script editor Chris Boucher, whose influence on the series increased as it progressed, was inspired by Latin American revolutionaries, especially Emiliano Zapata, in exploring Blake and his devotees' motives and the consequences of their actions.

[14] When Avon gains control of Liberator, after Blake's disappearance after the events of "Star One", he uses it to pursue his own agenda, such as avenging his lost love Anna Grant.

[18] Blake's 7 also drew inspiration from the classic British dystopian novels Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G.

Gareth Thomas played the eponymous character Roj Blake, a political dissident who is arrested, tried and convicted on false charges, and then deported from Earth to a prison planet.

In their attempts to stay ahead of their enemies and inspire others to rebel, they encounter a great variety of cultures on different planets, and are forced to confront human and alien threats.

When their spacecraft is destroyed and another group member is killed, the survivors commandeer another craft (which they enhance with superior technology), and a secret base on a distant planet from which they continue their campaign.

On board the prison ship London, Blake meets convicted murderer Olag Gan and computer engineer and embezzler Kerr Avon.

But is that dark-haired telepathic alien girl, the latest addition to Blake's outer-space merry men, going to spell love trouble for blonde Jenna?

He wrote "If you wanted to sum up the relative position of Britain and America in this century — the ebbing away of the pink areas of the map, the fading of national self-confidence as Uncle Sam proceeded to colonise the globe with fizzy drinks and Hollywood — you could do it like this: they had Star Trek, we had Blake's 7 ... No 'boldly going' here: instead, we got the boot stamping on a human face which George Orwell offered as a vision of humanity's future in Nineteen Eighty-Four".

He added "Blake's 7's triumph lay in its vivid characters, its tight, pacey plots and its satisfying realism...For arguably the first time since the 1950s Quatermass serials, the BBC had created a popular sci-fi/fantasy show along adult lines".

However, the bloody finale, in which Avon murders Blake, exemplified the programme's strengths — fearless narratives, credible but surprising character development and an enormous sense of fun.

"[53] The Australian broadcaster and critic Clive James gave a negative appraisal, calling it " ... classically awful British television SF ... no apostrophe in the title, no sense in the plot".

He continued "The depraved space queen Servalan ... could never quite bring herself to volatilize the dimly heroic Blake even when she had him square in the sights of her plasmatic spasm guns.

A poll of United States science-fiction writers, fans and critics for John Javna's 1987 book The Best of Science Fiction placed the series 25th in popularity, despite then only having recently begun to be broadcast in the US.

[60] During 2005 SFX surveyed readers' top 50 British telefantasy shows of all time, and Blake's 7 was placed at number four behind The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Red Dwarf and Doctor Who.

It was directed by Ben Gregor, written by Tim Plester, and featured Mackenzie Crook, Martin Freeman, Johnny Vegas, Mark Heap and Peter Tuddenham.

Paul Darrow, Michael Keating, Steven Pacey, Peter Tuddenham and Jacqueline Pearce reprised their television roles, but Josette Simon and Glynis Barber were replaced by Angela Bruce as Dayna and Paula Wilcox as Soolin.

[69] On 11 December 2006 B7 Productions announced that it had recorded a series of 36 five-minute Blake's 7 audio adventures, written by Ben Aaronovitch, Marc Platt and James Swallow.

[70] This featured Derek Riddell as Blake, Colin Salmon as Avon, Daniela Nardini as Servalan, Craig Kelly as Travis, Carrie Dobro as Jenna, Dean Harris as Vila, Owen Aaronovitch as Gan, Michael Praed, Doug Bradley and India Fisher.

[71] The new series was broadcast by BBC Radio 7 and repeated during mid-2010 as three one-hour episodes: Rebel (written by Ben Aaronovitch), Traitor (Marc Platt) and Liberator (James Swallow).

B7 Productions also produced series of 30-minute prequel audio episodes named Blake's 7: The Early Years, which explored the earlier histories of the central characters.

Alan Stevens, later of Magic Bullet Productions,[74] produced three unofficial audio cassettes between 1991 and 1998: Travis: The Final Act,[75] The Mark of Kane[76] and The Logic of Empire.

[78] During July 2003, Sewell announced that he, Paul Darrow and Simon Moorhead had formed a consortium called 'B7 Enterprises' that had acquired the rights and was planning a television miniseries budgeted at between five and six million U.S. dollars.

Graham's concept was that a group of young rebels would rescue Avon, who had been kept cryogenically frozen by Servalan, and then roam the galaxy in a new ship named Liberator.

The first was entitled Blake's 7, written by Trevor Hoyle and Terry Nation, and published during 1978 (novelising the first-series episodes The Way Back, Space Fall, Cygnus Alpha and Time Squad).

[90] During October 1981 Marvel UK began publishing the monthly Blake's 7 magazine, which included a comic strip by Ian Kennedy as well as text stories, features and photographs.

The set contains bonus features previously seen on the DVD release of the show alongside brand new bonus material, such as optional updated special effects on all 13 episodes, a feature-length documentary detailing the making of the first series, rare convention footage and the previous unreleased The Making of Blake's 7 documentary originally meant for the DVD release.