Colin Salmon and Derek Riddell - The new Blake and Avon

NEW BEGINNINGS It’s December 4th, 2006 and a group of actors are gathered in an impressively well-equipped Shepherd’s Bush studio. The studio is set up, last minute character discussions are had, throats are cleared, cups of tea are downed and it begins. Twenty-five years after the original BBC series ended so memorably with our heroes gunned down by the Federation, Blake and his rebels live again. This is not, as the saying goes, your father’s Blake’s 7. A new cast of actors bring a fresh interpretation to the iconic rebels – and whilst the scripts are based on the story arcs and themes originally laid down by creator Terry Nation, this is very much a re-telling, a re-boot or any other ‘re’ word that’s likely to cause a flurry of indignation in those who view the original as sacred.

The recording studio we’re using is a large, narrow room, custom built for audio drama production. A compact isolation booth – nicknamed ‘the shed’ by some members of the cast – allows for an actors voice to be ‘isolated’ from the rest of the performances so that it can later be treated in post production; for example the voice of Zen, the ship’s computer. The first surprise (for me at least) is the amount of physical set-up each scene requires; the actors rarely remain in the same place for long, as the space is fully used. Physical movement on the part of the actors and changing set-ups are used to create a more realistic performance and sound.

We begin proceedings with a scene where disgraced revolutionary Roj Blake is woken from suspended animation by the crew of a prison ship, London. The scenes are recorded out of sequence – a normal production method – so you’ll have to wait and see how the adventures actually begin, but it’s generally felt to be an apt way to start the day’s recording as the Blake’s 7 universe is re-born for the 21st Century.

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