Blake's 7 Question (with spoiler) (1 Viewer)

[alan halvorson]

At the end of the second series of Blake's 7 (I think that's when, it's been awhile), Blake (Gareth Thomas) leaves the series and doesn't reappear until the last episode. Anyone know why he left?

 

[Derek_McL]

Warning spoilers ahead.

I think it was mainly the old actor's fear of being typecast. Blake did reappear briefly at the end of the third series too but indeed made his final appearance in the last episode which completed the fourth series. Gareth Thomas was having difficulty getting work because the programme still bore the name of his character so he stipulated that he would return in the final episode as long as it was shown at the end that Blake was dead once and for all.

 

[Deb Walsh]

Gareth wanted to pursue more theatre work - always his first love. He was a member of RADA for a while during his absence from B7. I think he also did a pantomine or two as well. A high profile on television didn't necessarily help in getting good stage roles at the time, and that's what he wanted.

I used to work on a British media convention in Chicago back in the '80s, and Gareth (and nearly everyone else who was prominent in the series, including creator Terry Nation) was a guest several times.

The third season also had a larger gap between it and the second season, which meant not everyone was locked in at the end of the second season to do season three. I do recall though that everyone was quite surprised when the final episode of season three aired, with a voiceover over the final credits that the show would be back for a fourth season. That was apparently the first anyone in the cast had heard about it. :>