Well, I guessed correctly, as on Christmas Day, I unwrapped this lovely book and promptly had to place it on a shelf as it was considered poor form to sit reading it through the seasonal family gatherings. Damn!
Fast forward a few weeks and the time was taken to slowly savour what turned out to be a cracking follow up to the Series A volume. It feels like there are even more photographs and illustrations, and the gang behind what will hopefully become a four volume set have outdone themselves.
Through some 300 plus pages, you will discover how the creation of a follow up to a highly successful series of television became fraught with inter-personal tensions, re-casting, and doubts about the future of the show. As a production diary, the reader feels they're accompanying the cast and crew as these drama's play out, and whilst the overall result was as good as the first series (in your scribe's considered opinion), the continuous challenges over budget spends and some individual's particular approaches to their job had soured things a tad.
One cannot help but feel for David Jackson for the way his character atrophied, and the way in which Brian Croucher tried gamely to inhabit a role already warmed by another. Hey, he did a great job in highly difficult circumstances and based upon the narrative presented here, truly deserved better. The travails of making an obviously inadequate budget stretch are also pure TV production gold, and just goes to show that almost anything is possible with the time and effort, as well as being genuinely amusing to read about. What may look laughable now to modern day audiences more than passed muster back then, and in one's humble opinion, there is a charm and timelessness to practical effects and model work that CGI lacks. That and CGI ages very poorly in all but the most exemplary of instances, but that's a discussion for another time.
That being said, it was not all doom and gloom, and the various reminiscences are a joy to discover - Gareth Thomas with his costume shenanigans, and the general approach to the show's creative choices are particular highlights. Those and the seemingly traditional nightly booze ups whilst on location shooting duties. The inclusion of boxouts for deleted scenes and dialogue, as well as an episode by episode synopsis, are also highly informative.
Once again, the design of the book permits zero criticism, and the combination of publicity photographs and behind the scenes captures are a wonderful mix for a show, and a time, long ago. As with the Series A diary, all profits from this tome go to charity, and it should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway, this is an essential purchase for Blake's 7 fans and fans of science fiction shows in general. You can pick up your copy from here. Roll on Series C!
And just to spoil you lucky people, here's a rather lovely cast photo to be on your way with!
