Big Finish Productions, the audio production company and publisher best known for its range of Doctor Who audio releases, have published a stunning limited set of Blake’s 7 hardback novelisations.  Blake’s 7: Origins released on 27 March, 2023, marking 45 years since the original broadcast of the first season’s final episode.

Blake’s 7 debuted on BBC television in 1978 and quickly developed a cult following of fans eager to enjoy the exploits of Roj Blake and his gang of rebels in their battle against the sinister Federation. Considered far ahead of its time, it ran for four series, and helped influence much of the science fiction we see on our screens today.

Now, for the first time, the complete first season of Terry Nation’s classic sci-fi adventure series will be published as a collection of brand-new hardback novelisations, featuring lavish photos and artwork, and released as a single hardback box set limited to just 1,500 copies. These books will not be available to buy separately.

Each adaptation comprises two stories from the TV series and has been written by a well-known sci-fi author, including Una McCormack and Paul Cornell.

There are seven books in the collection, each book features two stories from the opening series.

The Way Back/Space Fall by Paul Cornell
Cygnus Alpha/Time Squad by Marc Platt
The Web/Seek-Locate-Destroy by Gary Russell
Mission to Destiny/Duel by Jaqueline Rayner
Project Avalon/Breakdown by Steve Cole
Bounty/Deliverance by Una McCormack
Orac/Redemption by James Goss

I recieved digital review copies of the Blake’s 7: Origins collection from Jamie-Lee at Black Crow PR.

I grew up watching Doctor Who and Blake’s 7. They were an integral part of my childhood. The sheer volume of Doctor Who books, toys, magazines etc meant the Doctor’s adventures would always be the most accesible stories and my love of Doctor Who has endured for over 40 years. But all these decades later I still remember the excitement of sitting down to watch a new episode of Blake’s 7.

My strongest memory of watching the show was that it was darker than Doctor Who, much more edgy, and bleak – it felt bleak – and it felt more grown up. Perhaps I was too young to apprecaite many of the finer elements of the scripts but having revisited some of the stories from the first season, courtesy of the books contained in the Origins collection, I do feel it likely I missed many nuances due to my relative youth at the time.

Thanks to the geniuses at Big Finish, the “great ideas factory” I can now revisit Blake’s 7 and enjoy the full first season and experience those early adventures in full.  And I can do it in written format (my favourite medium). As much of my initial Doctor Who exposure can through reading the Target paperbacks of the old episodes this is a similar experience (though the beautiful books in this collection are much more classy than my tatty target paperbacks).

I haven’t had time to read all fourteen stories yet so I had to pick and choose which authors and stories I read. All seven of the authors contributing to the Origins collection are well known to me and I have many of their other work on my bookshelves. Big Finish have picked some of the very best writers to work on these books and I loved the stories I selected to read. The original source material was well represented and the tone felt spot on each time.

My first selection was Mission to Destiny and Duel which were written by Jaqueline Rayner. Jaqueline wrote some of my favourite Doctor Who novels and I always enjoy her writing style so a perfect place to start. And for this crime book reader it turned out to be an excellent decision as Mission to Destiny has shades of Christie’s And Then There We’re None.

The crew find a ship circling alone in space. When they teleport over to the seemingly abandoned ship it they find the crew asleep – or more accurately, drugged. As they revive the unconscious crew members they discover they were on a mercy mission to bring a valuable piece of technology back to their home planet as it will help save their crops and keep their civilisation alive. But dark forces are at work and one of the crew doesn’t want the mission to succeed – he’s killing off the crew members one by one, nobody is safe.

The story is slickly told, the claustrophobic tension from this deep space thriller is well conveyed and the author has made the small cast feel important to me in very short space of time. An excellent start.

When Mission to Destiny ended the book ran straight into Duel. This was a story more focused on Blake and the regular cast. The Federation are determined to capture the crew of fugitives and send an old enemy of Blake to hunt them down. Once again the energy and tension from the original story is captured well and it was another great read.

I have no doubt the other books in the Origins collection will also delight fans as these stories delighted me. I will be savouring each and I think I will stop dipping into the stories randomly and read them in order.

The collection is presented in a gorgeous slipcase, each of the seven volumes are hardback books and you’ll struggle to find a better ensemble of authors contributing to a single collection than this one. There are plenty of Blake’s 7 fans out there, this would be a stunning addition to any fan’s collection. Big Finish knock it out the park once again.

Blake’s 7: Origins is available now and limited to just 1,500 copies. Secure yours now: https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/blake-s-7-origins-2814

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