Yet nearly 50 years later, the series looks less like a curiosity of its era and more like a quietly revolutionary text – one that anticipated where television drama, and science fiction in particular, would eventually go.
Creator Terry Nation – also the inventor of that great Doctor Who menace, the Daleks – once described Blake's 7 as "The Dirty Dozen in space", and that framing proved crucial.
As his obsession deepens, Blake becomes reckless and absolutist, responsible for civilian deaths the show refused to excuse. Rather than improving, he deteriorates – an extraordinary narrative choice for late 1970s BBC drama.
Crucially, Blake’s 7 never rushed to redeem him. Avon is allowed to be selfish, cowardly and cruel, punctuated by moments of reluctant heroism. Decades before Tony Soprano or Walter White, audiences were being asked to follow – and occasionally root for – someone morally corrosive at the heart of the story.
The crew betray one another, abandon causes for personal reasons and argue over whether the Federation is even worth fighting. Victories are often temporary, reinforcing the idea that power structures do not collapse neatly.
Perhaps most infamous were the show’s deaths. From early departee Olag Gan (David Jackson) to eventually its title character, Blake’s 7 killed characters suddenly, unfairly and permanently. Major figures could be eliminated mid-story, without ceremony or catharsis, and the narrative moved on regardless.
These choices proved hugely influential. While not all later creators have cited Blake’s 7 directly, its DNA can be felt in series that embraced ensemble casts of compromised characters and long-term moral consequences, from Babylon 5 – whose creator J Michael Straczynski has acknowledged loving the show’s tone – to Deep Space Nine, Farscape, Firefly and The Expanse.
All share echoes of Blake’s 7’s central ideas: rebellion without romance, heroes without purity, and victories that come at devastating cost.
Hoar has also directly compared Blake’s 7 to Andor, arguing that the Star Wars spin-off succeeded "because of the integrity, wit and sophistication" of its storytelling, rather than spectacle.
In today’s TV landscape – shaped by serialised storytelling, anti-heroes and moral grey zones – Blake’s 7 no longer feels ahead of its time. It feels perfectly at home. What once seemed bleak and confrontational has become the language of modern prestige drama.
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