Doctor Who director Peter Hoar is one of a trio of executives who have launched a new independent production company, with classic BBC sci-fi series Blakes 7 one of the projects being planned.
Multiple Productions has been founded by Hoar (director of A Good Man Goes To War, The Robot Revolution, and Lucky Day), producer Matthew Bouch (whose credits include The Sarah Jane Adventures, Being Human, and The Witcher), and Jason Haigh-Ellery (well known to Doctor Who fans for heading up Big Finish). The new company is reported to have been busy securing a number of intellectual properties, with Blakes 7 being of particular note for genre viewers.
Created by Terry Nation, who pitched the series as ‘the Dirty Dozen in space’, Blakes 7 ran on BBC1 for four series from 1978 to 1981 and covered the adventures of a group of rebels who take on the might of an oppressive regime run by the Federation. Numerous Doctor Who alumni worked on the series besides Nation, including David Maloney, Chris Boucher, and Robert Holmes. A popular early-evening drama in its day, the series ended in a memorably violent episode that saw most of the leading characters killed off.
The series has maintained an active fanbase (check out our 10 reasons to watch it), who have been treated in recent years to well-received complete series box sets on Blu-ray and a run of impressive fan-created publications from Cult Edge. Big Finish has been releasing new audio productions featuring original cast members for well over a decade.
There have been several Blakes 7 reboots mooted over the decades without going into production. Multitude has now made a deal with Nation’s estate, and plans are now underway to raise the necessary co-production funding. Hoar said:
“The Blakes 7 story is legendary because they were given the Softly, Softly slot that was intended for police drama with a budget intended for one big set and a few location shoots. At the time it felt like it meant something. Those shows got into my veins. I could tell they didn’t have money but I was able to compartmentalize and enjoy the ride knowing that the sets wobbled.”
Hoar has compared Blakes 7 to Disney+ Star Wars spin-off Andor, arguing that the series succeeded “because of the integrity, wit, and sophistication” rather than the level of its budget.
Bouch said he would “love it to go to the BBC” and added:
“We’re driven by our passions but also seeing that there is a gap in the market in the UK – particularly with the well-publicized dropping off of Doctor Who – for genre-based British IP.
“We look back at when we were young with a degree of nostalgia but also thinking about the 70s and 80s as we were growing up and the amount of genre material that was available, whether it was Blakes 7 or the Narnia adaptation. We are looking to the international market and seeing if there is a way of dovetailing that British low-budget sensibility with international markets. We know in the U.S. there’s a big contraction and we all need to think about finding ways to make things more economical.”
It’s as well to be cautious for the time being as to the likelihood of seeing a Blakes 7 revival on our screens in the near future – there have been too many false starts for that. But with some experienced industry names involved, this is certainly one to watch.
