Blake’s 7 The Liberator Chronicles Vol 11, plus Fortuitas by George Mann

How is it nearly the end of the week already?

This week has zoomed by, helped along by various Christmas school performances and other festive events – including my work Christmas party. Oh, yes! It was a riotous do at the rather wonderful Bonzo Lounge in Keynsham. I invited my wife along to double the numbers and even wore one of my Christmas jumpers (although forgot the party poppers! Gah!)

Fa-la-la-la-la-laaaaa!

(PS. I can certainly recommend the Lounge Brunch. Yum!)

Anyway, onto the point of this post – Blake’s 7!

Poison running through your veins

Monday saw me shooting up the M4 to record another episode of Blake’s 7 The Liberator Chronicles.

Poison, by Iain McLaughlin, stars Michael Keating and Samantha Béart, who makes her Blake’s 7 debut as Jance, a mysterious  crew member on the Federation Freighter Antares. But who exactly is Jance, and why is she watching the crew?

Samantha is about to make another Big Finish debut, as bounty hunter Vienna Salvatori’s new partner, Jexie Reagan, in Vienna series 2, also produced by yours truly. Both Jance and Jexie are formidable women, it has to be said!

Familiar faces

Poison will be released as part of The Liberator Chronicles Volume 11 in March 2015, alongside Brother by Nigel Fairs and Escape From Destiny by Andrew Smith. Further details about Escape From Destiny have been released today by Big Finish, including some familiar faces in the cast and crew.

The story itself is a direct sequel to the 1978 TV episode Mission To Destiny and sees John Leeson returning to the role of Pasco, a scientist struggling to save his family on a doomed world.

Escape From Destiny also marks Louise Jameson’s directorial debut for Blake’s 7. Now, as every Doctor Who fan knows, John and Louise have a history of working together, as the Fourth Doctor’s companions, K9 and Leela. We all had a blast recording this episode back in October, along with regulars Michael Keating as Vila and Jan Chappell as Cally. I recently listened to the first edit of the production and it’s sounding great.

Full details about The Liberator Chronicles Volume 11 are available on the Big Finish website.

The future is Fortuitas

Staying with Blake’s 7, this month has also seen the release of Fortuitas by George Mann, the second in our new series of Blake’s 7 full cast audios.

Here’s the official blurb:

The search for Dayna takes the Liberator to Solace, a former galactic tourist trap fallen on hard times.

When he loses a second member of his crew, Avon is forced to investigate a series of mysterious disappearances. As Orac and Del Grant track a radical new movement that is campaigning for the purity of Solace, a deadly trap begins to tighten.

The future is Fortuitas. The future is now.

The audio has been picking up some cracking reviews. Starburst Magazine calls it a ‘great piece of Blake’s 7‘  while the official Blake’s 7 fan club praises the ‘marvellous’ music and sound design, ‘especially the desolate amusement park which had an almost Stephen King-like spooky atmosphere‘.

I agree. Sound designer Martin Montague and composer Jamie Robertson have done a cracking job on this one – alongside director Lisa Bowerman, of course!

Fortuitas is available now from Big Finish Productions. 

More Blake’s 7 news coming soon!