Costume Design Archive: Blake's 7

Costume Design by:

- Barbara Lane ( notable efforts: Out of the Unknown 'The Machine Stops', Doctor Who 'The Curse of Peladon' & 'The Time Monster' (1972), 'The Hand of Fear' (1976), Heat and Dust (1983), Willow (1988), Dungeons & Dragons (2000) )

- Rupert Jarvis ( notable efforts: Treasure Island (1977), Doctor Who 'Shada' (1979), Jane (1982 - 1984) )

Costume Design Genre: futuristic

Note: Barbara Lane did all the costumes of this season except the last five episodes (the only episode of which this entry only excludes being 'Breakdown') which were instead done by Rupert Jarvis

A sort of dystopian and cynical response to Star Trek, Blake's 7 was produced by the BBC and as such shared a good few of the various designers that had worked on other BBC science-fiction series such as Doctor Who, with the first series' main costume designer Barbara Lane having previous worked on that series as well as on Out of the Unknown - later costume designers such as Barbara Kidd and June Hudson had also did notable work on that series. A lot of Lane's costumes in the first series of Blake's 7 have a slightly medieval feeling to them, rather than going for a typical sleek space age look, as after all the series was a sort of futuristic riff on the classic Robin Hood motif. In the first few episodes, which dealt with the titular Blake (Gareth Thomas) being imprisoned by and then escaping from the fascist 'Federation' ruling the galaxy, the costumes were pretty much all grubby tunics and shirts, not really worth covering for here.

'The Way Back'

The most notable costume to be worn by a recurring member of the cast is this grey top worn by the smuggler Jenna (Sally Knyvette), whose grubby gret shirt is adorned with metallic lining around the shoulders. The rest of the more lower-class denizens of Earth are in a variety of grubby tunics.

The former rebel leader Blake is enlisted by an activist leading a protest, who wears a jacket fitted with blocks of reddish fabricd, with shiny shoulder pads and patterned yellow sleeves as well.

As said earlier, Earth citizens tend to be in a variety of simple tunics with open collars - the various council members sport tunics that have blocks of black lining over the shoulders in particular, making them stand out to the more common citizens wearing plainer designs.

'Space Fall'

Blake and his cohorts are sent to aprison colony onboard, with the spaceship carrying them being piloted by a police crew all in blue tunics similar to the denizens of Earth - the tunics have lighter blocks around the shoulders in differing patterns.

'Time Squad'

The fourth episode of the series, from after Blake and his motley crew had managed to find the alien starship 'Liberator', was the first to start having the cast wearing entirely different outfits compared to their rather grubby medieval tunics - perhaps in response to Star Trek always having the cast be in uniforms, the cast of Blake's 7 wear a variety of different futuristic outfits depending on the episode. In this, the calculating Avon (Paul Darrow) swaps his tatty grey tunic for a two-tone brown top with a beige apron-like garment fixed over it.

Another character swapping out their tatty grey garments for a more eye-catching outfit is the former smuggler Jenna, who swaps her grubby grey shirt for a lovely pink shirt worn with lilac pants, the shirt itself having coloured material fitted around the collar designed to look like the petals of a flower.

This episode introduced the character of Cally (Jan Chappell), who is first seen wearing futuristic combat fatigues that are...red, in colour. Not exactly what I think of when it comes to camouflage, but sure! The jacket in particular has a block of fabric over the shoulders.

This episode also had the cast being menaced by mysterious alien travellers, who wear a variety of red, black and brown garments over beige pantaloons.

'The Web'

In this episode, Blake himself then dons an outfit perfectly fitting his role as the future Robin Hood, wearing a rather medieval-style short-sleeved tunic of a green and black colour scheme, and patterned material over the ends of the sleeves, and worn over a wide-collared shirt.

Another one of Blake's crew wearing a similarly medieval-style outfit is Gan (David Jackson), whose tunic is of a similar cut to Blake's but is made of alternating strips of colour, worn over a string vest.

Another member of the crew to wear a medieval-style outfit is the cowardly Vila (Michael Keating), though his outfit looks rather different to Blake's and Gan's, being more remiscient of folk dress of again alternating colours, with green segments over the cuffs and collars, as well as brown strips on the shoulders and front.

This episode introduces a new outfit for Avon, who goes against the sort of medieval theme of the rest of the characters, his being much more typically 'futuristic' outfit, this being a stiff tunic with large grey shoulder boards as well as a row of segmented pieces over the front as well.

In this episode Jenna sports a new outfit also designed with a floral motif, being a deep purple dress with a deep collar, with again petal-shaped segments dsigned around the collar, as well as with a multicoloured segmented belt.

Cally also sports a new outfit with a floral theme, wearing a shiny green top with light green 'petals' around the collar and cuffs, making the cuffs especially resemble flowers.

This also was the episode to introduce the outdoor outfits that the cast would wear in this season, all of which were hooded jackets with a bold diagonal pattern around the front, with white lining. Every jacket is a colour unique to the wearer - Blake's is dark green, Avon's is blue, Vila's is red, Gan's is brown, Cally's is pale green and Jenna's is pink. I wonder if the design of the jackets, which have a slightly medieval feeling to their design, was meant to conjur up the imagery of Robin Hood, which was an influence on the series.

The Liberator crew have ran into the grasp of 'the Lost', whose two humanoid members, Geela (Ania Marson) and Novara (Miles Fothergill), are clad in silvery jumpsuits with rounded ridged collars, and organic material adorning the shoulders of the suit, only also being worn with short grey boots.

'Seek-Locate-Destroy'

This episode introduced the recurring villain Servalan (Jacqueline Pearce), the cunning Federation politician who would constantly be dressed in standout dresses in every appearance - in this one, her dress has again a slightly 'fantasy' bent to it, with silvery floral pieces over the rather large collar, and like a lot of the costumes in this series has very short sleeves.

This episode also introduced another recurring villain, the space commander Travis (Stephen Greif), who througout the rest of this season sports the same futuristic leather costume - this design is rather reminiscient of biker jumpsuits, though has frills around the sleeves that slightly keep it in line with the general medieval feeling of the series' designs. The leather uniform is also fitted with a triangular panel on the front that has been adorned with the Federation's symbol as well. The various soldiers under Travis' command aren't really worth noting, being just in black boilet suits with only the ringed helmets being notable.

Much less striking than either Servalan or Travis' garb are the tunics worn by the politicians Bercol and Rontaine, whcih are a return of the lined tunics seen in the first two episodes of the series.

'Mission to Destiny'

Cally sports another new outfit in this episode, being a loose pale green shirt with a block of rainbow-coloured material over the shoulders, as well as down the front, worn with boots.

In this episode, the Liberator runs across the out of control freighter 'Ortega', which has been the scene of a murder (and as such, the episode is more or less a murder mystery in space) - the crew of the Ortega are all in jumpsuits of various colours, all of which have lighter strips on the sides, as well as large open collars that give them a slightly 'Flash Gordon' feel.

'Duel'

This episode introduces another new outfit for Jenna, being a 'starfield' patterned black top with a large silver-lined collar, and is also worn with a silver belt and black pants and boots.

This episode also introduced the 'Mutoids', the conditioned servants of the fascist Federation, and are all clad in shiny black jumpsuits fitted with downward-pointing triangular panels on the front, and worn with a rather organic conical headpiece, which is slightly similar to other designs that Barbara Lane had came up with on her previous futuristic efforts, such as in the Out of the Unknown episode 'The Machine Stops', as well the alien villain Eldrad from the Doctor Who serial 'The Hand of Fear' (even if that was technically an example of creature design, Lane was still responsible for the design).

'Project Avalon'

This episode marked another appearance of Servalan, who sports a shiny white dress fixed with a large collar, and is seen in full worn with a large heavy furred coat, fitting in with the character's glamorous sensibilities. This costume would also be worn again in 'Deliverance', without the furred coat.

There are also several Federation medics working for Servalan, being clad in green baggy jumpsuits with silver smocks and hats.

'Breakdown'

In this episode, the Liberator's crew find an onboard medical space station whose crew are all wearing dark burgundy velvet uniforms, with the surgeons in vests and administrators in tunics, both of which have silver lining around the shoulders.

'Bounty'

In this episode Avon sports a new outfit that feels like a forerunner to the ones he would be sporting in later seasons, becing a black tunic coated in shiny silver lining, with a large diamond-shaped panel, though this tunic has shorter sleeves which allow the green shirt underneath to be seen under it.

The Liberator crew come across the deposed former leader Sarkoff (T.P. McKenna), who sports gold-lined shirt worn under a patterned black jacket, with the shirt's golden lines extending under the jacket as well, and is itself worn over another shirt and cravat.

Sarkoff's assistant Tyce (Carinthia West) meanwhile is in a red jacket with black and yellow lining, worn over black trousers and boots. I could also mention Cally's cheetah print jacket, but I have a feeling that was just bought...

'Deliverance'

In this episode, the Liberator crew takes aboard the lone survivor of a spaceship crash, Ensor (Tony Caunter), who sports a cream top coated in golden stripes across the sleeves and sides of the shirt, worn over a brown jumper and trousers.

'Orac'

This final episode of the series had a new outdoor jacket for Avon, this one being silver with black lining around the sides and especially over the pockets. It's an odd choice, especially when the rest of the cast are retaining their more uniform jackets.