B7 Enterprises Limited, the group led by Andrew Sewell and Paul Darrow, now control all rights associated with any future production of Blake's 7. They have development money for a project involving a new four hour mini-series (originally proposed as a tv movie) set in the future of the B7 universe, and possibly an animated remake based on the original scripts. At present they do *not* have full funding to actually make either the mini-series or the animated series. They hope to start production of the mini-series in 2004 for broadcast in 2005, if funding can be obtained. The only character from the original series to appear in the mini-series will be Avon, played by Paul Darrow.
It is our understanding that the BBC own the rights to the original aired series but B7 Enterprises Limited own the rights to the "name" Blake's 7. As rights holder for the name, they now effectively have a veto over the release of the DVDs of the original aired series. They are currently blocking the release, and have stated various reasons for doing so, including quality and "commercial considerations". They have not gone into details about the commercial considerations, but fannish speculations have included various combinations of:
The extras are currently believed to be centred around a 4-part documentary 'The Making of Blake's 7' directed by Kevin Davies with Andrew Pixley and Rob Emery acting as consultants. These are people with a good track record.
Work on a Blake's 7 documentary was started quite a few years ago, but the project had to be shelved at the time before work was completed. (One rumour has it that B7 Enterprises were not happy with the tongue in cheek nature of some of the comments in the original version of the documentary. One more possible cause of delay) The DVD documentary will contain interviews and features recorded at that time, along with new material.
To form your own opinion regarding the above, you can read Andrew Sewell's own statement on the official website run by B7 Enterprises Limited. (it's part of a discussion thread on http://www.blakes7.com/bb/default.asp but you have to register to join the forum to be able to read it) If any of the above are the case, it's difficult to predict when the DVDs will be released. There is no release date at the present time, but Andrew Sewell has stated that it is unlikely the DVDs will be released before 2004.
The press releases from B7 Enterprises Limited have clearly stated that they have *development* funding. This has been erroneously reported by much of the press as "Blake's 7 is back!", which at the moment is by no means certain. The moral of this story is don't believe what you read in the papers or hear on tv. The original press releases, and further information, are available on the official website for the mini-series http://www.Blakes7.com Unfortunately, it uses a very recent version of Flash and what is reported to be buggy Javascript to present the information, with no text alternative. If you have a minority browser (including most of the disability browsers), a secure browser, or a slow link, you may have serious problems in using the site.
Judith Proctor and Julia Jones.
The B7 Enterprises statement on the delay.