The Liberator Chronicles: Volume 9

“Who better to turn to? The man who threatened the entire Federation with the most powerful ship in the sector at his disposal ...”
“You flatter me.”
“I meant Blake!”


The latest volume of The Liberator Chronicles is a precursor to the second audio series of full cast Blake’s 7 audio adventures due to be released by Big Finish, starting in November. After the events of The Armageddon Storm (Volume 3 of The Liberator Chronicles), the Liberator crew – comprising Avon (Paul Darrow), Vila (Michael Keating), Cally (Jan Chappell), Tarrant (Steven Pacey) and Dayna – have acquired a new addition to their ranks in Del Grant (Tom Chadbon).

Whereas previous Liberator Chronicles instalments have been more experimental and character-based than the full cast B7 audios, this trilogy of serials – Defector, Planetfall and Secrets – are closer in structure, style and pace to the full cast serials. The episodes continue to be narrated by key members of the Liberator crew but there are also many scenes acted out by the regular and secondary characters as if the story is a “live” adventure and not one simply being told in flashback. Consequently, the serials do not feel as intimate or as pensive as some previous Chronicles but this joint approach to the narrative means they have dramatic tension. It is no coincidence that this new style of storytelling coincides with the arrival of a new producer on The Liberator Chronicles in Cavan Scott who, along with regular writing partner Mark Wright, has penned this trilogy.

Scott and Wright have made it no secret that the trilogy is inspired by the spy genre, with particular attention to the James Bond franchise. Defector recalls The Living Daylights, Secrets the prologue to Tomorrow Never Dies and Planetfall just about every Bond instalment ever with its casino space station. However, the stories are not straight carbon copies and are still fresh and interesting, containing plenty of twists.

In Defector, the two Dels – Tarrant and Grant – are sent on a covert mission to a Federation world to assassinate a rebel agent gone rogue. While this course of action does not sit comfortably with Tarrant, especially as his namesake in Grant seems to be following his own agenda, what ought to be a “standard job” goes pear-shaped. And just when you think our “heroes” will finally meet their maker (in the form of arch nemesis Servalan), they are as surprised as the listener by what happens next ... Defector proves itself as much The Manchurian Candidate as it is The Living Daylights.

Planetfall is B7’s answer to The Poseidon Adventure. The Liberator receives a call from another fugitive on the run from the Federation with vital intelligence data and Avon and Cally masquerade as a high roller and his mistress on the pleasure station Arcadia to meet with this individual. Once Cally establishes contact with the fugitive, who is revealed to be the former Martian governor and Federation Council member Solvin Tavac (SF genre veteran David Warner), the space station is suddenly racked by explosions and Arcadia begins to break up in orbit around its home world. Avon and Cally must then strive to keep the station afloat and Tavac alive until the Liberator can rescue them whilst also evading another Federation agent on Tavac’s trail. Although the identity of the agent is predictable (in fact, Avon is caught out twice in the TV series by the same ruse!), there are bigger surprises to follow: the identity of the individual behind the destruction of Arcadia and Tavac’s connection to the Liberator. In fact, the story ends on a cliffhanger that will astonish some long time, diehard B7 fans.

Secrets sees Vila, Grant and Tavac visiting an arms bazaar and auction to bid for the data that Tavac has promised Avon. It is inevitably a heist-type story with a few twists but it is also a deeply personal story for Vila and Michael Keating tells it with all of his character’s mockery and dry wit. Needless to say, it would be a spoiler in this review to reveal why the story is so important for Vila but the upshot is that there is more to the Liberator’s resident thief than just (in his own words) “lock, open”. Vila is still more resourceful, clever and courageous than so many allies and adversaries give him credit for – and he surprises even Tavac who has read up on the Liberator’s past and present crew and incorrectly drawn his own conclusions about the thief.

The performers across these plays are all solid. Pacey, Darrow and Chappell, and Keating all impress with their first person accounts while Chadbon charms and bluffs his way through two of the plays as Grant and Warner injects arrogance and pomposity into Tavac. David Warner has always been a fantastic actor, turning in magnificent performances on screen and in voice roles in a career spanning more than 50 years – from Jack the Ripper in the classic Seventies film Time After Time to his multiple roles in Star Trek (particularly as Gul Madred in The Next Generation) and most recently in the Doctor Who episode Cold War and in multiple roles for Big Finish (notably as one of the alternative Doctors in Doctor Who Unbound and as Steel in Sapphire and Steel). In Blake’s 7, he does not disappoint as the duplicitous Tavac and his scenes and exchanges with Vila are profound and powerful. You automatically know that as soon as you see David Warner’s name attached to any production that you are definitely going to get extremely good value for money.

The induction of Del Grant into the Liberator crew also creates fascinating ripples in this trilogy. This one-time character from the TV series (who first appeared in B7’s second season in the episode Countdown in 1979) is important because he is the brother of the woman that Avon once loved (and subsequently killed when he learned she betrayed him). Although the bad blood between Grant and Avon was resolved first in Countdown and then in The Armageddon Storm, it is interesting to observe Tarrant and Vila’s reactions to the newcomer. Tarrant is suspicious of the Liberator’s new “golden boy” and “gun for hire” and by the end of Defector warns Grant to watch his back. Vila similarly expresses his distrust of Grant at the beginning of Secrets, describing him as “a walking timebomb, waiting to explode in Avon’s face”, but by the end of the play, their relationship has developed into one of mutual respect. It will be interesting to see how Grant’s relationship with the crew is portrayed in the forthcoming second full cast B7 series and whether some of the reservations expressed by other members of the crew boil over.

In all, The Liberator Chronicles#9 provides us with three engaging, action-packed plays. While the serials may seem more like straight renditions of B7 episodes and not as clever, inventive or as insightful as some of the more recent instalments in The Liberator Chronicles (eg the episodes President and Spoils), this trilogy nevertheless makes very good use of its characters and places them into some very dangerous places and situations, thanks to the combination of high production qualities and the power of the spoken word.