Such an a truly iconic and beloved character, in one of the most iconic and famous science fiction shows of all time. Also matching himself in real life. RIP Gareth.
I'm retired to Thailand so not so much into news these days. Was enjoying rewatching Blakes 7 via UTube and then this pops up re Gareth's death. Very sad to hear. Great great show I enjoyed so very much as a teenager. Thanks so much Gareth. RIP
I'm resigned to my fate mate but remember this so fondly from the age of 5 or 6. Enjoy your retirement with gusto as Gareth was warmly welcomed into the arms of eternity.
My dad retired to Thailand also and used to miss British TV! I doubt he would now though if he was still alive! B7 was brilliant. I was about 8 when it ended.
For me also, a true inspiration...those who personally know me would agree and say that this is the problem, be more like Avon...the ideal pairing of foils, Gareth Thomas' ruthless Blake and the treacherous Avon...Gareth definitely pulled me into the Blake fan club in my tow-headed youth 😇 Interesting that there is no "serious" emoji with a halo, that would be the singular Gareth Thomas' Blake...
The last time i saw Blakes'7 was 1981 I came across it all again on you tube, last year ,amazing the name Avon has been stuck in my head for 37 years , I now know why- what an actor Paul Darrow. R.i.p Gareth Thomas
Amazes me to look at the thumbnail and even to think of Gareth and Stephen and get my head around the fact that they were great friends rather than trying to kill each other, Stephen’s Travis was really that well played and Gareth’s Blake loathing of this monster of a man is clear. I suppose when you think about it you only get the truly passionate acting when the actors are very familiar with each other.
Here I am a child of Blakes 7, in the future (the 21st century) watching this on a wireless device no thicker than a bar of chocolate and as I catch my own reflection in the kitchen door, I find it slightly sad that I am not dressed in pirate-shirt with leather jerkin. Time to make some changes. 🚀
Well spotted...although Darrow was the Sheriff of Nottingham, guess he switched sides before borrowing the Doctor's TARDIS to jump forward in time...both he and Avon loved the feel of gold coins so suppose that was character continuity :) Charlton Heston sported a jabot in The Omega Man, we might add that to the wardrobe for those Federation types...Neville being one of those urban types and all :)
I've just watched every episode again on RUclips. Great to see it all again, and I guess that is why I've come across this video presentation on Gareth Thomas. He created a great character who could be ruthless to his cause. I've also enjoyed watching some of the cast interviews. Thanks for being a major part of great TV.
Well said! Blake was ruthless to his cause and Gareth Thomas helped create that character, who was very much believable IMO. Sometimes Blake would compromise his standards, like when he was trying to bring in that fencing/smuggling organization for collab against the Federation, then he would invariably be smacked in the face back up to his standards when experiences dictated so. Just saying that life tends to often dole out such lessons. Great writing maintained continuity and Gareth Thomas seemed to get the nub of that character and spin him into a plausible reality.
@@1groundfog Thanks! The funny thing is I was a huge Star Trek fan as a youngster and when Blake's 7 first came out I refused to watch it. Amazingly the very first episode I watched all the way through was Orac, where Orac predicts the destruction of the Liberator. I also met Mat Irvine (a BBC special effects guy) who was doing a talk at an exhibition in London and displaying some of his models, including the Liberator. It was only after the next series ended that I got to see the first episode and first 2 series! Blake's 7 like many BBC productions of its type was shot on a budget, but in this case it really worked to the shows advantage, and because the story lines were so good the characters were strong and there was always that edge that they might betray one another at the drop of a hat meant that you were able suspend any disbelief, ignore wobbly sets and ham acting and just purely immerse yourself in one of the great cult TV series ever
@@alancarter3999 That prediction episode with Orac was great, a good intro to the series in high gear! I think the character-driven aspect, via low budget, wins out in the end over the big budget flops. The Liberator and Zen were quite cool. Designing the earthy-hue colored Zen to complement the Robin Hood accoutrements of the crew, now that is an accomplishment of the imagination. Granted STOS had The City on the Edge of Forever with a similar computer. Take that, mild it into a starship, etc.. Just that Liberator set and the witty repartee the set-up facilitated, good stuff...
@@1groundfog Now you are getting mixed up with a Star Trek episode, (forever) however City on the Edge of the World (I had to look it up) was the one that Michael Keating said was his favourite episode. ruclips.net/video/kmwBA9XwKIE/видео.html I looked it up because I thought you meant the one with the other Liberator, or those that created it. The one above also feature Colin Baker (a future Dr. Who, which by then was very budget constrained) Unlike Star Trek which became a franchise because the fans wanted more Blakes 7 obtained cult status because it really came to an end, when probably fans wanted more but the BBC ran out of ideas. But I think the irony that Tarrant got the wrong end of the stick, Blake got tricked, after being so careful then getting shot by Avon, the the realisation of what he had done..... roll credits! Though different there was a really good sci-fi series in America called Firefly, which only ran for 2 series. But then came back with a film called Serenity, which rounded everything off nicely. And if you like movies then They Live by Director John Carpenter starring Keith David (from JC The Thing) and the late Roddy Piper a WWF Wrestler. He had never acted before. JC was a big fan of WWF. Unlike The Thing which was high budget effects Carpenter had literally no budget for this movie. Made in 1988 it is so relevant today. Piper said that this wasn't a movie but a documentary! Here is the full movie if you haven't seen it. ruclips.net/video/KpTlUhvD7Qc/видео.html Enjoy :)
@@alancarter3999 Thank you Alan! I actually was comparing B7 with Star Trek TOS or STTOS as it is now often referred to (I forgot one T in my previous post), and trying to get into the head of Mat Irvine and the guys who designed Liberator, thinking of what came before them, such as STTOS, and how they could incorporate that. Well they literally incorporated that "computer being" concept from City On the Edge of Forever with Zen, who/which is a cybernetic being. Joan Collins would have been a great bonus there. Whatever the case, I admire the imaginative trajectory for what that team came up with, given their constraints. I will check They Live out, The Fog was a favorite of ours. What you say about the end of B7 is spot on..they ran out of ideas...but they were true to Terry Nation's dystopian vision as you referred to in that sequence of events at the very end...Daleks, the very concept of B7 from the beginning, etc...all is dark...not what we diehards wanted!!!...however the Big Finish audiobook series including The Liberator Chronicles is like a literary methadone clinic for us addicts 🤓
@@Ozymandias1 I am afraid you are right about, Jacqueline Pearce been deceased , and also Paul Darrow and Stephen Greif and also now that 6 regular cast members of B7 are sadly dead and gone it is a shame in trillions of ways and also they were people I was priviledged to meet in real life and also they were all very nice people .
I was only 11 years old when 'Blake's 7' was first broadcast and I lived in Ireland, not Britain. I recognised Gareth Thomas from several TV shows prior to this series (I even knew his name) and at first it was distracting because I saw 'Gareth Thomas' playing Blake and not a character. It took several episodes of the first season to get over this familiarity and see 'Blake' first and 'Thomas' second. Very talented actor. RIP.
Although Servalan was his boss, Travis never showed the slightest bit of fear and was always willing to duke it out with her verbally..:)....PS- dunno why Greif left the show; his replacement Brian Croucher did a good job but his cockney accent made me think he was going to say stuff like-"'Ere Blake wots your game? You better not mess wiv me sunshine, know wot I mean?"
@@1groundfog I almost felt sorry for the Croucher Travis when Avon shot him, somebody then said "Is he dead" and he staggered and fell into a nuclear reactor. "He is now" said Avon.
@@tungstenkid2271 Was that great or what? Frankie Howerd would have said, "Avon gets all the good lines!" He does, and he pulls them off well! "Is he dead already?" I have some people I annoy who would respond to my demise in like fashion :)
I do say Brian Croucher really had a terrible job assuming the role of an established character because Stephen Greif the original and only Travis like the original and only Master in Dr Who played by Roger Delgado is unbeatable and no actor who has since played the Master has ever matched Roger Delgado or even outhsone him the casting of Stephen Greif as Travis was spot on and the same with the casting of female arch-enemy Servalan Jackie Pearce she is the one and only Servalan and she made the part her own as Stephen Greif made the part of Travis his own too
@@Eltonlaleham Agreed, and the later casting of Stephen Pacey as Tarrant was great, he slotted seamlessly into the show..:) (PS a bit of info- a young Paul Darrow had a small non-speaking part in 'Dr. Strangelove' as a B-52 crewman but he's almost unrecognisable under his flying helmet)
As a specific inversion of Star Trek, Blake's 7 was a cross between a space-age adventure and a dystopian drama. It was created by Terry Nation who, since he also created the Daleks, knew the vitally dark realisms that SF requires. So even though Blake's 7's finale was tragic, it worked for what Gareth Thomas once called in a Blake's 7 interview 'real people'. Rog Blake was a real person and we thank you, Gareth, for that.
I always like how in Star Trek The Federation were the good guys, a benign utopian society and their "delta" symbol, whereas in Blake's 7, The (Terran) Federation is an evil totalitarian organization and their symbol is the delta but sideways.
Yes, baby-faced curly-headed Gareth was the last person you'd think would be able to carry the role of a superhero, yet carry it he did with his polished RADA-trained acting ability..:)......PS- perhaps that's why Hollywood are keen to cast Brit other RADA/RSC actors such as Patrick Stewart in assorted roles because they know they'll be able to do the job like ducks to water..:)
@@Ericwvb2 Great points, and being a follower of both but not having made that observation, I think, "That's so obvious. Maybe that's why it didn't occur to me." I mirror Vila as a real person at times 😊 I suppose that note is the nub though, how a country can have a president like Ike who is truly concerned about the growing influence of the military-industrial complex (MIC), then decades later the same nation has "liberal" presidents who take said MIC for granted in the interest of...well something similar to the Federation's interests...although reality profers other circumstances that do muddy the waters just the slightest bit...so having that bizarro Federation of B7 serves as a kind of negative template that is to be recoiled from if approached...
Stephen greif was awesome as Travis, and when he went Travis really should have been replaced with a completely new character with an entirely name and Croucher could have taken on the role of a new character. I also can envision Carnell or even Provine replacing Travis in series 2 of, B7 as arch-villain Servalans sidekick and they were more interesting villains in comparison with Travis.
@@Clavinovaman Agreed, the theme song (if indeed you are referring to it) more than made up for the slightly cheesed-off visuals of the intro...but tell that to a CGI-addicted fan person and they will give you that evil laugh, "A ha ha ha ha" :)
Baby-faced curly-haired Gareth was a very unlikely galactic hero,, but his polished RADA delivery cut right through that and made his character totally believable..:)....As for Greif who played the first Travis he was great too.No offence to the second Travis, but 2's cockney accent made me half-expect that he was going to say stuff like "'Ere Blake, wot's your game?Stop messin me abaht or you'll get a bunch o' fives, know wot I mean sunshine?"
I haven't heard any interviews with Brian Croucher but my assumption was that he threw in that cockney, like Tennant did his mockney in DW, at the producers' suggestion or his own initiative...a la the 4th series computer voice by Peter Tuddenham...only B7 would have the gumption to throw those in...
@@1groundfog I say Greif was perfect as Travis, and also he created a Travis that cannot ever be recreated like Jackie Pearce was perfect as both arch-enemy and returning arch-villain Servalan she created a Servalan that cannot ever be recreated same with Michael Keating and Paul Darrow they created an Avon and a Vila that cannot be recreated . The same is so in classic Dr Who with the Doctors Time Lord arch-enemy the Master originally played by Roger Delgado he created a Master that cannot be recreated and also despite the fact other actors have played the Master since his sad death at the age of 55 they have never matched or bettered roger Delgados Master. Brian Croucher would seriously have been better served in a totally new role as a completely new character with a new name instead of been burdened with the horrid task of taking over the role of an existing character which never ever works in tens of billions of years not ever.
I'm not a theatre guy, and only know Gareth as Blake. A part that suited him very well. I liked the abrassive/leadership role he played and don't recall a bad programme. A bit late, but RIP Gareth.
I always out of the 2 arch-villains in b7, preferred Servalan to Travis when the actor who originally played Travis sadly went and sadly got recast it was never the same and had Croucher been able to play a totally new , character instead of been tasked with taking over another mans role t would have done more trade for series 2 of B7 in billions of ways seriously.
I agree the 2nd Travis should have been a different character. That would also open the door to the Original Tarvis comming back. No-one likes an actor-swap.
@@Kerr-Avon I totally agree Kerr Avon actor swaps do not work and to have had Brian Croucher as a completely new, character with an entirely new name altogether would have worked in billions of ways and I also think Carnell and Provine were better villains than Travis and also Carnell and Provine were more interesting villains than Travis.
This classic late 70s early 80s UK sci fi series Blakes 7 sadly to say cheaply made by the BBC what stayed. it was the brilliant acting by RIP Gareth Thomas Josephine Peace and Stephen Greif even today a very underated dark UK Sci Fi series it does has the traits of the Dirty dozen or the Magnificent seven.
RIP Stephen Greif, 26 AUGUST 1944 - 23 DECEMBER 2022
Another Blake's 7 hero gone. Paul Darrow too.. RIP Avon and Travis
I was really shocked when I heard Stephen Grief had passed away, always looked incredibly well for his age.
Such an a truly iconic and beloved character, in one of the most iconic and famous science fiction shows of all time. Also matching himself in real life. RIP Gareth.
I'm retired to Thailand so not so much into news these days. Was enjoying rewatching Blakes 7 via UTube and then this pops up re Gareth's death. Very sad to hear. Great great show I enjoyed so very much as a teenager.
Thanks so much Gareth.
RIP
I'm resigned to my fate mate but remember this so fondly from the age of 5 or 6. Enjoy your retirement with gusto as Gareth was warmly welcomed into the arms of eternity.
My dad retired to Thailand also and used to miss British TV! I doubt he would now though if he was still alive! B7 was brilliant. I was about 8 when it ended.
Gareth was TREMENDOUS as Blake! A TRUE inspiration!👍
For me also, a true inspiration...those who personally know me would agree and say that this is the problem, be more like Avon...the ideal pairing of foils, Gareth Thomas' ruthless Blake and the treacherous Avon...Gareth definitely pulled me into the Blake fan club in my tow-headed youth 😇 Interesting that there is no "serious" emoji with a halo, that would be the singular Gareth Thomas' Blake...
"The eulogy at Roj Blake's funeral will be read by Travis. When your worst enemy paints you in glory, you know it's probably true."
RIP, Gareth, a hero of my youth and a terrific actor.
ty Stephen I always loved your Travis xx
He was brilliant then they replaced him.
Delighted to be revisting "blakes 7" on forces tv a great series from my teens, now in my sixties I still love it.
The last time i saw Blakes'7 was 1981 I came across it all again on you tube, last year ,amazing the name Avon has been stuck in my head for 37 years , I now know why- what an actor Paul Darrow. R.i.p Gareth Thomas
Amazes me to look at the thumbnail and even to think of Gareth and Stephen and get my head around the fact that they were great friends rather than trying to kill each other, Stephen’s Travis was really that well played and Gareth’s Blake loathing of this monster of a man is clear. I suppose when you think about it you only get the truly passionate acting when the actors are very familiar with each other.
Here I am a child of Blakes 7, in the future (the 21st century) watching this on a wireless device no thicker than a bar of chocolate and as I catch my own reflection in the kitchen door, I find it slightly sad that I am not dressed in pirate-shirt with leather jerkin. Time to make some changes. 🚀
Go for it, my friend.
Well spotted...although Darrow was the Sheriff of Nottingham, guess he switched sides before borrowing the Doctor's TARDIS to jump forward in time...both he and Avon loved the feel of gold coins so suppose that was character continuity :) Charlton Heston sported a jabot in The Omega Man, we might add that to the wardrobe for those Federation types...Neville being one of those urban types and all :)
..all the costumes were Leather look pvc . ....not so far from the TRuth . ..
Travis ( Stephen Greif) brilliant actor. R.I.P Blake.
I've just watched every episode again on RUclips. Great to see it all again, and I guess that is why I've come across this video presentation on Gareth Thomas. He created a great character who could be ruthless to his cause. I've also enjoyed watching some of the cast interviews. Thanks for being a major part of great TV.
Well said! Blake was ruthless to his cause and Gareth Thomas helped create that character, who was very much believable IMO. Sometimes Blake would compromise his standards, like when he was trying to bring in that fencing/smuggling organization for collab against the Federation, then he would invariably be smacked in the face back up to his standards when experiences dictated so. Just saying that life tends to often dole out such lessons. Great writing maintained continuity and Gareth Thomas seemed to get the nub of that character and spin him into a plausible reality.
@@1groundfog Thanks! The funny thing is I was a huge Star Trek fan as a youngster and when Blake's 7 first came out I refused to watch it. Amazingly the very first episode I watched all the way through was Orac, where Orac predicts the destruction of the Liberator.
I also met Mat Irvine (a BBC special effects guy) who was doing a talk at an exhibition in London and displaying some of his models, including the Liberator.
It was only after the next series ended that I got to see the first episode and first 2 series! Blake's 7 like many BBC productions of its type was shot on a budget, but in this case it really worked to the shows advantage, and because the story lines were so good the characters were strong and there was always that edge that they might betray one another at the drop of a hat meant that you were able suspend any disbelief, ignore wobbly sets and ham acting and just purely immerse yourself in one of the great cult TV series ever
@@alancarter3999 That prediction episode with Orac was great, a good intro to the series in high gear! I think the character-driven aspect, via low budget, wins out in the end over the big budget flops. The Liberator and Zen were quite cool. Designing the earthy-hue colored Zen to complement the Robin Hood accoutrements of the crew, now that is an accomplishment of the imagination. Granted STOS had The City on the Edge of Forever with a similar computer. Take that, mild it into a starship, etc.. Just that Liberator set and the witty repartee the set-up facilitated, good stuff...
@@1groundfog Now you are getting mixed up with a Star Trek episode, (forever) however City on the Edge of the World (I had to look it up) was the one that Michael Keating said was his favourite episode. ruclips.net/video/kmwBA9XwKIE/видео.html
I looked it up because I thought you meant the one with the other Liberator, or those that created it. The one above also feature Colin Baker (a future Dr. Who, which by then was very budget constrained)
Unlike Star Trek which became a franchise because the fans wanted more Blakes 7 obtained cult status because it really came to an end, when probably fans wanted more but the BBC ran out of ideas. But I think the irony that Tarrant got the wrong end of the stick, Blake got tricked, after being so careful then getting shot by Avon, the the realisation of what he had done..... roll credits!
Though different there was a really good sci-fi series in America called Firefly, which only ran for 2 series. But then came back with a film called Serenity, which rounded everything off nicely.
And if you like movies then They Live by Director John Carpenter starring Keith David (from JC The Thing) and the late Roddy Piper a WWF Wrestler. He had never acted before. JC was a big fan of WWF. Unlike The Thing which was high budget effects Carpenter had literally no budget for this movie. Made in 1988 it is so relevant today. Piper said that this wasn't a movie but a documentary! Here is the full movie if you haven't seen it. ruclips.net/video/KpTlUhvD7Qc/видео.html
Enjoy :)
@@alancarter3999 Thank you Alan! I actually was comparing B7 with Star Trek TOS or STTOS as it is now often referred to (I forgot one T in my previous post), and trying to get into the head of Mat Irvine and the guys who designed Liberator, thinking of what came before them, such as STTOS, and how they could incorporate that. Well they literally incorporated that "computer being" concept from City On the Edge of Forever with Zen, who/which is a cybernetic being. Joan Collins would have been a great bonus there. Whatever the case, I admire the imaginative trajectory for what that team came up with, given their constraints. I will check They Live out, The Fog was a favorite of ours. What you say about the end of B7 is spot on..they ran out of ideas...but they were true to Terry Nation's dystopian vision as you referred to in that sequence of events at the very end...Daleks, the very concept of B7 from the beginning, etc...all is dark...not what we diehards wanted!!!...however the Big Finish audiobook series including The Liberator Chronicles is like a literary methadone clinic for us addicts 🤓
i watched every BLAKE Seven .it shows better than all. fiction
Greif was the best Travis .. and also good in citizen smith ...👍
Gareth Thomas Blake RIP and Blake's arch-enemy Servalan herself has outlived Blake
Jacqueline Pearce is now also deceased as is Paul Darrow.
@@Ozymandias1 I am afraid you are right about, Jacqueline Pearce been deceased , and also Paul Darrow and Stephen Greif and also now that 6 regular cast members of B7 are sadly dead and gone it is a shame in trillions of ways and also they were people I was priviledged to meet in real life and also they were all very nice people .
I was only 11 years old when 'Blake's 7' was first broadcast and I lived in Ireland, not Britain. I recognised Gareth Thomas from several TV shows prior to this series (I even knew his name) and at first it was distracting because I saw 'Gareth Thomas' playing Blake and not a character. It took several episodes of the first season to get over this familiarity and see 'Blake' first and 'Thomas' second. Very talented actor. RIP.
Blessèd be x
RIP Gareth
Although Servalan was his boss, Travis never showed the slightest bit of fear and was always willing to duke it out with her verbally..:)....PS- dunno why Greif left the show; his replacement Brian Croucher did a good job but his cockney accent made me think he was going to say stuff like-"'Ere Blake wots your game? You better not mess wiv me sunshine, know wot I mean?"
"Teddy Boy" Travis....I have come to love all the boys in the band me old china :)...just watch yer 'ubcaps!!!
@@1groundfog I almost felt sorry for the Croucher Travis when Avon shot him, somebody then said "Is he dead" and he staggered and fell into a nuclear reactor.
"He is now" said Avon.
@@tungstenkid2271 Was that great or what? Frankie Howerd would have said, "Avon gets all the good lines!" He does, and he pulls them off well! "Is he dead already?" I have some people I annoy who would respond to my demise in like fashion :)
I do say Brian Croucher really had a terrible job assuming the role of an established character because Stephen Greif the original and only Travis like the original and only Master in Dr Who played by Roger Delgado is unbeatable and no actor who has since played the Master has ever matched Roger Delgado or even outhsone him the casting of Stephen Greif as Travis was spot on and the same with the casting of female arch-enemy Servalan Jackie Pearce she is the one and only Servalan and she made the part her own as Stephen Greif made the part of Travis his own too
@@Eltonlaleham Agreed, and the later casting of Stephen Pacey as Tarrant was great, he slotted seamlessly into the show..:)
(PS a bit of info- a young Paul Darrow had a small non-speaking part in 'Dr. Strangelove' as a B-52 crewman but he's almost unrecognisable under his flying helmet)
This year will mark what would have been Stephen's 80th birthday... may he RIP. 😢
As a specific inversion of Star Trek, Blake's 7 was a cross between a space-age adventure and a dystopian drama. It was created by Terry Nation who, since he also created the Daleks, knew the vitally dark realisms that SF requires. So even though Blake's 7's finale was tragic, it worked for what Gareth Thomas once called in a Blake's 7 interview 'real people'. Rog Blake was a real person and we thank you, Gareth, for that.
I always like how in Star Trek The Federation were the good guys, a benign utopian society and their "delta" symbol, whereas in Blake's 7, The (Terran) Federation is an evil totalitarian organization and their symbol is the delta but sideways.
Yes, baby-faced curly-headed Gareth was the last person you'd think would be able to carry the role of a superhero, yet carry it he did with his polished RADA-trained acting ability..:)......PS- perhaps that's why Hollywood are keen to cast Brit other RADA/RSC actors such as Patrick Stewart in assorted roles because they know they'll be able to do the job like ducks to water..:)
@@Ericwvb2 Great points, and being a follower of both but not having made that observation, I think, "That's so obvious. Maybe that's why it didn't occur to me." I mirror Vila as a real person at times 😊 I suppose that note is the nub though, how a country can have a president like Ike who is truly concerned about the growing influence of the military-industrial complex (MIC), then decades later the same nation has "liberal" presidents who take said MIC for granted in the interest of...well something similar to the Federation's interests...although reality profers other circumstances that do muddy the waters just the slightest bit...so having that bizarro Federation of B7 serves as a kind of negative template that is to be recoiled from if approached...
Stephen greif was awesome as Travis, and when he went Travis really should have been replaced with a completely new character with an entirely name and Croucher could have taken on the role of a new character. I also can envision Carnell or even Provine replacing Travis in series 2 of, B7 as arch-villain Servalans sidekick and they were more interesting villains in comparison with Travis.
RIP Gareth There will be no other show like Blake's 7
You're absolutely right, Jason. The theme was the icing on the cake too.
@@Clavinovaman Agreed, the theme song (if indeed you are referring to it) more than made up for the slightly cheesed-off visuals of the intro...but tell that to a CGI-addicted fan person and they will give you that evil laugh, "A ha ha ha ha" :)
RIP Stephen
Yes, RIP Stephen Greif too.
Baby-faced curly-haired Gareth was a very unlikely galactic hero,, but his polished RADA delivery cut right through that and made his character totally believable..:)....As for Greif who played the first Travis he was great too.No offence to the second Travis, but 2's cockney accent made me half-expect that he was going to say stuff like "'Ere Blake, wot's your game?Stop messin me abaht or you'll get a bunch o' fives, know wot I mean sunshine?"
I haven't heard any interviews with Brian Croucher but my assumption was that he threw in that cockney, like Tennant did his mockney in DW, at the producers' suggestion or his own initiative...a la the 4th series computer voice by Peter Tuddenham...only B7 would have the gumption to throw those in...
@@1groundfog I say Greif was perfect as Travis, and also he created a Travis that cannot ever be recreated like Jackie Pearce was perfect as both arch-enemy and returning arch-villain Servalan she created a Servalan that cannot ever be recreated same with Michael Keating and Paul Darrow they created an Avon and a Vila that cannot be recreated . The same is so in classic Dr Who with the Doctors Time Lord arch-enemy the Master originally played by Roger Delgado he created a Master that cannot be recreated and also despite the fact other actors have played the Master since his sad death at the age of 55 they have never matched or bettered roger Delgados Master. Brian Croucher would seriously have been better served in a totally new role as a completely new character with a new name instead of been burdened with the horrid task of taking over the role of an existing character which never ever works in tens of billions of years not ever.
It's screaming for a remake and I have doubts about SyFy channel doing a good one.
I'm not a theatre guy, and only know Gareth as Blake. A part that suited him very well. I liked the abrassive/leadership role he played and don't recall a bad programme.
A bit late, but RIP Gareth.
Seconded. A show I loved as a child.
I would really like to have met him.
RIP.
I always out of the 2 arch-villains in b7, preferred Servalan to Travis when the actor who originally played Travis sadly went and sadly got recast it was never the same and had Croucher been able to play a totally new , character instead of been tasked with taking over another mans role t would have done more trade for series 2 of B7 in billions of ways seriously.
I agree the 2nd Travis should have been a different character. That would also open the door to the Original Tarvis comming back. No-one likes an actor-swap.
@@Kerr-Avon I totally agree Kerr Avon actor swaps do not work and to have had Brian Croucher as a completely new, character with an entirely new name altogether would have worked in billions of ways and I also think Carnell and Provine were better villains than Travis and also Carnell and Provine were more interesting villains than Travis.
This classic late 70s early 80s UK sci fi series Blakes 7 sadly to say cheaply made by the BBC what stayed. it was the brilliant acting by RIP Gareth Thomas Josephine Peace and Stephen Greif even today a very underated dark UK Sci Fi series it does has the traits of the Dirty dozen or the Magnificent seven.
I feel your pain, Francis.
His name was Blake.
Blakes 7 was a cut down version of star trek except the federation was bad instead of good
Arglas !