This is a ranking of all the writers who contributed to Blake's 7. This is a television-only listing, so Big Finish writers, novelists and fanfiction aren't being counted. There's 13 in this rogue's gallery, so from worst to best, let's see who've we've got.
13. Ben Steed
The Harvest Of Kairos, Moloch, Power
The Ben Steed trilogy is possibly the most obvious advertisement for sexism in human history, and it's for that reason that they're sickeningly unwatchable to me. Putting that aside, the man's episodes are the most vapid content-wise: they're dull, the little they bring to the table is inconsequential to the overall lore and there's little to actually enjoy. Unfunny humour, little understanding of the recurring characters and an abundance of misogyny makes these collectively win the award the worst television I've ever seen.
12. Allan Prior
Horizon, Hostage, The Keeper, Volcano, Animals
Allan Prior's episodes are really just stories based around one core idea and tend to fill a gap between two other episodes. Nothing particularly memorable happens in them, save for some funny lines or maybe a nice action moment with our lead characters. His stories can pretty much be summed up as “the one where Blake has a weird relationship with his cousin” or “the one where Jenna has to bond with a creep”.
11. Rod Beacham
Assassin
Assassin is a nice episode, and shows that Rod Beacham is very good at writing the crew and nails their interaction styles. The only reason he's this far down is because I didn't really have all that much to say about his incidental characters. Maybe if he'd been allowed to write another script, I'd put him higher up the list.
10. Trevor Hoyle
Ultraworld
If I was to include his novelisations, he'd easily be top 5. Easily. As it happens, though, his only TV credit didn't really capture my attention and felt like something from a sci fi show that aired 2 decades earlier. Doctor Who this is not.
9. Simon Masters
Warlord
The funny thing about Warlord is that while I enjoy it, I can never remember what happens in it, forcing me to rewatch it a lot to try and remember the plot. That's replay value if ever I saw it. Well done, Simon.
8. Roger Parkes
Voice From The Past, Children Of Auron, Headhunter
Roger Parkes has the strangest variety of episodes I've ever seen. Voice From The Past is hilariously terrible, replete with strange characterisation, a nonsensical plot, the most hilarious conclusion and Travis II being a badass purely by being the only competent character in the story. Children Of Auron gives me mixed feelings, though the whole plague plot and Cally's twin were nice additions to her characterisation and got a great performance out of Jan Chappell. Headhunter is the comedic highlight of Series D, and “WHERRRRRE ISSSS ORRRRAAAAAAAC?!” is lives in my head rent-free. So, to recap: an episode that's so bad it's good, a serious outing that leaves me with cold feet and a silly episode right out of Doctor Who's season 17. Quite the back catalogue!
7. James Follett
Dawn Of The Gods, Stardrive
Follett is a 50/50 writer for me. I love Dawn Of The Gods, with all of its strange imagery and brilliant story. I think Stardrive is just okay. Makes sense that he's placed at the roughly halfway point of the list.
6. Colin Davis
Gold
Gold is just fun, and for his only Blake's 7 script, Colin Davis does a damn fine job. It's just fun to watch, with a great plot and superb characterisation. There's a reason a lot of Series D fans like myself hold it in high regard. Massive shame he didn't do another episode.
5. Bill Lyons
Games
Ah, Games. What a lovely episode. Everything about it is just great, with the Gambit computer being a highlight (shame it doesn't feature after this episode). The dialogue is witty, the characters get tons to do and everyone is on fine form. A-tier writing.
4. Tanith Lee
Sarcophagus, Sand
One is an experimental, avant-garde masterpiece. The other is Servalan's finest hour. Both are tremendous. You mean to tell me Tanith Lee strolled in, wrote two amazing episodes, refused to elaborate and left? It is a crime that she didn't get to write Doctor Who after this, because her two Blake's 7 episodes made her more than qualified to handle it.
3. Robert Holmes
Killer, Gambit, Traitor, Orbit
BOB! THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND! Bob Holmes' quarilogy is mostly great (Killer is still weird to me) and all four have that brilliant but strange pairing of Avon and Vila that nobody else ever used. Gambit is so fun, Traitor is one I revisit because I just enjoyed its vibe, while Orbit is his magnum opus. He is on fire with this show and any time I saw his name in the writer's credit I cheered. One of the greats, for sure.
2. Terry Nation
The Way Back, Space Fall, Cygnus Alpha, Time Squad, The Web, Seek-Locate-Destroy, Mission To Destiny, Duel, Project Avalon, Breakdown, Bounty, Deliverance, Orac, Redemption, Pressure Point, Countdown, Aftermath, Powerplay, Terminal
The creator of the show himself. It would be sacrilege to put him any lower than number 2. Terry's stories vary wildly in subject matter and tone, but tend to be some of the ones I enjoyed the most (save for the occasional clunker like The Web and Mission To Destiny). Terry's stories tend to be fun times and have some of the more interesting incidentals like Del Grant or Arco Trent, and I just like the vibes of the locations and situations he puts into his scripts.
1. Chris Boucher
Shadow, Weapon, Trial, Star One, City At The Edge Of The World, Rumours Of Death, Death-Watch, Rescue, Blake
Chris Boucher's contributions to the show, other than his script editing duties, cannot be ignored. He's written some of the most inventive scripts for the series and manages every time to create a unique concept that the episode can revolve around: Shadow has the titular drug, Death-Watch has the idea of beaming someone's mental processes directly into your brain, Blake toys with the idea of our previous lead character betraying everyone for money, City At The Edge Of The World makes Vila the lead character etc. Even in his less highly-regarded episodes, there's always something interesting at their core, which is very telling of his quality as a writer.
