BBC7 Programme Details:

BBC Radio 7 for a series of prequel adventures stripped over five nights from 31 May at 18:30.

BLAKE'S 7: THE EARLY YEARS are the new prequel series of audio stories that explores the origins of key BLAKE’S 7 characters before they met rebel leader Roj Blake, taking you back to where the seeds of rebellion against the Federation began.

BLAKE’S 7: EYE OF THE MACHINE (BBC Radio 7 tx 31 May 18:30)
Written by Ben Aaronovitch | Directed by Andrew Mark Sewell
Featuring Colin Salmon, Keeley Hawes and Geoffrey Palmer
Oxford University. It is the Freedom Spring of 2230 and the campus is a hotbed of student protest as Roj Blake’s Freedom Party seeks to sweep away a century of corrupt rule. Kerr Avon (Colin Salmon), a young man from the frontier, brilliant, ambitious and naïve, has arrived to make his mark on the future. Avon is here to work with Professor Ensor (Geoffrey Palmer), the Federation’s most brilliant cyberneticist. Avon has no intention of getting involved in politics – he may be naïve but he isn’t stupid – and then he meets Anna Grant (Keeley Hawes), activist and girl about town, and all bets are off!

BLAKE’S 7: BLOOD & EARTH (BBC Radio 7 tx 1 June 18:30)
Written by Ben Aaronovitch | Directed by Dominic Devine
Featuring Amy Humphreys, Julian Wadham and Jan Chappell
Auron is a world of clones, where everyone is buoyed by the constant murmur of telepathic support, gossip and opinions. When Ariane Cally’s (Amy Humphreys) plane crashes in the middle of a wilderness park she finds herself cut off not only from rescue, but the voices that have sustained her all her life. Her only hope is the mysterious Aunty (Jan Chappell), the single voice she can still hear, a woman who claims to have been the second Cally ever to be born on Auron. From Aunty she will learn the true and secret history of her people, but only if the wilderness doesn’t kill her first.

BLAKE’S 7: THE DUST RUN (BBC Radio 7 tx 2 June 18:30)
Written by Simon Guerrier | Directed by Alistair Lock
Featuring Carrie Dobro and Benedict Cumberbatch
Jenna Stannis (Carrie Dobro) has grown up as a spacer, where the normal rules don't apply. No school, no police, no public imperatives – that's still all to come. But the situation on Earth is changing and the effects are slowly being felt throughout the Vega system. It's going to mean trouble for brash boy Townsend (Benedict Cumberbatch) – who Jenna doesn't fancy at all. Soon Jenna and Townsend are competing in the Dust Run – racing shuttles through an asteroid field without using computers, making the complex calculations in their heads. It’s dangerous, fool-hardy and really good fun. But they’re playing for the highest of stakes…

BLAKE’S 7: THE TRIAL (BBC Radio 7 tx 3 June 18:30)
Written by Simon Guerrier | Directed by Alistair Lock
Featuring Carrie Dobro, Benedict Cumberbatch and Stephen Lord
The election is going to change everything. A man called Roj Blake promises the voters new hope, an end to years of corruption. There are those who can’t let him be heard. But Jenna Stannis (Carrie Dobro) is determined to get his message out to the colonies. It’s been years since the Dust Run, and Jenna’s a changed woman. She’s left the Vega system far behind, using her exceptional piloting skills to carve out a life as a smuggler. Blake’s message could earn her a fortune - or cost her, her life.

BLAKE’S 7: WHEN VILA MET GAN (BBC Radio 7 tx 4 June 18:30)
Written by Ben Aaronovitch | Directed by Andrew Mark Sewell
Featuring Michael Keating and Owen Aaronovitch
Earth. 2230 AD. A time of social and political turmoil… Olag Gan wants to marry the woman of his dreams. Vila Restal wants to steal anything that isn’t nailed down. When they form a partnership, a perfect combination of strength and skill, it seems that nothing stands between them and the easy life. But fate hates to give a sucker an even break and the course of true love never did run smooth.

Extended versions of the Blake’s 7 audio dramas are available to buy from all good book and CD retailers (including Horizon), or as digital downloads from your favourite sites.