Original Blake's 7 star reveals her biggest hopes and fears for reboot – from female representation to politics

Excitedly chatting a few days after the news hits that a Blake's 7 reboot is in development, original star Sally Knyvette declares: "It's about time!"

The actress starred as Flight Officer Jenna Stannis in the iconic sci-fi that aired from 1978 to 1981 and followed Roj Blake (Gareth Thomas) and his group of rebels as they waged war on the totalitarian Terran Federation.

While Knyvette stepped away after season 2, in part due to being disappointed with how her character had been written, the series has now been part of her life for almost 50 years.

Over the years since it ended, she's heard whisperings of reboots various times - but she's hoping that this time, with director Peter Hoar, exec Matthew Bouch and producer Jason Haigh-Ellery at the helm, might be the one to make it all the way,

But what exactly does the reboot need to do to succeed? Knyvette has a few key requirements...

Keep it political - but "focused"

In the wake of the reboot news, some fans expressed their fears that the series would become "too woke" - despite the fact that it has been overtly political since its inception.

To that, Knyvette says: "Don't let it be too woke. I would agree on that. I couldn't agree more. Let it stick to what it's about - the evil forces of the Federation."

However, she goes on to add: "You look at the governments around the world now and you think we've all got to stand up to what's going on a lot of the time. I'll only say that in a very generalised way.

"But we were the Robin Hoods in space and we were fighting for the dispossessed, we were helping those that were being attacked by evil forces and long may it remain in that vein, because anything that can lighten the rather dark load of what's going on in the world at the moment would be fantastic."

"Woke is such a big word. It covers so many things and I want to be careful, because I'm not against the way life is going at all, in many, many ways but what I want to see is people with backbone and resilience and not getting emotionally distressed by the slightest little thing.

"I do feel at times, we have to have backbone as women, and if we get too distressed about what's going on, then we sort of make ourselves more vulnerable, rather than empowered. I want to see the empowerment of women in [the reboot] in a very healthy way.

"But I wouldn't like it to become a soapbox for lots of different ideologies. I want it to be focused. I'd like it to be focused as it was – fighting the Federation, the evil Servalan and Travis."

Give us better female representation – and even make the Blake figure a woman

Knyvette has made no secret of the fact that she wasn't happy with how her character Jenna was portrayed by the end of her time on the show, describing her as a "space pirate" who was turned into a "dolly bird". Crucially, she doesn't want the same thing to happen to actresses who take on the reboot.

Speaking about her own experiences, Knyvette recalls: "We had to fight a very different world in the '70s, which was very misogynistic and not at all like it is now. One of the reasons I left was veiled in that.

"The way women are being treated now is infinitely better - it's not right still, but it's infinitely better - and it'd be great to see some strong, powerful women characters in there, young and old. The most dispossessed group of all is us older actresses from Hollywood down. Everywhere, it's the same. You reach 50 and suddenly you're invisible, and we're not actually, we've got a lot of great experience."

Asked if the Blake figure in the reboot could be a woman this time around, Knyvette says: "Absolutely yes. Women are just as natural leaders as men - I would argue probably even better.

"Also if you're given a role like I was, as an intergalactic space pirate, let her really be one - not just a dolly bird with sexy outfits. I'm not against that. I like to look good and all of that, but please let us actually do the real stuff, the action, make the decisions.

"Don't say, 'Oh goodness, there's a storm coming, Blake, take over.' And that was the pattern, which was why I left so I could find a voice because I had no voice at the time. I didn't feel I could speak up.

"I would like to see women having a voice, but I don't want it to be unbalanced. I don't want it to be an anti-men's sort of show at all. Let's see everyone working together, offering their different views and abilities and strengths."

Keep a few key characters around - and honour the original cast

For Knyvette, there are a few characters who were key to the tone of the show - including the sophisticated computers. She says: "I hope we'd keep the computers, Zen and ORAC, because I think they had amazing idiosyncrasies. And, you know, darling Peter Tuddenham, who was so sweet, did them both beautifully."

Meanwhile, discussions have already began in the Blake's 7 fandom about who could possibly step into Jacqueline Pearce's shoes after her incredible performance as the evil Servalan, alongside Stephen Greif's Travis.

Knyvette has those same thoughts, telling us: "She was a powerful woman. She was also sexy and dominatrix-y. She was a wonderful actress and friend - and darling Stephen, who recently died. I just adored him, and that was such a shock to us all. That was an incredible team going on with those two.

"I would like it to mirror some of the originals, and hopefully they'll get a team like ours, which was sort of magical. We all got on very, very well, and we dealt with a lot of tough stuff with a lot of humour, because you had to keep going, because it was a very difficult way of working in those days."

When we suggest that the reboot could honour the original cast in some way, Knyvette adds: "Hopefully the fans will ask for that. I think they will."

Stay true to the original tone and keep it character-driven

But perhaps one of the biggest reasons Blake's 7 succeeded originally was its unique tone. For Knyvette, it will be essential for the reboot to stay true to that.

"I'd love to see the moral ethos of the show [continue]: stand by what you believe, stand up for what you do, don't run away from your your actions. be responsible," Knyvette sums up. "Keep it witty too. The dialogue was witty and funny. Keep that, because you don't want it all to be too intense and heavy."

"There were three-dimensional characters," she adds. "It was character driven, so let's see that happening again... let's see it character driven with intention and force."

Reflecting on what the reboot could do, she tells us: "Let's see something really original and exciting. It's a great time to do it. We've got the world in the most complex situation, with the most extraordinary people running the world.

"Let's see this as a vehicle for our fighting back, to get some form of balance in the world."

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