There were four 13-episode series of Blake's 7, which made its debut on January 2 1978, the week that Star Wars had its national UK cinema release. The show was created by Terry Nation, who later described it as “The Dirty Dozen in space”. Some derided it as a ridiculous space opera but it was ahead of its time in characterisation and plot, and its unlikely heroes had dark histories and unappealing personal traits. The renegade crew included a white collar thief, a safecracker, a smuggler and Roj Blake himself (played by Gareth Thomas) — a political dissident against the dystopic interplanetary empire of the future.