Blake’s 7 Devil’s Advocate review: Fifth in the 2nd series of full-cast audio plays from Big Finish

The fifth adventure in the second series of full-cast Blake’s 7 audio plays from Big Finish is set in the third season of the original BBC television series. Written by Steve Lyons, 2.5 Devil’s Advocate starts with Avon and Vila on the track of missing crew member Dayna by breaking into a corporate facility and finding that they were only four days behind her.

Meanwhile Tarrant meets an old friend – Pelora, former assistant to the former president before Servalan’s coup. She too is a fugitive and is there with the former president. And the two need a favour as the Federation is on its way. But do they want to do a deal with the man who was once their sworn enemy?

Is Devil’s Advocate any good?

The setting allows us some interesting insights into Tarrant’s back story as well as exposing the splits among the Liberator crew now that Blake is no longer there to provide a political leadership. We are now seeing the signs of the manoeuvrings that were to become Avon’s trademark by the time the television series reached its fourth season. The difference in this universe is that Del Grant is also a member of the crew, and he has his own agenda and his own manoeuvres. And if he carries them out, the whole crew could be in danger.

Simone Lahbib is very compelling as the manipulative Pelora as she tries to tempt Tarrant to a new path. Tom Chadbon’s Del Grant is starting to come into his own as a fittingly devious and motivated character.

The result is one of the better of a good sequence of full-cast audio plays. It works as a standalone episode, as most do these days with the quest to find Dayna becoming more of a background arc, though an interesting twist in that plot is revealed at the end of this episode.

Extras

The extras start with a trailer for the next episode Truth and Lies before going to the usual round of interviews. This time Cavan Scott and Justin Richards come under the spotlight and explain why they brought back Hugh Fraser as the president. Fraser himself talks about his role.

Steven Pacey talks about the revealing of his back story and how he likes again playing the role he did when he was young. But, sadly, no interview with Simone Lahbib.

Blake’s 7 2.5 Devil’s Advocate

The play stars Paul Darrow as Kerr Avon, Michael Keating as Vila Restal, Jan Chappell as Cally, Steven Pacey as Del Tarrant and Tom Chadbon as Del Grant. Alistair Lock plays the computers Zen and Orac. Guest stars are Hugh Fraser as the president and Simone Lahbib as Pelora.

Recorded at Audio Sorcery and directed by Lisa Bowerman, the hour-long Devil’s Advocate is available from Big Finish both as a single CD and as a download. Its production code is BFPB7FC012 and its ISBN 978-1-78178-408-2. The music and sound design were by Alastair Lock. The cover art is by Grant Kempster. The producer was Cavan Scott, the script editor Justin Richards, and the executive producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs.

The download also comes with a copy of issue 73 of Vortex magazine, which includes an interview with the writers of the soon to be released volume eleven of the Liberator Chronicles series of Blake’s 7 audio plays.