In 1978 the BBC took seven classically trained actors, paid them very little, forced them to wear bizarre clothing whilst wandering around disused quarries in the cold and effectively ended their careers on the stage and damned them to spend eternity sitting on a stage answering questions about how cool Avon was instead of their one-man show at the Poddleton Borough Theatre.

At least, that's the vibe I've got from attending two cast reunions to celebrate the releases of series one (last year) and two of Blake's 7. It's not the entire cast that seems to feel this mind you. Peter Tuddenham seems to have enjoyed his time then, since and now (since he even voiced Orac again in the Blake's Junction 7 spoof) but then he didn't have to learn any lines, wear any leather or stumble around in the quarries in voicing the computers. David Jackson seems the most disgruntled. He, perhaps of all of them, has the most cause I think. I can imagine Gan being an uninspiring character to play: a huge capacity for violence, but restrained by an implant. There's nothing really for an actor to bite into, no struggle to work with. He's a thug, but he can't kill people. End of story. He left at the end of the first series, and never really went onto bigger things and I think that takes the shine of B7 for him.

Gareth Thomas, oddly perhaps, is another who seems to bear a grudge. But, then, perhaps it isn't too surprising. He checked out of the series he was the titular character for and it actually got better. Not though, due to any failure on his part (in the way, for example, that Babylon 5 was given a boost when Michael O'Hare's lacklustre lead role was written out) but simply because losing Blake gave the show extra freedom. One of the problems all major TV serials have is their tendency to never progress very far; if something is successful, it stays in the show; Blake departing broke that. I think he's still proud of his two series under the name though - when someone alluded to B7 riding somewhat on the success of Star Wars he was quite vociferous in pointing out the first episode was shown the same week Star Wars was released in the UK.

Jan Chappel is the third of the cast there today who seems less than enamoured of the event. I suspect though she just doesn't like the “convention” thing. I remember once going to a book signing by Iain Banks and when I reached the table I asked some asinine question about the next Culture book and he said he wasn't sure when it would be. He seemed ill at ease, as if he'd rather be somewhere else. But then I thought his being a writer in no way should translate to being the perfect host. And I know the kind of public appearance like that scares me shitless - the one time I ran merely an online chat on IRC for Stratics I sweated buckets (not helped by accidently posting two rather personal jokes as sentence fragments from the back room into public). You'd think an actor would be more at home on the stage - but then you remember that, in their normal situation, they're not being themselves.

The other three cast members there today, Michael Keating, Jacqueline Pearce and Brian Croucher have, on both occasions, seemed to be really enjoying things. Michael and Jacqueline of course had meaty characters to work with and stuck around for all four seasons and Brian, though with only one season as Travis, seems to have carved a decent career afterwards, to go by his “record for most [guest] appearances on The Bill”.

But enough of my amateur (and probably incorrect) psychology. This year's launch was on it's own rather than, as with last year, being combined into a larger convention. Held at the The Tricycle in Kilburn, it promised a showing of the tribute/spoof short film Blake's Junction 7, a new version of the blooper reel and appearances by the above cast members plus a number of people who worked on the show, the DVD or both.

In the signing room, there were two rows of tables. On one side, the cast. If you'd pre-ordered the DVD you were allowed to get one signature from each on the DVD, otherwise you could pony up £5 per sig and get anything signed. On the other side of the room were the behind-the-scenes people, who signed for free and included: Mat Irvine (designer of Orac amongst other props on B7), June Hudson (costumes on B7), 'Mitch' Mitchell (B7 effects), Kevin Davies (DVD extras producer/director including The Making of B7 unreleased documentary) and Rob Emery, Jackie Ophir and Mark Spencer (all from the Dysfunction Group which developed the DVD).

Mark Spencer was quite open about some of the problems with the DVD production. As noted above, Kevin Davies' Making of documentary is unreleased. Kevin himself said he's gathered some four hours of material they could put on the DVDs but, according to Mark, most of the reason for it not being included is down to B7 Enterprises, the current rights-holders of Blake's 7, in addition to their failure to get the proposed sequel to B7 off the ground. Mark kindly wrote his signature over their logo on the back of the DVD box.

At 12.30 we were invited into the screening room to see Blake's Junction 7. This is a well made little 15-minute sketch based on the premise that Avon, Vila, Gan, Cally, Jenna and Soolin are now travelling the universe in a Volvo 245 and caravan and stop off at Newport Pagnell services so Vila (Martin Freeman from The Office and the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) can take a piss and they can get some food (and a beer for Orac). It's pretty funny and the scene with Travis telling Servalan (McKenzie Crook from The Office and Pirates of the Caribbean) where their route went wrong whilst two Federation Stormtroopers - in full face masks - try to silently finish their milkshakes had the whole audience in stitches. There's also an awkward moment when Avon (Mark Heap from Spaced) bumps into an old friend (played by Johnny Vegas of... well... being Johnny Vegas fame) in the men's loos.

Afterwards, the director, writer, prop-maker and costume designer got on stage for a brief Q&A. Apparently the film was made for nothing using donated equipment, spare time and film students. If they'd actually had to pay for it, it would have had a large budget than B7 though. Mat Irvine congratulated them on getting their Orac brighter than the one in B7 and Gareth Thomas asked how much Paul Darrow had paid to have his double taller than Gareth Thomas's.

Next up was a Q&A with the original cast of B7, ably compered by Kevin Davies. This, perhaps inevitably given the time since the show ended, produced much the same answers as heard at last year's cast reunion for series 1: Amusing anecdotes about filming conditions in the quarries (which Michael Keating now rambles through as a hobby), a little friendly bantering about how Peter Tuddenham had an easy job, comments on the rates of pay at the time and one telling admission from Gareth Thomas that he's not even glanced at the series 1 DVD (“I open the post and throw it away if it isn't a cheque”, he joked).

To finish up a new transfer of the blooper reel was shown. This runs a minute or so more than the one that was on the series 1 DVDs, but didn't really add much more than was there before. Then, it was upstairs to eat - provided for guests, go outside and find a cafe for the fans. Afterwards, if you wanted, you could mingle at the bar with the cast - but I never know what I'd say in those situations and can only think I'd end up standing on the edge of a small crowd, nursing a drink listening to someone else's conversation. So I left after thanking Diane Gies for arranging it all.

Some pictures from the event are here.