Blake's 7 Logo 'Sand'
by Tanith Lee		 Blake's 7 Cast

Commissioner Sleer - Servalan - investigates reports that the planet Virn hides a valuable resource; the original exploration team, headed by her former lover, Don Keller, all died under mysterious circumstances. Arriving at the planet, a systems failure causes the ship to crash, and it is then trapped in a sandslide. Seeking refuge, Servalan, her assistant and Inspector Reeve look for Keller’s base. After Servalan’s assistant is sucked into the sand and killed, Reeve accuses Servalan of the murder, revealing that he knows of her true identity. Hearing that a Federation team is investigating the strange reports, the Scorpio crew take the ship to Virn, where their instrumentation also malfunctions. Dayna and Tarrant teleport to the surface, but Dayna is wounded by Reeve; she teleports back to the ship, but when Soolin tries to join Tarrant, the teleport fails to work. Reeve is about to kill Tarrant when he becomes disorientated, and is instead shot by Tarrant. He and Servalan form an uneasy truce and enter Keller’s base, where they find the scientist’s perfectly preserved body. Meanwhile, aboard Scorpio, some sand has been teleported up with Dayna; when Vila finds that his strength is being sapped, Avon realises that the sand is a vampire-like life-form that sucks the energy from living beings, and which deliberately keeps a dominant male and any females alive so that it always has a breeding stock. On the planet, Tarrant has also worked this out, and the sand seals them in and influences their minds, making them attractive to each other. When Vila spills some wine it kills the sand, leading Avon to deduce that liquid is anathema to it. They use the ship to cause a disturbance in the atmosphere, making rain that frees the ship’s instruments and destroys the sand on the surface. Faced with the opportunity to kill each other, neither Tarrant nor Servalan is able to. Tarrant returns to the ship and reveals the truth about the sand’s preservative properties, and also his encounter with Servalan. The others consider it a betrayal, except for Avon, who seems jealous…

Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon), Michael Keating (Vila Restal ), Josette Simon (Dayna Mellanby), Steven Pacey (Del Tarrant), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac / Slave), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Stephen Yardley (Reeve), Daniel Hill (Chasgo), Peter Craze (Servalan’s Assistant), Jonathan David (Keller), Michael Gaunt (Computer)

Directed by Vivienne Cozens
Produced by David Maloney

TX:
23rd November 1981 @ 7.20 pm - 8.10 pm

Notes:
*Featuring Kerr Avon, Vila Restal, Dayna Mellanby, Del Tarrant, Soolin, Orac and Slave