B5: PRESSURE POINT

RADIO TIMES: Within the Forbidden Zone is Control, the computer complex which runs the entire Federation. Blake is now ready to return to Earth to attack it. 

FACT FILE

• The working title for Pressure Point was Storm Mountain. It was commissioned from Nation in April 1978.

• Nation was originally to have written five episodes in Series B but ultimately delivered only three.

• Terry Nation was paid £1,200 for each of his episodes in Series B. Nation’s agent also negotiated £240 format royalty payments for each episode written by somebody else plus a script consultancy fee of £50 per episode. Nation was also paid £500 for a concept and theme for the season. In today’s money, Nation earned approximately £35,000 for his work on Series B. 

• Nation’s notes for Series B: Blake’s 7 is a space adventure: It is filled with action & adventure. This must be our yardstick by which we judge future stories.

• Terry Nation: "We made the decision that we needed a major publicity jolt. There is nothing like a death in a show".

• In Nation’s preparatory notes, he identified Gan and Cally as the ‘weak links’ in the show. He was also keen to kill off Vila.

• Gan was originally to have been killed off by a new character who would go on to be a Federation spy on the Liberator.

• Kasabi was originally a male character called Kasabian. His daughter was named as Veron Kasabian.

• Orac did not feature in the draft script which suggests it was written before the decision was made to keep the computer as a regular character. 

• Location filming took place at a variety of locations in and around Abingdon in Oxfordshire from Monday 21 to Wednesday 23 August, 1978.

• The scenes on the Liberator flight deck were recorded in BBC Television Centre, TC3,  on Saturday 30 September 1978. The scenes in the teleport, the ruined cottage and the crypt were recorded on Tuesday 10 October.

• Gan’s death was the last scene to be recorded on 11 October, 1978. David Jackson was disappointed that the scene had to be rushed through. An additional filmed insert of the roof collapsing above Gan was filmed on 29 November at Ealing Studios.