He created the role of a freedom fighter whose name graced a series that he didn’t even star in for half its run. Gareth Thomas, the man behind Blake of Blake’s 7 fame, talks about his most famous role, as well as presenting a few gems of his own creation.
Review: The first CD in The Actor Speaks series from Mark J. Thompson’s MJTV Productions, this CD combines interview segments with Gareth “Blake” Thomas and monologue pieces either written or performed by him. (Two of the monologues are written by Thomas, but are performed instead by Nicholas Courtney – the Brigadier of Doctor Who fame; the third is performed by Thomas but not written by him.) I wouldn’t have minded the guest star performing the Thomas-written pieces – but the interview segments don’t touch on him as a writer at all, which is extremely frustrating, because of the non-interview segments, it is these two monologues where are the most fascinating. I would like to have heard more about them. The first interview segment itself is also engrossing, as Thomas pieces together an unseen backstory for Blake, based on what was seen in the series and his own imagination.
If there’s a slow point in the CD, it’s the third track, which seems like an extended advertisement for Mark Thompson’s own sci-fi-comedy audio series, Soldiers Of Love. There are comparisons to Blake’s 7, and discussion of Soldiers Of Love’s running parody of Blake’s 7, but if you’re not “into” Soldiers Of Love (I’d heard of it before, but what I’ve read about it, whether from MJTV’s own web site or reviews elsewhere, hasn’t made me think it’s something I’d really get my teeth into). To compound this, the fourth track is a ten minute monologue starring Thomas as his Soldiers Of Love character, and the final track is yet another Soldiers parody piece. I don’t count too many points off for this, because Soldiers is, or at the time of this CD’s release was, MJTV’s main export; one can’t blame them for taking the opportunity for a bit of self promotion, but compared to the Paul Darrow edition of The Actor Speaks, even with its own detours and divergences, it just strikes me as being something that I didn’t have in mind when I put my money on the table for this CD.
It’s a mixed bag, mainly because so little of this CD about actor Gareth Thomas seems to focus on its subject.
This item can be ordered from the producers, MJTV Productions.