Coming to Britbox in the UK will be all four seasons of Terry Nation’s Blake’s 7 plus all three seasons of Nation’s post-apocalyptic Survivors joining at the later date of Thursday the 17th of September. There’ll also be 1967’s Quatermass and the Pit, plus a good portion of 1961’s The Avengers, Hammer’s 1966 One Million Years BC, with the terrific, weird Nic Roeg/David Bowie film The Man Who Fell to Earth thrown in for good measure. Doctor Who-wise, UK subscribers will be able to stream 1965 Peter Cushing film Doctor Who and the Daleks, as well as 1966’s Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150AD. All of the above bar Survivors, which is coming a week later, will be available to stream from September 10th. Here’s a bit more detail from Britbox about the new additions:
Blake’s 7 (1978)
All 52 episodes and four seasons of the cult British sci-fi show from the mind of Terry Nation. In the third century of the second calendar, after the chaos of the intergalactic wars, a powerful dictatorship has risen to dynamic proportions and engulfed most of the populated worlds. Liberty has become a crime punishable by death, and the majority of the population lives in a drug-induced state of docility. This tyrannical authority fulfils George Orwell’s prophecy of 1984 to its most terrifying extremes. This government is known as the Federation. Each world has its share of rebels who either turned to crime or the Resistance. This is the story of one such group of rebels, led by a man named Blake. His group is largely composed of escaped convicts, thieves and smugglers, who are thrown together by chance.
Doctor Who and the Daleks (1965)
The first big screen spin-off from the television series featuring the infamous Daleks. Eccentric Earth inventor Doctor Who (Peter Cushing) is demonstrating his space/time craft, the TARDIS, to his niece’s boyfriend, Ian (Roy Castle), when he manages to whisk them all off to the planet Skaro. There they encounter two races: the blue-skinned, peace-loving Thals, and the biomechanical Daleks.
Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150AD (1966)
The Earth of 2150 AD is a desolate and hostile ruin of a planet, crumbling at the edge of civilisation, slowly disappearing into the darkness of space. For the future of planet Earth now belongs to The Daleks, a destructive army of alien invaders who have turned the human race into cowering slaves. Meanwhile deep within the London Underground a group of resistance freedom fighters are planning an attack. But there’s only one man who could possibly help them succeed in destroying their extra-terrestrial enemies and take back control of planet Earth. A man of mystery, a man of time and space, a man known only as… The Doctor. Starring Peter Cushing.
One Million Years BC (1966)
This spectacular prehistoric adventure was promoted as Hammer’s 100th production and gave the world the iconic image of star Raquel Welch in a fur-lined bikini. The highlight of the movie was the stop-motion dinosaurs that were subsequently added by legendary special effects animator Ray Harryhausen. The result was Hammer’s biggest commercial success, the most famous dinosaur epic until the release of Jurassic Park 26 years later.
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
Hobbs End, Knightsbridge, London. Whilst working on a new subway tunnel for the London Underground, a group of construction workers uncover a strangely shaped skull amongst the rubble. Nearby is another discovery: a large, mysterious and impenetrable metal object. Initially mistaken for an unexploded bomb the origins of the object and its strange power are far more horrific and terrifying than anybody could have possibly imagined. Is it of this Earth? Could it be the ancestral link to mankind’s evolution? Or could it be an ancient link to unleashing ultimate evil? There’s only one man capable of unravelling the clues, his name is Professor Bernard Quatermass, a man of science who thrives on the dark mysteries of the world, a man with answers.
Survivors (1975) 17th September
All three seasons of Terry Nation’s acclaimed BBC science fiction drama in which 95% of the population have been wiped out by a freak plague, leaving the remaining survivors to rebuild civilisation. Find out more about Britbox here.
