R.I.P. Paul Darrow

[Deanjam]

As the subject line says, Paul Darrow has died aged 78.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48501099

[Dr Rock]

No no no no no no no

[Attila]

Was already feeling a bit down in general, and then saw this come over the news :(

The last thing I saw him in before he was ill was a mad theatre director in an episode of Toast of London.  He did a celebrity episode of Pointless last year where he looked really fragile.

[Funcrusher]

Shit. Read this as Paul Dacre initially.

[Delete Delete Delete]

Always a treat when he would pop up in something.

[The Boston Crab]

RIP.

He was brilliant in Love Island.

[Norton Canes]

Kerr Avon: one of the best characters in any genre television series ever. A perfect marriage of Paul Darrow's acid delivery of Blake's 7 script writer/editor Chris Boucher's stinging witticisms.

[Cloud]

:(

Hope he's giving Servalan hell somewhere.

[Funcrusher]

Kerr Avon: one of the best characters in any genre television series ever. A perfect marriage of Paul Darrow's acid delivery of Blake's 7 script writer/editor Chris Boucher's stinging witticisms.

From the obituaries I have learned that Avon had a first name.

[Norton Canes]

Most of the gang had both a first name and family name

[Alberon]

Not too surprising news, sadly. He made that show, a great character well acted.

Avon in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmqADvB4iD4

[Natnar]

His finest role :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljBXnsiULQo

[mothman]

His finest role :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljBXnsiULQo

Oof. That's fucking ironic.

[Glebe]

Very sad news. I only really remember the (fantastic) theme music and bits and bobs of Blake's 7 as a kid, but a while ago I started watching it properly on YouTube (although I kind of gave up around series 3)... he was just fantastic as Avon, drily sarcastic but with a dash of humanity in there.

Was rather delighted when I discovered he voiced Zarok in PlayStation One classic Medievil.

Was already feeling a bit down in general, and then saw this come over the news :(

The last thing I saw him in before he was ill was a mad theatre director in an episode of Toast of London.  He did a celebrity episode of Pointless last year where he looked really fragile.

Haha, oh yeah that's the ToL episode with the cyclops... crikey, just looking at a bit of that Pointless episode on YouTube, he's unrecognisable. Hope you're feeling a bit better now btw, Attila.

:(

Hope he's giving Servalan hell somewhere.

...And having a discussion about ethics with Blake! David Jackson, who played Gan, passed away some years ago, as did Peter Tuddenham (who voiced Zen, Orac and Slave)...  oh, and according to Wiki, Derek Farr, who voiced Orac in his first appearance. Apart from those, however, I believe the rest of the main cast are still with us. Was watching an old rerun of Filthy, Rich and Catflap on GOLD a little while ago, Brian Croucher (who took over the role of Travis from Stephen Greif) pops up in an episode as a barman.

His finest role :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljBXnsiULQo

That's fantastic. The bit where he appears to be mouthing the voiceover in the chair is odd.

Btw, if they finally decide to do a Blake's 7 remake anytime soon, Mads Mikkelsen would make a great Avon. And Jennifer Lawrence as Jenna.

[Attila]

Very sad news. I only really remember the (fantastic) theme music and bits and bobs of Blake's 7 as a kid, but a while ago I started watching it properly on YouTube (although I kind of gave up around series 3)... he was just fantastic as Avon, drily sarcastic but with a dash of humanity in there.

Was rather delighted when I discovered he voiced Zarok in PlayStation One classic Medievil.

Haha, oh yeah that's the ToL episode with the cyclops... crikey, just looking at a bit of that Pointless episode on YouTube, he's unrecognisable. Hope you're feeling a bit better now btw, Attila.

...And having a discussion about ethics with Blake! David Jackson, who played Gan, passed away some years ago, as did Peter Tuddenham (who voiced Zen, Orac and Slave)...  oh, and according to Wiki, Derek Farr, who voiced Orac in his first appearance. Apart from those, however, I believe the rest of the main cast are still with us. Was watching an old rerun of Filthy, Rich and Catflap on GOLD a little while ago, Brian Croucher (who took over the role of Travis from Stephen Greif) pops up in an episode as a barman.

That's fantastic. The bit where he appears to be mouthing the voiceover in the chair is odd.

Btw, if they finally decide to do a Blake's 7 remake anytime soon, Mads Mikkelsen would make a great Avon. And Jennifer Lawrence as Jenna.

Ta, Glebe. Cracking on one day at a time, really (and working on what might be the foundation for some positive things down the road).

Mark Heap also made a wonderful Avon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSp2FEy_HYw

[oy vey]

I like to think he hasn't died, and that instead we cut to Paul raising his gun towards the grim reaper, flashes a wry smile, and we cut to end credits.

[edit] Someone please tell me he will return next year, otherwise twill be a shit Christmas. :(

[Cloud]

...And having a discussion about ethics with Blake! David Jackson, who played Gan, passed away some years ago, as did Peter Tuddenham (who voiced Zen, Orac and Slave)...  oh, and according to Wiki, Derek Farr, who voiced Orac in his first appearance. Apart from those, however, I believe the rest of the main cast are still with us.

We lost Gareth Thomas (Blake) a year or two ago, think it might've been during the 2016 spate of famous deaths.  So that sadly means 4 of the originals (as Zen was counted as one of the seven) are gone.  Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan) as well.  The other cast who came in later are still around though I believe

[Alberon]

Josette Simon, who played Dayna, was in some Syfy rubbish called Nightflyers a couple of months back. She looks like she's only aged ten years in the thirty-eight since B7 was made.

She must be leaching off the life force of the other cast members. Only possible explanation.

[Space ghost]

My mum has a very large, decades long crush on your man Avon and really who can blame her so it was an unpleasant conversation letting her know that he had passed. As a result of this crush I must've seen every episode of Blake's 7 at least four or five times.
RIP Space Dad.

[Attila]

Josette Simon, who played Dayna, was in some Syfy rubbish called Nightflyers a couple of months back. She looks like she's only aged ten years in the thirty-eight since B7 was made.

She must be leaching off the life force of the other cast members. Only possible explanation.

She played a baddies in Holby City a few years back, and yeah -- she looked as if she hadn't aged at all. If I'm not mistaken, she refuses to be associated with the show (unless she's mellowed over the years).

[Deanjam]

Josette Simon, who played Dayna, was in some Syfy rubbish called Nightflyers a couple of months back. She looks like she's only aged ten years in the thirty-eight since B7 was made.

She must be leaching off the life force of the other cast members. Only possible explanation.

She's ridiculous for almost 60. Noticed her in Wonder Woman when that came out.

[Red Lantern]

Josette Simon, who played Dayna, was in some Syfy rubbish called Nightflyers a couple of months back. She looks like she's only aged ten years in the thirty-eight since B7 was made.

She must be leaching off the life force of the other cast members. Only possible explanation.

I saw Josette Simon playing Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra at the Barbican last year, and thought the same, she looked amazingly young.

I loved Blake's 7, and have rewatched the entire series a few times over the years. Avon was such a magnificent bastard.

[Johnny Yesno]

Aw. Blake's 7 is probably my all-time favourite sci-fi show and that's largely down to Paul Darrow. I wanted to be Avon when I was a kid. If I'm honest, I still want to be Avon.

Avon in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmqADvB4iD4

There's some excellent laugh out loud lines in there. Thanks for posting the link.

[Glebe]

She's ridiculous for almost 60. Noticed her in Wonder Woman when that came out.

Flippin' 'eck, she is and all!

[Johnny Yesno]

Mark Heap also made a wonderful Avon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSp2FEy_HYw

That's also great. 2007. How did I miss it?

[Attila]

I sent a link to Blakes Junction 7 to Glynis Barber, and she liked it, too :3

[Deanjam]

Toby Hadoke's obituary from the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jun/06/paul-darrow-obituary?CMP=share_btn_tw

The actor Paul Darrow, who has died aged 78, will be best remembered as the sardonic antihero Kerr Avon in all four series of Blake's 7 (1978-81), the BBC TV science fiction show, created by Terry Nation, about rebellious outlaws fighting a cruel Federation.

When Gareth Thomas, playing Roj Blake, left after two years, Avon became the main character. He was a terse, cold pragmatist with a fine line in purred cynicism, and beneath his steely eyes and inscrutable visage Darrow imbued the character with a quick, calculating intelligence and simmering danger. He considered Avon to be a cross between Steve McQueen and Elvis Presley, with a touch of Richard Nixon thrown in. It was a captivating performance, never dull, and Darrow's smouldering good looks and gift for icy put-downs made Avon hugely popular with viewers and a bona fide science fiction icon.

The series ended with the shocking deaths of all the lead characters (including Blake, returning for one last episode), with Avon the last man standing. The show's final shot was a closeup of Darrow, gun raised, grinning down the barrel of the camera (and several Federation rifles). Gunshots sounded over the closing titles.

Darrow enthusiastically reprised the role when Blake's 7 was revived on audio by both the BBC (1998-99) and Big Finish (2012-19). He wrote a novel, Avon: A Terrible Aspect (1989), and even tried to acquire the rights to continue the screen incarnation of the series.

He was born in Chessington, Surrey, as Paul Birkby, the son of a pharmacist, Val Birkby, and his wife, Gwen (nee Thomas). After a peripatetic postwar childhood he settled with his parents in Mill Hill East, north London, and was educated at the Haberdashers' Aske's Hampstead school before enrolling at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

When he graduated in 1962 an agent convinced him that his name was not actorly enough, so his father suggested Darrow, after the great American attorney Clarence Darrow. His theatrical career began in repertory in Cheltenham in 1962; he toured in Chips with Everything in 1963 and then spent a year at York Theatre Royal, where he became engaged to a fellow actor, Janet Lees-Price, whom he married in 1966.

Other stage roles included the title role in Alfie (Northampton repertory theatre, 1965), Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger (1968, York Theatre Royal, then a tour of the Netherlands), Rocky in The Iceman Cometh (Bristol Old Vic, 1971) and Detective Sergeant Trotter in The Mousetrap (Ambassadors theatre, 1972).

After Blake's 7 he was in the West End for Ray Cooney's Run For Your Wife (Criterion theatre, 1985-87), played Presley for Bill Kenwright in Alan Bleasdale's Are You Lonesome Tonight? (tour, 1987-88), the title role in Macbeth (tour, 1992) and Captain Vimes in Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! (tour, 1998-99).

Having made his television debut in 1963, he played the dashing young doctor Simon Verity in Emergency - Ward 10 (1965-66); by happy coincidence, Janet also landed a regular role in the show at the same time. As well as playing guest parts in many popular dramas in the 1960s and 70s, he took the title role in The Poisoning of Charles Bravo (1975) and was the Sheriff of Nottingham in The Legend of Robin Hood (1975) before being cast as Avon in 1977.

When Blake's 7 ended he delivered a superb turn as James Carker in the BBC's Dombey and Son (1983), entertainingly chewed the scenery in the Doctor Who adventure Timelash (1985), and was a regular in Making News (1990) and The Strangerers (2000). Darrow played judges in both Hollyoaks (2002) and Law and Order (2009-14), had two short stints in Emmerdale (1991-92, 2009), did comic turns for Little Britain (2004) and Toast of London (2014), and hosted the athletic endurance series Hercules (2004).

He lent his distinctive tones to numerous commercials and video games, and was the voice of the Oxfordshire radio station Jack FM for more than a decade, providing jingles and promotional inserts.

In 2014 he suffered an aortic aneurysm that led to the partial amputation of both legs, but he responded with trademark good humour, persevering with his hugely entertaining turns at science fiction conventions. His last television appearance was with his old friend and Blake's 7 co-star Michael Keating on an episode of Pointless Celebrities in 2018.

He published an autobiography, You're Him, Aren't You?, in 2006.

Janet died in 2012.

• Paul Darrow (Paul Valentine Birkby), actor, born 2 May 1941; died 3 June 2019

[Johnny Yesno]

I sent a link to Blakes Junction 7 to Glynis Barber, and she liked it, too :3

I had a massive crush on Soolin. Blake's 7 had pretty much everything I wanted in a sci-fi (except for Blake for most of it, ironically). It's nice to know Glynis Barber has a sense of humour.

Check out this lolwut? scene. I don't remember it at all.

Blakes 7 - Tarrant squabbles with Soolin & Avon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ria6SFi1k40

[studpuppet]

That's also great. 2007. How did I miss it?

You probably missed the other two as well - Ant Musak and World Of Wrestling.

[Johnny Yesno]

You probably missed the other two as well - Ant Musak and World Of Wrestling.

Nice one, thanks.