Farewell Avon

I noticed that Paul Darrow was trending on Twitter this evening, and sadly, it is because he has died. He was 78.
Paul Darrow was most famous for his role as Avon in Blake's Seven - he had all the best snarky lines.
He was also an excellent villain in the audio drama Minister of Chance, in a cast that also included Paul McGann and Sylvester McCoy.
On stage, he played Commander Vimes in the adaptation of the Discworld book Guards! Guards!
He was also part of UNIT in Doctor Who, in Doctor Who and the Silurians (as Captain Hawkins), and in the 80s he returned to the series in the story Timelash.
He was the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1975 BBC version of Robin Hood (and was one of the best things about the series!).
He was also in the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery Murder Must Advertise.
[Edited to add: I completely forgot he also played Cromwell in The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, the graphic novel by Bryan Talbot which was adapted into an audio drama with David Tennant in the title role, by Big Finish]
He played many other parts as well - but this is the moment I'm thinking of right now....

Farewell, Servalan

Just heard the sad news that Jacqueline Pearce has died. She was a wonderful villain in Blake's Seven, and also appeared in Doctor Who (with the Sixth Doctor) and some of the Big Finish audio Doctor Who adventures. She was 74.

Goodbye, Blake - Who Will Lead the Resistance Now?

Sad to hear that Gareth Thomas has just died, aged 71. Here he is in one of his most famous roles, as Roj Blake in Blake's Seven. I remember trying to watch this on a tiny portable TV with appalling reception at college, with one person holding the wire to the ariel up to get the signal for the whole episode! Of course, he was rather outshone by Avon (Paul Darrow) who had the best snarky lines!
He was also in a couple of other cult classics of the 1970s and 80s - in Children of the Stones, he was the sensible dad who had just moved into Avebury, which was not a normal village by any stretch of the imagination.
After Blake's Seven he was, again, the dad - and Welsh resistance leader - in Knights of God, which was also the last role for Patrick Troughton, as Arthur, mystical leader of the resistance against John Woodvine's evil (and increasingly bonkers) Prior Mordrin.
He even had a guest role in Torchwood, more recently, in the episode Ghost Machine.
I understand that there is a Blake's Seven audio series from Big Finish where he also played Blake, as well as appearing as various characters in Doctor Who audio adventures.
Looking down the list of his credits on Wikipedia, he appeared in quite a few things I remember watching, like the Civil War drama By the Sword Divided. He was also in the TV adaptation of the childrens books by Jenny Nimmo, Emlyn's Moon and the Chestnut Soldier, which drew on Welsh legends for the fantasy element. The first book in the series is the Snow Spider.