Paul Darrow: Actor who starred in cult TV series Blake’s 7 and Doctor Who

Darrow featured in all but the first of the 52 episodes of the sci-fi space drama (PA)

Paul Darrow played the enigmatic Kerr Avon in the cult sci-fi series Blake’s 7 – as second-in-command of the spacecraft Liberator, he was the dark, brooding and witty computer expert who could intervene at just the right moment to save the ship and its crew.

He was born Paul Birkby in 1941 in Chessington, Surrey, and educated at The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School in Hertfordshire. He went on to join the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, during which time he shared a house with fellow actors Ian McShane and John Hurt.

Darrow, who has died aged 78, once told TV presenter Michael Aspel: “I always wanted to go into films. I was mad about films when I was a boy and used to go to the cinema a lot ... So, I wanted to be connected with films in some way and acting seemed a good idea.”

His first major role on television was as the consultant Mr Verity in the medical soap Emergency – Ward 10 during the mid-Sixties. He appeared as Captain Hawkins in Doctor Who and the Silurians in 1970 and as the character Maylin Tekker in Timelash in 1985. But it was for his work in another science fiction franchise that he was best known.

Blake’s 7, written by Terry Nation, became a surprise hit when it was first broadcast in 1978 – four 13-episode series were broadcast until 1981.

Nation had conceived the series as a darker alternative to Doctor Who, aimed an adult audience. Darrow remembered getting the role, saying: “I was telephoned by my agent... she said ‘The BBC are doing a futuristic series in which they would like you to portray a brilliant engineer’. I said, ‘How far into the future’ and ‘What does an engineer look like?’”

He featured in all but the first of the 52 episodes of the programme. The ever-sardonic Avon was something of an anti-hero, driven by personal gain, in contrast to the revolutionary zeal of his fellow crew members. Recalling the character’s development after the departure of Captain Roj Blake, played by Gareth Thomas, Darrow said, “Inevitably he changed a little bit and I had to alter to accommodate what the writers were putting in.”

He added: “So I made him, shall we say, stressed. Not psychopathic or anything like that ... Avon was very vulnerable and therefore there was always the possibility that he might lose. And I think that contributed to the appeal of the character.”

In 1989, Darrow penned the book Avon: A Terrible Aspect, a novel set in the Blake’s 7 universe and taking the form of a prequel in which he tells Avon’s life story from his birth to just before he joins the crew of the Liberator.

Darrow retained his passion for the Blake’s 7 project and remained its public spokesperson. In the audiobooks, Blake’s 7 – The Liberator Chronicles, he reprised the theme with some of his earlier acting colleagues, taking the crew on new adventures.

In 2014, Darrow had an aortic aneurysm that caused loss of blood flow to his legs and resulted in a double amputation. He had most recently appeared on television last October on a special celebrity edition of the quiz show Pointless, in his wheelchair, alongside his Blake’s 7 co-star Michael Keating.

As well as his appearances on the small screen, Darrow had also done much radio work and had been the voice of radio stations Jack FM and Union Jack radio since 2007.

Paul Darrow, actor, born 2 May 1941, died 3 June 2019