Servalan

Servalan is a fictional military leader and despot featured in the 1978-1981 British science fiction television series Blake's 7. Played by actress Jacqueline Pearce, she first appeared in the series one episode, "Seek-Locate-Destroy". She became a series beginning with series three. She made twenty-nine appearances on the program in total.

Biography
Servalan was a ruthless dictator, who became the Supreme Commander of the Terran Federation. Ambitious, cunning, and bereft of any moral fiber, she continued to consolidate her power, ultimately staging a military coup that led to her becoming President of the Federation.

Servalan had to fight hard to keep her position, as there were many withing the Federation who sought to unseat her. Opportunities for this presented themselves as Servalan was usually distracted by her obsession to capture the crew of the Liberator. She maintained a keen interest in the ship's commander, Kerr Avon, and the two developed a strange adversarial respect for one another.

Servalan ultimately captured the Liberator and its crew at Terminus. During this time, factions within the Federation succeeded in deposing her, and she became fugitive from justice. She adopted a new identity, that of Commissioner Sleer, and began to slowly rebuild her power base, killing several people in the process. She was still developing a foothold at the time when the Terran Federation succeeded in gunning down her old foes.

Notes & Trivia



 * Servalan did not appear in the series finale, "Blake", leaving her final fate unclear. Presumably, she continued to develop her own power base under the guise of Commissioner Sleer.


 * Although she was still alive at the end of the TV series, Servalan's final fate was later chronicled in a non-canon novel titled Lucifer, written by former series actor Paul Darrow. She is shot and killed by Kerr Avon's lover, some twenty-years after the end of the series.


 * In the Blake's 7 audio series, Servalan was voiced by Daniela Nardini.


 * Character trademark: Typical villainous gloating and heaping amounts of self-assuredness


 * Character trademark: Over-elaborate planning, with traditional villainous flare, the arrogance of which always enables her captives to escape.


 * Actress Jacqueline Pearce is also known for playing a character named Chessene in the three-part "The Two Doctors" storyline from Doctor Who in 1985.