Horizon: That pesky anti-colonial Blake's 7 episode

I think one of the most interesting Blake's 7 episodes is "Horizon". Horizon deals with Blake's attempt to find a rebel hide out on a colonized Federation planet. What makes the episode so interesting is that it is very clearly a direct attack on British imperial designs in India, with the governor Ro standing in as a convenient representative of the colonial collaborator, later colonial rebel. Remember, this was the time period in Britian when Margaret Thatcher and Enoch Powell were still very popular among British conservatives. A time period when Mary Whitehouse was relentlessly ferreting out deviance from any sci-fi series that showed a spark of spunk. For Blake's 7 to so directly attack British imperialism and side with the native point of view, shows that the series, even in the relatively early-going, was going to attack big issues. I do think certain elements of the program, particularly Ro's return to native dress, have a touch of British condescension, but I think overall this episode does an admirable job of putting the post-colonial agenda on the sci-fi map. Later series, like Earth 2, could use this plot development as a valuable starting point.