Woman of the week: Servalan, science-fiction villainess

AS MURDEROUS, corrupt, sexually predatory intergalactic harridans go, Servalan is up there with the best. Blake's 7, the BBC sci-fi series that ran between 1978 and 1981, may have had the kind of homespun production values (including props whipped up on Blue Peter) that make most of the videos created by ten-year-olds on YouTube look like Hollywood blockbusters, but Servalan was the real deal: a power-crazed fashion plate with a limitless thirst for domination and outlandish outfits.

By gad, they don't make them like that these days. In a sci-fi soup of wobbling sets and the kind of over-acting achieved only when you put a bunch of thesps in daft outfits and tell them that they're fighting for the survival of the universe, Servalan was a gem.

It wasn't just the cropped hair or the maniacally arched eyebrows, it was the fact that whatever evil misdeeds Servalan, President of the corrupt Terran Federation, Ruler of the High Council, Lord of the Inner and Outer Worlds, High Admiral of the Galactic Fleets, Lord General of the Six Armies, and Defender of the Earth (phew), got up to, she did so decked out in sartorial creations which looked like they'd been dreamed up on another planet.

She is, after all, the woman who crash-landed on a hostile planet wearing a full-length white evening gown, pearls and impossibly high heels. And, far from impeding her bid for planetary domination, this get-up, in fact, aided her dastardly plans. Move over Alexis Carrington, Servalan is the original power dresser.

Blake's 7 attracted audiences of 10 million at its peak, which is presumably why Sky One is commissioning scripts to bring it back. But will they bring back Servalan? Since rumours of the remake began to surface, this is the only story worth following. And it's all to play for. In a bold move, perhaps urged on by the fact that the production was so cheap the chances of any of the props surviving for a remake were slim, pretty much the whole cast was wiped out in the final episode of the original series. Blake was shot by fellow crew member Avon, and the rest of the main characters appeared to perish too. But Servalan? Uh-uh: there was never any conclusive evidence that she'd finally hung up her heels.

But could it really happen? Well, why not? The best villains are women (what do you think tempted Cate Blanchett to do the new Indiana Jones movie?). All the producers would need to do is tempt Jacqueline Pearce – the RADA-trained actress who personified Servalan – back from South Africa, where she now lives in a cottage without electricity, spending her time working with Vervet monkeys and (according to her blog www.jacquelinepearce.com) writing an autobiography.

Well, how hard can it be? I feel a campaign coming on.