Remembering Jacqueline Pearce

Many acting legends have quirks of their era, and something which is especially true of those whose careers were kick-started in the 1960s is their eccentricities. It's the right kind of madness, the sort where you have someone professionally trained, classical and haughty, capable of working with the most ridiculous of premises. If that sounds back-handed, it's not supposed to be, as it's a quality all too lacking today. It's the sort of thing that Patrick Stewart benefited from in Star Trek, or helped make the films of Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Vincent Price classics. You could have them stuck on low budget sets, facing down stories riddled with plot holes and ridiculous monsters, and they would make it work. Unfortunately, today is when another of that generation has met their end due to lung cancer; the ever underrated Jacqueline Pearce.

Pearce was an actress who really should have been brought up before now on here. The only reason that she wasn't was due to the franchises she was associated with, specifically those of British science fiction. While we have dabbled frequently with Doctor Who, save for a few reviews these have focused on television over Big Finish productions, and the subject of Blake's 7 is one which is always difficult to approach. The latter especially is where Pearce shined, displaying the qualities of a villain which can rarely be fully matched. Across the series' entire run she played Supreme Commander Servalan, a calculating politician and gloriously traditional villain. Capable of returning time and time again, Servalan was a figure which could have easily come across as a cliched villain of the week, and yet Pearce's performance helped to elevate the role.

While she could be bombastic, over the top and exaggerated, there was a human element to her and a calculating quality. It was an ever present aspect which made her charming and engaging, but you could never write her off as an effective threat to the heroes. This was something which only became more evident as time went by and especially during the final season, where she was often playing the heroes for her own games.

Even without getting into Blake's 7 itself, Pearce was able to work herself into seemingly almost any role. It's why if you look through her IMDB page, you find everything from a Carry On film to (appropriately enough given that intro) surrealist horror films by Hammer productions. Even if her role was minor, there was always so much life and character to them, that they could elevate whole scenes. If you wish for a more eloquently put version of this, i'd strongly suggest reading through her obituary here.

It's a tragedy that we will never again hear Pearce playing Cardinal Ollistra or voicing Servalan in the Big Finish continuation of Blake's 7, but I'm glad she left so strong an impact on British cult science fiction.