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A history of the most underrated British science fiction of the 1970s is, largely, just a history of British science fiction of the 1970s. It gets a bad rap. Think “1970s British Sci-Fi” and your mind will be flooded with associations of dodgy special effects, less-than-perfect gender politics, and so much knitwear. That, and a certain time traveller with a predilection for scarves and jelly babies.

But the truth is the 70s was a golden age for British science fiction stories with ideas and ambition, completely unrestrained by any concept of production values. While even the most pedestrian attempt at modern science fiction telly feels it has to go toe to toe with the MCU’s latest CGI eyeball-blaster, a year after Star Wars was on our screens the Doctor was still routinely facing off against dressed like this, and it was better for it.

Blake’s 7 (1978 – 1981)

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Doctor Who's anniversaries have opened the door to some of the most exciting stories. Among the mesmerizing runs in the show's history is Season 20, which stars Peter Davison's Doctor. This classic release of Fifth Doctor serials is due to be released on Blu-ray on September 18th, leading fans to debate which of these stories is the greatest.

Doctor Who's 20th Season contains a few of the series' biggest thrills. Made to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary, these lively adventures contain many returning characters from its long history, ensuring that it would become a season adored by fans. IMDb users have delivered their verdict on the 20th-anniversary celebrations, which have become an unforgettable part of Doctor Who's past.

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Ground-breaking, intelligent, prescient 1970s drama Doomwatch, now out on DVD, is a British television classic...

Playing on the public's fear that 'this could actually happen', Doomwatch had a veneer of credibility unusual in the escapist television drama landscape of the late 60s/early 70s. This spring sees the most comprehensive haul of Doomwatch episodes released on DVD for the first time. The nickname for the "Department for the Observation and Measurement of Scientific Work", the series first appeared on BBC1 on Monday 9th February 1970 at 9.40pm. It followed half an hour of comedy from Kenneth Williams, which must have surely heightened its dramatic impact.

The series would run in tandem with the early Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who; the first episode made its debut two days after part two of Doctor Who And The Silurians. The two shows undoubtedly shared a synergy of ideas - not to mention cast and crew.

Like it or not, Star Wars has always been a steadying influence on sci-fi telly since its debut in 1977. You can picture the exasperated look on Graham Williams' face as he realised that he now had to compete with a big-budget blockbuster that threw more visual trickery in your face than you could shake a magic stick at. Interestingly, despite the frugal budgets available, some of the results were not half bad. The Invasion Of Time pays homage to the film convincingly in its opening moments, while the spaceship scenes of Underworld and The Invisible Enemy are very very good indeed.

And since then, there's been the merchandise (kids today now have the Star Wars figure effect with the many Doctor Who figures), sly visual references (The End Of Time bar scene) and of course, Kamelion.

It's a nice idea, but in practice, the concept of Kamelion became a bit botched.

A couple of years ago, Doctor Who Magazine ran a contest in which you could win the chance to commentate on an episode of Survival. Foolishly, I decided to enter with a less than glowing review of Black Orchid. Needless to say, it didn't win, for one of the possible reasons. A) Peter Davison et al came up with a more scathing review on the accompanying DVD commentary; B) 200 words isn't enough for me to write everything I want, since there's more waffle in my writing than the entire output of Bird's Eye; and C) It was rubbish anyway.

Another potential reason is that in theory, Black Orchid shouldn't warrant such harsh criticism. It's a mid-season diversion with a down time, holiday feel – Doctor and co travel back to the Roaring 20s to play cricket, eat food and dance at the swanky Cranleigh abode. That's all.

But then having seen the thing again,...

A giant frog with delusions of grandeur? Nope, you haven't stumbled upon an episode of Dangermouse in which our hero's arch enemy - and dead ringer for Ann Widdecombe - Baron Greenback is plotting revenge, but in fact an episode of Doctor Who called Four To Doomsday.

Sounds crazy? Well, you'd be right. But then only in the previous season, we had a talking cactus with designs on the world, so the term "silly" is neither here nor there. Even so, Four To Doomsday requires an awful lot of tolerance on the viewer's part when it comes to dramatic credibility.

Maybe the common link here is Terence Dudley, who, after directing 1980's Meglos, switched his hat to writing. It has to be said though that his contributions to Doctor Who can charitably be described as eccentric. Four To Doomsday gives the impression of a writer who hasn't seen Doctor Who much.