Blake 7 star joins the Emmerdale cast

Blake 7 star joins the Emmerdale cast
Blake 7 star joins the Emmerdale cast

Former Blake 7 star Paul Darrow has joined the cast of Emmerdale. Paul will play fun-loving Eddy Fox, an old friend of Alan Turner's, who turns up in style on a motortrike on July 13. "I am delighted to be appearing in Emmerdale," Paul told ITV.com. "My character Eddy's going to be great fun to play. I'll get to ride around the Dales on my trike in my leathers. I'll be like Marlon Brando. "I'm also really looking forward to catching up with my old pal Richard Thorp (aka Alan Turner). We used to work together way back on Emergency Ward 10." Paul's character Eddy soon seems to settle into the village, and while charming the ladies he makes Turner a tempting offer - travelling round the world with him. Paul, 68, played loveable rebel Kerr Avon in Blake's 7. He has also popped up in Doctor Who, Law and Order: UK, Little Britain and 007 epic Die Another Day. Soap fans with long memories may also remember his brief appearance in Coronation Street in 1969, and in 2002 he popped up in Hollyoaks.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.