Richard Blake
Major Blake — whose first name was either Richard (PROSE: Guinevere One) or Thomas, (PROSE: The Christmas Invasion) — was the UNIT officer in charge of the Tower of London branch of UNIT. On 24 December 2006, he briefed Harriet Jones and Daniel Llewellyn on the protocols of dealing with extraterrestrial beings as the Sycorax invaded Earth. He was with them when all three were teleported aboard the Sycorax ship. After the death of Llewellyn, Blake tried to protect Harriet Jones and Alex by protesting Llewellyn's cold blooded death, but died when the Sycorax leader struck him with his death whip. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)
Behind the scenes
- Major Blake is only addressed as "Major" in dialogue and the credits for The Christmas Invasion simply call him "Major Blake". In the short story Guinevere One, part of the Operations Board mini-series of narrative operations boards behind the secure login of the U.N.I.T. website, Blake's first name given as "Richard" whereas the novelisation gives him the name Thomas.
While Blake is calm and respectful to Jones in the episode, the UNIT website has him more irreverent and assumes she's looking for an "excuse" to visit the Tower of London base. He later advises staff "Be respectful, supportive, and obviously don't let her think that she owns the place."
