Dayna Mellanby

Dayna Mellanby is a fictional character in the BBC science fiction television series Blake's 7, played by Josette Simon.

Dayna Mellanby was the daughter of former resistance leader Hal Mellanby, who fled from Earth with his infant daughter to escape security forces after his movement collapsed. Living in an undersea home on Sarran, she developed a keen interest in all kinds of weapons systems, developing expertise in everything from bows and arrows to sophisticated energy blasters.

In the aftermath of the Intergalactic War, numerous survivors of the battle crash-landed on Sarran, including Kerr Avon, whom Dayna rescued from the primitive Sarran natives. Servalan later crashed on Sarran and joined them in Mellanby's home. Servalan eventually recognized and murdered Mellanby and tried to escape with Orac. During this time, Dayna's adopted sister was killed by the Sarans. Dayna was unable to kill Servalan before the Liberator automatically teleported her and Avon back.

With her father and sister dead, Dayna joined the Liberator crew and resumed her father's fight against the Federation. Having been raised on a backwater planet, Dayna was bit naive and idealistic. Young, pretty, lively and with a strong sense of humour, she was a marked contrast against the world-weary cynicism of the rest of the crew. She was also capable, determined and good under pressure. At one point, in "Deathwatch", she had a clear chance to kill Servalan but spared her to prevent an interplanetary war. And she continued to develop elaborate weapons for the crew with a flair that Tarrant described as "gaudy, but effective."

Dayna showed an initial romantic interest in Avon as he was the first man she'd met in a very long time. On the first meeting, she kissed him out of "curiosity". But she quickly cooled to him. She also had a past romantic involvement with an older scientist named Justin. When he was killed by Servalan ("Animals"), she was devastated. This only served to fuel her consuming hatred of Servalan. During the episode "Ultraworld", it is implied that Dayna and Tarrant had sex, so that the human reproductive process could be studied by the planet's inhabitants (at one point, Dayna is shown leaning over a prone Tarrant and remarking "I can't be all that repulsive" prior to their first kiss).

Josette Simon sings a song during the 3rd season episode Sarcophagus. Although Simon isn't seen during the song, it is assumed to be her character, especially since Dayna is shown making adjustments to a musical instrument in the previous scene. Episode author Tanith Lee wrote two verses, although Dayna only sings the first:

I left my world to wander in

this endless midnight sky,
for space is just a starry night
where no suns ever rise.

There are no mornings like my world's,
no shapes, no sounds, no signs.
But I could never count the suns

That my world's lost behind.

Dayna, like the rest of the Scorpio crew, was gunned down by Federation officer Arlen during the final shoot-out on Gauda Prime. Her final fate was never revealed.

Miscellaneous

Marina Sirtis was one of the actresses who auditioned for the role of Dayna. ^[1]

In 1998 and 1999, Angela Bruce played Dayna in the BBC radio plays The Sevenfold Crown and The Syndeton Experiment.^[2]

References