Dev Tarrant

Dev Tarrant is the main antagonist of "The Way Back", the first episode of Blake's 7.

He was portrayed by the late.

Biography
Dev Tarrant was an agent for Terran Federation security. He infiltrated the resistance group led by Roj Blake and Bran Foster, befriending the pair while secretly feeding information to the Federation. After learning where Blake and his followers were meeting, Tarrant arranged for Travis to ambush them, massacring Blake's followers and capturing Blake, who was brainwashed into first denouncing and then forgetting his part in the resistance movement.

Tarrant was so successful that four years later he remained at Foster's side, with Foster ready to move against the Federation again, even going so far as to attempt to recruit Blake. Tarrant thus arranged another massacre, of Foster and his new rebels, although Blake survived thanks to leaving the meeting beforehand. Tarrant instructed Federation Arbiter-General Ven Glynd to find a way to discredit Blake before he could expose him, which led to Blake being framed for child abuse and sentenced to deportation. Tarrant made a point of entering the court room at the conclusion of Blake's trial, letting Blake know who had betrayed him.

When Tarrant learned that Blake's lawyer Varon was investigated his claims of a massacre, he led a group of Federation troopers who killed Varon and his wife Maja just after they had discovered the evidence. He told the troopers to make it look like a transporter accident.

Trivia

 * Dev Tarrant's name is only one letter different from Del Tarrant, a regular character on the show's last two seasons. This is mainly because the show's creator Terry Nation liked the name Tarrant, a corruption of his own name.
 * Dev Tarrant walked with a limp, for reasons unexplained.