Picturenose

Time, the old enemy…

‘All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic, heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper…Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel, have been assigned.’

Good Lord, those were the days of portentous TV-show openings, weren’t they? And let’s not forget ’state-of-the-art’ credits that looked, even then, to be pretty much what they were - namely a superimposition of ‘Sapphire & Steel’, on a camera lecturn being turned by someone not blessed with the steadiest of hands.

Confused yet? Well, for the first time, Picturenose ventures into the world of the glass teat, or la petit lucarne as our Gallic friends have it, as this reviewer FINALLY delivers his long-promised appreciation of what was, during its all-too-short reign, perhaps the finest TV sci-fi/fantasy/thriller/horror show, period. And, what’s more, it was years ahead of The X-Files…

And what about Doctor Who? Star Trek? Sure, they have their followers, apparently, but in terms of combining a startlingly original concept (Time itself as the monster and the custodians who are put in place to prevent it ‘breaking out’), literate, intelligent scripts, first-rate performances from principle and secondary actors, unease, menace and good old-fashioned scares, P.J. Hammond’s Sapphire & Steel (1979-1982) remains unsurpassed.

The six series (interrupted by a lengthy ITV strike in 1979) featured Joanna Lumley and David MacCallum as the eponymous elemental agents - more than human, but not quite alien, despatched by forces unknown (’Higher Authorities’) to safeguard the order of Time. But, and this gave the scares a truly ‘nameless horror’ dimension, Time itself is portrayed as mischievous, resentful, angry and malevolent, and seemingly only too willing to screw things up on Earth, big time. As Sapphire explains in Adventure One (they were all given only numerical titles on their first release, but alternative names have been thought up subsequently, this one being Escape Through a Crack in Time): ‘There is a corridor, and the corridor is Time. It surrounds all things and it passes through all things. You can’t see it. Only sometimes, and it’s dangerous. You cannot enter into Time, but sometimes… Time can try to enter into the Present. Break in. Burst through and take things. Take people.’

To aid them in their battle, S&S (who were joined at various times by, respectively, fellow Operator and Technician Lead (Val Pringle) and Silver (Daving Collings)) were gifted with paranormal powers - both are telepathic and can teleport, the elegant, amiable Sapphire can reverse time for a short period, communicate with entities from ‘the other side’, identify the age and composition of any object with a ’spot analysis’, while the practical, brusque, authoritarian, (even ruthless) Steel is immensely strong, and can lower his temperature to -273.1°C - don’t ask. Lead is also possessed of superhuman force and insulating abilities (handy while helping Steel to ‘chill out’), while Silver is fully conversant with every machine ever made, and can create incredible devices with the simplest of components.

And, don’t forget, this ATV-produced show was broadcast at either 7pm or 8pm on Thursdays and Fridays, a scheduling period that was then, as now, normally associated with Mr and Mrs Thick. And, with only a couple of exceptions, it managed to succesfully maintain cliffhanger suspense from episode to episode - remember those days? We’ll never see their (or its) like again.

Enough prattle - here, for your pleasure, is a summary of each series, with a handy, brief critique of each. Thanks to Clive Banks for the synopses.

Adventure One (Escape Through a Crack in Time) - Written by P.J. Hammond. Directed by Shaun O’Riordan. Six episodes. 10-26 July 1979
In a remote coastal house, a mother (Felicity Harrison) and father (John Golightly) read nursery rhymes to their daughter Helen (Tamasin Bridge), while downstairs, 14-year-old Rob (Steven O’Shea) is doing his homework. One by one the clocks stop and Rob and Helen’s parents mysteriously vanish. Rob phones the local policeman and asks for help, and, seconds later, the enigmatic Sapphire and Steel arrive at the house. Sapphire explains that time is a corridor, through which the forces of chaos are attempting to break through in order to gain access to our reality, and that Rob’s parents have been taken as part of a new attempt. The children and the time detectives are threatened by the forces of time, which uses Roundhead soldiers and images of plague victims. Time imprisons Sapphire in a painting, but she is rescued when Steel reduces his body temperature to absolute zero, enabling her to escape. The two time agents are then joined by another of their fellow elementals, Lead (Val Pringle). Together, they trace the trigger that allowed time’s intrusion to the original cornerstone of the old house… Picturenose says: An excellent introduction to the overall concept, combining a haunted-house menace with the vulnerability of children. Eponymous characters well introduced - Sapphire remains consistently amiable throughout all six seasons, but Steel, if anything, becomes more cold and ruthless, particularly in Adventure Two.

Adventure Two (The Railway Station) - Written by P.J. Hammond. Directed by Shaun O’Riordan and David Foster. Eight episodes. 31 July-8 November 1979 (Broadcast delayed by prolonged TV strike)
At a disused railway station, Sapphire and Steel discover that ‘The Darkness’ is feeding upon the resentment of people who have died prematurely. These entities include a World War One Private (Tom Kelly) who was killed on Armistice Day, shortly after the enemy declared their surrender, three workers who were suffocated in an experimental submarine and a pilot (David Cann) killed on his last flight prior to being demobbed. Together with an old ghost-hunter named Tully (Gerald James), Sapphire and Steel attempt to contact the beings. But Sapphire is taken over by The Darkness, and attempts to kill Steel with a bunch of flowers. No, really. Steel then finds himself trapped in barbed wire on a battlefield. When time is advanced twelve days into the future, Steel is forced to offer a bargain to The Darkness, conditional to it returning time to its proper course and freeing its victims. And it’s a hard bargain… Picturenose says: Far and away the best of the stories - again, a nameless horror that threatens to unravel the very fabric of existence, plus an excellent performance from Gerald James as the kindly, frustrated and naive ‘ghost hunter’ who has no idea what he’s getting himself into. MacCallum’s Steel is ruthless to the point of barbarity (coldly dismissive of Tully to the point of hilarity) - and the ending will stay with you for a very long time. Quite simply, one of the finest ghost stories ever done for television, which should be talked about in the same breath as Peter Sasdy’s good (but somewhat aged and overrated) The Stone Tape (1972).

Adventure Three (The Creature’s Revenge) - Written by P.J. Hammond. Directed by Shaun O’Riordan. Six episodes. 6-21 January 1981
As part of an experiment, a couple (Catherine Hall and David Gant) from 1,500 years ahead in the future are living inside an invisible time capsule atop a modern-day block of flats. Time is resentful of the fact that in the couple’s future world, man is the only animal not extinct, and it begins to menace the couple and their baby, using animal-derived products, such as pillows and fur coats. Investigating the time disturbance, Sapphire and Steel find that time has caused the couple’s baby to rapidly age (Russell Wootton), and now has the power to accelerate or regress material objects. The two time agents are soon joined by fellow elemental Silver (David Collings), and together they confront the ‘changeling’. Silver is sent ‘back to his beginnings’, but Steel negates the changeling by reverting it back into a baby, thereby returning Silver. The agents track down the source of the disturbance, an amalgamation of various types of organic matter hidden in one of the capsule’s walls… Picturenose says: Among the most interesting of the series, not least because it was the only story that took a political stance, ie its theme is very strongly anti-vivisectionist. When ‘the creature’ is revealed, it’s slightly laughable, but the overall idea is still very strong.

Adventure Four (The Man Without a Face) - Written by P.J. Hammond. Directed by David Foster. Four episodes. 27 January-5 February 1981
Sapphire and Steel investigate an old junk shop, whose landlord, together with one of his tenants, Ruth (Shelagh Stephenson), has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Eliciting the help of Liz (Alyson Spiro), Ruth’s roommate, the two time agents encounter children from the Victorian and Edwardian eras. They then discover that the new landlord is a faceless being, a Shape (Philip Bird and Bob Hornery) who moves between time-zones via photographs, and who has the ability to imprison or release people from them. Sapphire and Steel discover that the Shape was originally released via the landlord’s hobby of splicing together photographs from different time periods. They realise that Ruth has been trapped in a photograph, but the Shape burns her alive inside it before they can rescue her. The Shape then traps Sapphire and Steel in photographs, but they are saved by Liz. Sapphire and Steel formulate a plan to turn the tables on the Shape… Picturenose says: Along with Adventure Two, this is the series best remembered by those who cut their teeth on S&S, simply because the faceless Shape is bloody scary. The back story doesn’t seem quite as cogent as the others, and Alyson Spiro’s performance is overplayed and irritating, but Part the Fourth is still very enjoyable.

Adventure Five (Dr McDee Must Die!) - Written by Don Houghton and Anthony Read. Directed by Shaun O’Riordan. Six episodes. 11-26 August 1981
Lord Arthur Mullrine (Davy Kaye) organises a party to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary since his business partnership began with his late partner, Doctor George McDee (Stephen Macdonald). However, during the party, time rolls back fifty years, and guests who were not alive at that time are systematically murdered. The late Doctor McDee arrives at the party, and the recently arrived Sapphire and Steel realise that the events of the night of his death are recurring. It transpires that McDee had invented a lethal virus that could destroy all humanity. However, before this could happen he was shot by a jealous lover. Time has occupied the body of his lover, and is now attempting to arrange events to ensure that McDee survives, in order to accidentally unleash the virus. Picturenose says: Probably the least successful of the six - the Agatha Christie-esque setting is charming enough, and the denouement is suitably tense, but the ‘jealous lovers’ story seems distinctly at odds with the mood generated by the first four seasons. An entertaining failure.

Adventure Six (The Trap) - Written by P.J. Hammond. Directed by David Foster. Four episodes. 19-31 August 1982
Sapphire and Steel arrive at a deserted service station on a backwater road, and meet Silver. A couple (Edward de Souza and Johanna Kirby) from the year 1948 arrive - their car has broken down and they need help. An old man (John Boswall) from 1925, and a travelling musician (Christopher Fairbank) from 1957 also make their presence felt. Sapphire, Steel and Silver are suspicious as to the lack of interest shown by the couple in the modern trappings of the petrol station, and the unused condition of the musician’s tambourine. The three strangers are revealed as Transient Beings, enemies of the elemental Sapphire and Steel. The three Beings have escaped entombment in the past by using a device called a Time Box. Sapphire, Steel and Silver realise that they have been lured into a trap laid for them by Time…Picturenose says: Talk about going out on a downbeat belter! I still remember, as a child, being traumatized by the ending. That aside, the build-up and suggestive explanations as to why Sapphire & Steel are resented (nothing more or less than a hierarchy squabble, it would appear), plus solid performances from all of their new-found nemeses, make this second only to Adventure Two.

All six series have been lovingly remastered and repackaged on a Special Edition DVD, which also features commentaries plus a documentary with the show’s stars among its extras. Lumley and MacCallum were set never to return as the time detectives but, in 2004, the first of an ongoing series of audio adventures, starring David Warner and Susannah Harker, was released. Your correspondent has not yet had a chance to check, but word on them is generally very good. Go to Big Finish for more information.

Click here for full transcripts of all the Sapphire & Steel series. And, why not check out the great opening credits and other assorted culls on YouTube? It’s like stepping back in time…