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| Into the unknown: Joanna Lumley and David McCallum are SAPPHIRE AND STEEL. Images: ATV/ITV/NETWORK DVD. |
Making a striking and attractive duo, Joanna Lumley and David McCallum excelled as the inter-dimensonal detectives investigating time break-ins, within the inspired ATV sci-fi/supernatural/horror drama serial/series created by the late P.J. Hammond: SAPPHIRE AND STEEL, which originally ran from 1979 to 1982 on the ITV channel, and is still very much beloved and remembered by those who watched its premiere transmissions.
I never quite understood what the series opening titles narration actually meant but I do remember often being scared out of my wits by the shows tea-time horrors and generally all-consuming and prevailing creepy atmosphere- apparently a format born out of the need by the ITV network to quickly and suddenly fill an unexpected gaping hole in the TV schedules of the time-which captivated me and my family on a twice-a-week basis, where the concept of time, and the things created from it, would emerge as a dark and corrupting power when it went into imbalance through accidental causality from an unwitting human race, and creating highly dangerous scenarios that had to be put right by our dependable, if not always totally victorious, Time Agents-the beautiful and comforting Sapphire, possessing telepathic and sensory abilities as well as being able to take current time back minutes or seconds, played by the always charming ex-NEW AVENGER Joanna Lumley, and the intimidating and resourceful Steel, played by ex-MAN FROM UNCLE star and current NCIS'er David McCallum. Here was a true combination of mystery, beauty, brawn and intelligence as they found themselves caught up in numerous dangerous environments within the six stories that spanned their excellent run. The first saw a house of clocks being a target for time infiltration, with two young children caught in the crossfire, the second-my favourite-a disused railways station which saw one of its dark patches feeding on the suffering of the dead from the first two world wars, the third within a futuristic time capsule invaded by a time-possessed animal hybrid, the fourth a photographers studio flat, where a deadly creature manages to hide within photographs and literally send its victims into them, the fifth set within an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery mansion linked to a virulent, genetically engineered disease outbreak, and finally a seemingly no-win scenario for our heroes where, within a time-trapped garage/layover cafe. they fight rival time agents who have decided that the duo have become too powerful and influential for their own good, and need to be removed once and for all...
Title sequence: Sapphire and Steel - TV intro HQ (1979-82) - YouTube
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| Lumley and McCallum pose for a first season publicity image. |
Despite the mostly all-studio shot nature of the series, SAPPHIRE AND STEEL, always played with conviction, well-written by the likes of Hammond, Don Houghton and Anthony Read, and produced with verve by Shaun O'Riordan (who also directed, along with David Foster), would be acclaimed for its terrific atmosphere (helped my Cyril Ornadel's music that was sparingly and effectively used to build on the scares), backed up with very good for their time special effects and excellent classic DOCTOR WHO-esque cliff-hangers. Not all the stories ended happily, either, which was a rare thing for the TV drama of the time, and some had terrible consequences-with Steel often proving himself a ruthless, often cruel bastard, not only in his dealings with corrupted Time but Humanity as well (much to the occasional disappointment and anger of Sapphire)- indeed the conclusion of story two is an absolute shocker and darkly morbid, adding to the overall quite adult sequences in the series that belay its family timeslot.
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| The classic UK TVTIMES magazine cover heralding the shows arrival in 1979. Image: TVTIMES. |
Spawning a novel, a one-off children's annual and a very popular colour comic strip spread within the bright and breezy pages of LOOK-IN magazine, SAPPHIRE AND STEEL ended on a brilliant cliffhanger that was sadly never resolved (due to escalating production costs, the reorganising and re-sttructuring of the ATV company, and the growing inability to get the popular actors together for specific filming time-frames), though it status as one of the UK's best ever cult sci-fi/horror series lives on in its numerous satellite screenings over the years, as well as releases on VHS and DVD...
The series is currently available on DVD from NETWORK.
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