Sapphire & Steel
Encyclopedia
Sapphire & Steel is a British
television science-fiction
fantasy
series starring David McCallum
as Steel and Joanna Lumley
as Sapphire. Produced by ATV, it ran from 1979 to 1982 on the ITV
network. The series was created by Peter J. Hammond
who conceived the programme under the working title The Time Menders, after a stay in a haunted castle. Hammond also wrote all the stories except for the fifth, which was co-written by Don Houghton
and Anthony Read
.
In 2004, Sapphire and Steel returned in a series of audio dramas starring David Warner
and Susannah Harker
.
The programme centres on a pair of interdimensional operatives, the eponym
ous Sapphire and Steel. Very little is revealed about their purposes or backgrounds in the course of the series but they appear to be engaged in guarding the order, if not the integrity, of Time
. They are two of several elements that assume human form and are sent to investigate strange events; others include Lead (Val Pringle), who takes the aspect of a jovial, friendly giant, or Silver (David Collings
), a technician who can melt metals in his hands.
In the series, it is explained that Time is like a corridor that surrounds everything, but there are weak spots where Time – implied to be a potentially malignant force – can break into the present and take things. There are also creatures from the beginnings and ends of time that roam the corridor looking for the same weak spots to break through.
These breaks are most often triggered by the presence of an anachronism
, for example a nursery rhyme, a doctored photograph that mixes period and contemporary elements, or a house decorated to replicate a 1930s setting. Investigators will assess the situation and then, if intervention is warranted, Operators are assigned to deal with the problem by a mysterious unseen authority, to be assisted by Specialists if necessary.
The stories are generally quite cryptic, raising more questions than answers, and have an eerie air to them, being as much ghost stories
as they are science fiction. The programme had been allocated a minuscule production budget, which led to the use of simple (but very effective) staging and minimal special effect
s, ultimately contributing to the uneasy atmosphere of the show. The ambiguous nature of the programme extends to its main characters. While Sapphire is portrayed as more affable and "human" than the no-nonsense, grim Steel, it is clear that their prime concern is to deal with the break in Time, sometimes over the safety of the humans caught in the incidents they investigate.
Each adventure usually starts with Sapphire and Steel simply showing up, seemingly out of nowhere, although sometimes they are already present when the story begins. They will then investigate and mingle with various humans, although it is nearly always the location the humans are in which is of the most interest: an old house which dates back to the 18th century, an abandoned railway station
, a modern-day motorway petrol station, and so on.
Although the series lasted over a period of four years, only six serials consisting of a total of 34 episodes were made, each episode lasting approximately 25 minutes and generally including a reprised précis of the preceding episode. The first and second stories were shown in the summer of 1979, the second story's transmission interrupted by industrial action at the ITV network which led to a repeat of the story in 1979. The third and fourth stories were transmitted in January 1981, and the fifth in August 1981 with a sixth story "in the can" for future transmission.
By this time, production costs were increasing. The high profile and limited availability of the principal actors, Lumley and McCallum, meant that shooting was somewhat sporadic, and the programme's producers ATV were in the process of being reorganized into the new Central Independent Television
; all factors which led to the series' demise. Central felt that viewers might mistake the new programmes for repeats of old ones, and broadcast the final, four-part story in late August 1982 to very little fanfare. The show has never been repeated on UK terrestrial television, but some episodes were shown on the satellite and cable station Bravo in the mid-1990s.
sense," but what this qualification means is not clear. The two also refer to being involved in the mystery of the Mary Celeste
, and in one case state they will be waiting for a ship to surface in seventy-five years. This could mean they are either exceptionally long-lived or some kind of time travel
is involved. P. J. Hammond confirmed the former hypothesis in a 1993 interview.
Sapphire and Steel, who are Operators, are occasionally assisted by other beings, including Lead and Silver. Silver is stated in Adventure 6 as being a Specialist rather than an Operator. There are 127 operatives in total, including 12 transuranic elements
, which cannot be assigned where life exists. Although they are described as elements
, many of the code names are non-elements, such as Sapphire
, Steel
and Jet
, although these could be pseudonyms for aesthetics or discretion. Sapphire also has a flirtatious relationship with Silver, contributing to an air of underlying sexual tension on the occasions that Silver is called upon to assist the duo. The relationship between Steel and Sapphire similarly exhibited occasional tension, as evidenced in Adventure 2 when Steel admits feeling love for Sapphire and, at one point, even kissing her on the cheek. In Adventure 1, Lead mentioned that Jet sent Steel her love and that Silver was having relationship troubles with Copper "again".
Among Sapphire's abilities is the power to manipulate time in small ways as well as divine the age or historical details of an object by touching it (psychometry). This latter ability is referred in Adventure 2 as "spot analysis". Her most prominent ability is to "take back time," literally rewinding it in a localised area to see or replay the past. She states in Adventure 1 that she cannot take time back twenty-four hours; in the last episode of the same adventure, at Steel's request she takes time back "half a day". In Adventure 2, she is able to "hold time for a day", when another (in this case, the creature seen as the darkness) takes time back over multiple days. Whether this is an improvement in abilities or a different skill entirely is not made clear. She also exhibits an ability to obtain information about people — their ages and backgrounds as well as psychological insights into their personality — just by being close to them. Sometimes it appears that she does not discover this information herself but is receiving the information telepathically
from some external source. In Adventure 2, it is stated that the age at which a living person will die is not estimated but recorded, that it is a historical fact. Nothing else is revealed in the television series as to the extent or nature of any such records, or to what extent Sapphire uses them in relation to information obtained directly. She can also manipulate people's emotions, and project illusions. When she uses her powers, her irises will usually glow blue or, under some circumstances, turquoise.
Steel, on the other hand, can freeze himself to absolute zero
which gives him the ability to destroy 'ghost
s', which are in actuality remnants of Time. He apparently possesses immense strength (in Adventure 3 he ties knots in elevator
cables to prevent the elevator from being used) and a degree of invulnerability. He also exhibits telekinetic
abilities, being able to paralyse people with a look, weld metal with his bare hands or undo deadbolts with a gesture.
The operatives can also communicate telepathically with each other, and in Adventure 5, Sapphire grants this ability to a human being, whom she dubs "Brass" for the duration. Sapphire removes this ability at the end of the story. It is also suggested in Adventure 5 that other powers can be granted. It is hinted, in the debate that ensues between Sapphire and Steel after Sapphire gives Brass his abilities, that different powers are classed at different levels, with telepathy being considered one of the most basic.
It is not made clear in the series as to what boundaries exist on the skills of operatives. In Adventure 2, Steel cannot perform "spot analysis", as it is not his field, but in Adventure 4, Sapphire and Steel together are specifically able to replicate Silver's ability to transmutate by remembering what he did.
Other operatives that appear also have special powers. Silver (played by David Collings
), a Specialist who is designated as a Technician, is good with electronics and gadgets, is able to transform one small object into another, and is even able to replicate small objects out of nothing. He can also create long-lasting visual images of objects too large to replicate, although the exact parameters for such images are never revealed. Lead (played by Val Pringle), on the other hand, possesses superhuman strength and can act as needed insulation for Steel when he freezes himself to extreme temperatures.
Each episode begins with the following prologue:
For episode three of Adventure 4 and for all of Adventure 6, Lead's place in the prologue is replaced by Mercury (who was mentioned but never seen). If the series had continued, Mercury could have made an appearance.
The final television story ends on a cliffhanger
. Apparently resentful of Sapphire and Steel's independence, a higher authority sends entities known as Transient Beings (similar to the operatives but from the past), to set a trap for them in a motorway café. The serial concludes with Silver dispatched to an unknown fate – and Sapphire and Steel being trapped in the café, floating through space, apparently for eternity. The cliffhanger has never been resolved, although Hammond has said that a seventh adventure had been planned, presumably meaning that Sapphire and Steel eventually escaped. This was also stated by Joanna Lumley in her autobiography, who remembered that they were told that this was merely an end-of-season cliffhanger, and that Sapphire and Steel would be freed at the start of the next series. However, in an interview with Doctor Who Magazine
(#329, cover date: 30 April 2003), David Collings recalled that although another series was planned, Joanna Lumley and David McCallum both decided that they'd had enough and didn't wish to do any more.
and drawn by Arthur Ranson
, appeared in the Look-In
magazine. It ran for a total of 76 issues from 1979-1981 – with a break of 13 issues between runs – and formed 14 untitled stories. It would appear that Ranson used photographs of Joanna Lumley and David McCallum from the first television adventure for reference, as Sapphire and Steel are almost always depicted wearing the outfits from this story. In the third story, Lead makes a cameo appearance and displays a further power: turning British soldiers from the Napoleonic War into miniature (and presumably lead) toy soldiers. However, the picture strip version of Lead – though depicted as a powerfully built black man – was not based upon Val Pringle who played the part on television; it can only be assumed that Ranson had very little in the way of photographic reference material in this case.
In addition, a one-off Sapphire & Steel text story titled The Albatross was published in the 1981 Look-In Annual. This was illustrated in black and white by Arthur Ranson.
P.J. Hammond did not write the stories for Sapphire & Steel Annual 1981, but he was sent proofs to read in advance of publication. His only reservations with the stories were that Sapphire and Steel were able to move back in time, which he felt tended to contradict the premise set in the television series that Time was only allowed to break into the present day. However, this did not worry Hammond too much as, like Look-In, the Annual was aimed at younger readers.
At the time of writing, Sapphire & Steel Annual 1981 has yet to be made available in PDF format as a Special Feature on DVD.
Note: Where the content of a feature is not obvious from its title, a brief description has been provided.
announced that they had secured the rights to produce a new series of Sapphire & Steel audio adventures
for release on CD. However, neither McCallum nor Lumley reprised their roles: McCallum was working in the United States
and Lumley declined to play Sapphire again. The characters were recast, with Susannah Harker
and David Warner
taking over the roles. The range is produced by Nigel Fairs
and Jason Haigh-Ellery.
The character of Gold (played by Mark Gatiss
) appears in the first adventure The Passenger
and returns in Perfect Day
and Zero
. The character of Ruby (played by Lisa Bowerman
) appears in the second series story Water Like a Stone
, reappearing in Cruel Immortality
and Second Sight
. David Collings reprises his role as Silver in the third and fifth stories of the first series of audio plays and then again in the third story of the third series. During the production of each season, Nigel Fairs has had to step in at late notice to write a replacement script (writing Dead Man Walking
from John Ainsworth's outline in series one, replacing Gary Russell
's Big Fun with Cruel Immortality in series two and replacing Joseph Lidster
's Reborn with Second Sight in series three).
It was originally rumoured that the new stories would be set before the climactic final story of the television series, but the released plays are set after Adventure 6, with no explanation given as to how they escaped. However, at the start of The Passenger, the characters comment that it has been a long time since they last worked together and, in Cruel Immortality
, imply that they were freed in some unspecified way by Silver.
At the end of The Mystery of the Missing Hour
, Sapphire and Steel once again find themselves trapped. The following story, Second Sight
sees the characters 'reborn' once more - this time in the guise of two young Australians, played by Blair McDonough
and Anna Skellern
. At the end of Second Sight, however, Ruby was able to release the previous incarnations of Sapphire and Steel from their trap - with David Warner and Susannah Harker reprising their roles for the rest of the series.
The audio dramas featured some notable guest stars - including Hugo Myatt
, Muriel Pavlow
, Daphne Oxenford
, Lucy Gaskell
, Colin Baker
, Sarah Douglas
, Sam Kelly
, David Horovitch
and Louise Jameson
.
released the complete series on DVD on November 5, 2007. The 6-disc set features a new documentary and commentaries. On May 26, 2008, the complete series boxset was re-released with new packaging.
A&E Home Video
released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 on December 28, 2004.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television science-fiction
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
series starring David McCallum
David McCallum
David Keith McCallum, Jr. is a Scottish actor and musician. He is best known for his roles as Illya Kuryakin, a Russian-born secret agent, in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., as interdimensional operative Steel in Sapphire & Steel, and Dr...
as Steel and Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lamond Lumley, OBE, FRGS is a British actress, voice-over artist, former-model and author, best known for her roles in British television series Absolutely Fabulous portraying Edina Monsoon's best friend, Patsy Stone, as well as parts in The New Avengers, Sapphire & Steel, and Sensitive...
as Sapphire. Produced by ATV, it ran from 1979 to 1982 on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network. The series was created by Peter J. Hammond
Peter J. Hammond
Peter J. Hammond is a British television writer.-Career:He began writing for television in the 1960s, working on BBC police dramas such as Dixon of Dock Green and Z-Cars, the latter of which he served as script editor on for a year from 1969 to 1970...
who conceived the programme under the working title The Time Menders, after a stay in a haunted castle. Hammond also wrote all the stories except for the fifth, which was co-written by Don Houghton
Don Houghton
Don Houghton was a British television screenwriter.Born in Paris, Houghton started writing for radio in 1951 before moving into film and television in 1958...
and Anthony Read
Anthony Read
Anthony "Tony" Read is a British script editor, television writer and author. He was principally active in British television from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, although he occasionally contributed to televised productions until 1999. Starting in the 1980s, he launched a second career as a print...
.
In 2004, Sapphire and Steel returned in a series of audio dramas starring David Warner
David Warner (actor)
David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
and Susannah Harker
Susannah Harker
Susannah Harker is an English film, television, and theatre actor. She is the daughter of English actress Polly Adams and actor Richard Owens, and the great-niece of Gordon Adams. She was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award in 1990 for her role as Mattie Storin in House of Cards...
.
Overview
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous Sapphire and Steel. Very little is revealed about their purposes or backgrounds in the course of the series but they appear to be engaged in guarding the order, if not the integrity, of Time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
. They are two of several elements that assume human form and are sent to investigate strange events; others include Lead (Val Pringle), who takes the aspect of a jovial, friendly giant, or Silver (David Collings
David Collings
David Collings is a British actor. He has played many different roles on various television programmes, including the leading dramatic role in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment in 1964....
), a technician who can melt metals in his hands.
In the series, it is explained that Time is like a corridor that surrounds everything, but there are weak spots where Time – implied to be a potentially malignant force – can break into the present and take things. There are also creatures from the beginnings and ends of time that roam the corridor looking for the same weak spots to break through.
These breaks are most often triggered by the presence of an anachronism
Anachronism
An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
, for example a nursery rhyme, a doctored photograph that mixes period and contemporary elements, or a house decorated to replicate a 1930s setting. Investigators will assess the situation and then, if intervention is warranted, Operators are assigned to deal with the problem by a mysterious unseen authority, to be assisted by Specialists if necessary.
The stories are generally quite cryptic, raising more questions than answers, and have an eerie air to them, being as much ghost stories
Ghost story
A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...
as they are science fiction. The programme had been allocated a minuscule production budget, which led to the use of simple (but very effective) staging and minimal special effect
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s, ultimately contributing to the uneasy atmosphere of the show. The ambiguous nature of the programme extends to its main characters. While Sapphire is portrayed as more affable and "human" than the no-nonsense, grim Steel, it is clear that their prime concern is to deal with the break in Time, sometimes over the safety of the humans caught in the incidents they investigate.
Series format and transmission
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
, a modern-day motorway petrol station, and so on.
Although the series lasted over a period of four years, only six serials consisting of a total of 34 episodes were made, each episode lasting approximately 25 minutes and generally including a reprised précis of the preceding episode. The first and second stories were shown in the summer of 1979, the second story's transmission interrupted by industrial action at the ITV network which led to a repeat of the story in 1979. The third and fourth stories were transmitted in January 1981, and the fifth in August 1981 with a sixth story "in the can" for future transmission.
By this time, production costs were increasing. The high profile and limited availability of the principal actors, Lumley and McCallum, meant that shooting was somewhat sporadic, and the programme's producers ATV were in the process of being reorganized into the new Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
; all factors which led to the series' demise. Central felt that viewers might mistake the new programmes for repeats of old ones, and broadcast the final, four-part story in late August 1982 to very little fanfare. The show has never been repeated on UK terrestrial television, but some episodes were shown on the satellite and cable station Bravo in the mid-1990s.
The operatives
It is heavily implied that Sapphire and Steel are not human, given their abilities and manner. Steel, for example, often has gaps in his knowledge of human culture and even Sapphire's grace is tempered with a cool detachment from the humans they interact with. In Adventure 5, Steel confirms that they were alien, "in the extraterrestrialExtraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
sense," but what this qualification means is not clear. The two also refer to being involved in the mystery of the Mary Celeste
Mary Celeste
The Mary Celeste was an American brigantine merchant ship famous for having been discovered on 4 December 1872, in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and apparently abandoned , despite the fact that the weather was fine and her crew had been experienced and able...
, and in one case state they will be waiting for a ship to surface in seventy-five years. This could mean they are either exceptionally long-lived or some kind of time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
is involved. P. J. Hammond confirmed the former hypothesis in a 1993 interview.
Sapphire and Steel, who are Operators, are occasionally assisted by other beings, including Lead and Silver. Silver is stated in Adventure 6 as being a Specialist rather than an Operator. There are 127 operatives in total, including 12 transuranic elements
Transuranium element
In chemistry, transuranium elements are the chemical elements with atomic numbers greater than 92...
, which cannot be assigned where life exists. Although they are described as elements
Chemical element
A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...
, many of the code names are non-elements, such as Sapphire
Sapphire
Sapphire is a gemstone variety of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide , when it is a color other than red or dark pink; in which case the gem would instead be called a ruby, considered to be a different gemstone. Trace amounts of other elements such as iron, titanium, or chromium can give...
, Steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
and Jet
Jet (lignite)
Jet is a geological material and is considered to be a minor gemstone. Jet is not considered a true mineral, but rather a mineraloid as it has an organic origin, being derived from decaying wood under extreme pressure....
, although these could be pseudonyms for aesthetics or discretion. Sapphire also has a flirtatious relationship with Silver, contributing to an air of underlying sexual tension on the occasions that Silver is called upon to assist the duo. The relationship between Steel and Sapphire similarly exhibited occasional tension, as evidenced in Adventure 2 when Steel admits feeling love for Sapphire and, at one point, even kissing her on the cheek. In Adventure 1, Lead mentioned that Jet sent Steel her love and that Silver was having relationship troubles with Copper "again".
Among Sapphire's abilities is the power to manipulate time in small ways as well as divine the age or historical details of an object by touching it (psychometry). This latter ability is referred in Adventure 2 as "spot analysis". Her most prominent ability is to "take back time," literally rewinding it in a localised area to see or replay the past. She states in Adventure 1 that she cannot take time back twenty-four hours; in the last episode of the same adventure, at Steel's request she takes time back "half a day". In Adventure 2, she is able to "hold time for a day", when another (in this case, the creature seen as the darkness) takes time back over multiple days. Whether this is an improvement in abilities or a different skill entirely is not made clear. She also exhibits an ability to obtain information about people — their ages and backgrounds as well as psychological insights into their personality — just by being close to them. Sometimes it appears that she does not discover this information herself but is receiving the information telepathically
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
from some external source. In Adventure 2, it is stated that the age at which a living person will die is not estimated but recorded, that it is a historical fact. Nothing else is revealed in the television series as to the extent or nature of any such records, or to what extent Sapphire uses them in relation to information obtained directly. She can also manipulate people's emotions, and project illusions. When she uses her powers, her irises will usually glow blue or, under some circumstances, turquoise.
Steel, on the other hand, can freeze himself to absolute zero
Absolute zero
Absolute zero is the theoretical temperature at which entropy reaches its minimum value. The laws of thermodynamics state that absolute zero cannot be reached using only thermodynamic means....
which gives him the ability to destroy 'ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s', which are in actuality remnants of Time. He apparently possesses immense strength (in Adventure 3 he ties knots in elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
cables to prevent the elevator from being used) and a degree of invulnerability. He also exhibits telekinetic
Psychokinesis
The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...
abilities, being able to paralyse people with a look, weld metal with his bare hands or undo deadbolts with a gesture.
The operatives can also communicate telepathically with each other, and in Adventure 5, Sapphire grants this ability to a human being, whom she dubs "Brass" for the duration. Sapphire removes this ability at the end of the story. It is also suggested in Adventure 5 that other powers can be granted. It is hinted, in the debate that ensues between Sapphire and Steel after Sapphire gives Brass his abilities, that different powers are classed at different levels, with telepathy being considered one of the most basic.
It is not made clear in the series as to what boundaries exist on the skills of operatives. In Adventure 2, Steel cannot perform "spot analysis", as it is not his field, but in Adventure 4, Sapphire and Steel together are specifically able to replicate Silver's ability to transmutate by remembering what he did.
Other operatives that appear also have special powers. Silver (played by David Collings
David Collings
David Collings is a British actor. He has played many different roles on various television programmes, including the leading dramatic role in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment in 1964....
), a Specialist who is designated as a Technician, is good with electronics and gadgets, is able to transform one small object into another, and is even able to replicate small objects out of nothing. He can also create long-lasting visual images of objects too large to replicate, although the exact parameters for such images are never revealed. Lead (played by Val Pringle), on the other hand, possesses superhuman strength and can act as needed insulation for Steel when he freezes himself to extreme temperatures.
Television stories
None of the stories had on-screen titles, or any official titles assigned by the writers. One of the DVD releases gives the titles; "Escape Through a Crack in Time", "The Railway Station", "The Creature's Revenge", "The Man Without a Face", "Dr. McDee Must Die" and "The Trap".| Serial # | Episode # | Original air dates (UK) | Writer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-01 to 1-06 | 10 July to 26 July 1979 | P.J. Hammond Peter J. Hammond Peter J. Hammond is a British television writer.-Career:He began writing for television in the 1960s, working on BBC police dramas such as Dixon of Dock Green and Z-Cars, the latter of which he served as script editor on for a year from 1969 to 1970... |
|
A happy family lives in an 18th century house filled with clocks and antiques. One night, a nursery rhyme ("Ring a Ring o' Roses") read aloud to Helen, the little girl, triggers a time fracture that takes away her parents. As Rob, Helen's older brother, tries to understand what has happened, two mysterious strangers appear, promising to fix things. Sapphire and Steel eventually gains Rob's trust and work out a solution to the problem. Lead also arrives to provide assistance. (Note: P.J. Hammond novelised Novelization A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays... this story for Star Books in 1979.) |
||||
| Val Pringle as Lead, Steven O'Shea as Rob Jardine, Tamasin Bridge as Helen Jardine, Felicity Harrison as Mother, John Golightly John Golightly John Golightly is an actor who has appeared in numerous British television productions over a 45 year period.His father was a transport foreman... as Father, Ronald Goodale as Countryman, Charles Pemberton as Policeman |
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| 2 | 1-07 to 1-14 | 31 July to 8 November 1979 | P.J. Hammond | |
| In an abandoned railway station, ghost hunter George Tully conducts an investigation. His solitary task is interrupted by the two interdimensional operators, who have an investigation of their own — a sinister, growing darkness that feeds on the resentment of the dead, using Private Sam Pearce, the apparition of a World War I World War I World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918... soldier shot and killed eleven minutes after the armistice had been signed at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 as a focus. The darkness 'recruits' from other resentful shades from the past who also died 'unfairly' as a result of a coming or completed conflict – such as the crew of an experimental submarine whose air-pumps failed, and a World War II World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... fighter pilot killed in a crash just one flight away from being demobbed. It is up to Sapphire and Steel to decide if the life of one living human is worth the price of the danger presented to Reality. (Note: This story's transmission was interrupted by a strike on ITV ITV ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK... .) |
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| Gerald James Gerald James Gerald James was a British actor best known for his character actor roles in British television productions such as The Sandbaggers, The Professionals, Secret Army, Sapphire and Steel and The Pickwick Papers. He also appeared on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company.-External links:... as George Tully, Tom Kelly Tom Kelly (actor) Tom Kelly is a British actor, noted for his roles in television.He appeared in three Doctor Who serials , as well as Blake's 7, Sapphire & Steel and Dempsey & Makepeace.... as Private Sam Pearce (The Soldier), David Cann David Cann David Cann is a British actor who has had many roles in theatre and television.He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1973 and spent many years working in theatre, including various Shakespeare plays before eventually branching out into television, including roles in the BBC... as Pilot, David Woodcock as Submariner |
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| 3 | 2-01 to 2-06 | 6 January to 22 January 1981 | P.J. Hammond | |
| Rothwyn and Eldred, a couple living in a modern apartment, are not what they seem. In fact, they are from the 35th Century, the apartment is their time capsule, which is situated on the roof of a modern day tower block, and the experiment is to live as 20th Century humans. But trouble starts when the couple discover that they can neither contact their controllers in the future nor two other similar time capsules in the present day. The biomechanical system that runs the capsule has experiments of its own that it plans to perform on the occupants – resenting the fact that in the 35th century, Mankind is the only animal not extinct; all other creatures, flora, fauna and even germs having been ruthlessly eradicated in order to preserve the purity of the human race. This time, Sapphire and Steel have help in the form of Silver, an interdimensional technician. | ||||
| David Collings David Collings David Collings is a British actor. He has played many different roles on various television programmes, including the leading dramatic role in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment in 1964.... as Silver, David Gant as Eldred, Catherine Hall as Rothwyn, Russell Wooton as Changeling |
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| 4 | 2-07 to 2-10 | 27 January to 5 February 1981 | P.J. Hammond | |
| Phantom children with sepia-toned skin play in an almost deserted apartment building. Both the landlord and a tenant have mysteriously disappeared. A man without a face appears on the stairs. Something has emerged from a photograph; something which has appeared in every photograph ever taken anywhere in the world and is powerful enough to turn Sapphire and Steel into literal two-dimensional versions of themselves. | ||||
| Alyson Spiro Alyson Spiro Alyson Spiro is a British actress who played Sarah Sugden on the British television soap opera Emmerdale from 1994–2000. She also appeared in the programs Brookside, Casualty, The Bill, Doctors, Holby City, Sapphire and Steel and Fell Tiger.Spiro portrayed Astrid Kirchherr in the 1979 film... as Liz, Philip Bird Philip Bird Philip Bird is an English actor who has appeared in several British shows such as Peter Birch in ITV soap opera Emmerdale in 2006. He has also appeared in BBC's Doctors, ITV's Heartbeat and Coronation Street.-External links:... and Bob Hornery Bob Hornery Bob Hornery is an Australian actor.As well as other stage roles, Bob Hornery appeared in the stage production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" as the "Rev. Canon Chasuble"... as the Shape, Shelagh Stephenson Shelagh Stephenson Shelagh Stephenson is a playwright, born in Northumberland and read drama at Manchester University. Her stage plays include The Memory of Water , An Experiment with an Air Pump, Ancient Lights, Five Kinds of Silence and Mappa Mundi... as Ruth, Natalie Hedges as Parasol girl |
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| 5 | 3-01 to 3-06 | 11 August to 26 August 1981 | Don Houghton Don Houghton Don Houghton was a British television screenwriter.Born in Paris, Houghton started writing for radio in 1951 before moving into film and television in 1958... and Anthony Read Anthony Read Anthony "Tony" Read is a British script editor, television writer and author. He was principally active in British television from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, although he occasionally contributed to televised productions until 1999. Starting in the 1980s, he launched a second career as a print... |
|
| Dressing up and pretending that it was once again the 1930s seemed to be a novel idea for a dinner party hosted by Lord Mullrine, a wealthy industrialist, at his country mansion to celebrate fifty years since his company was founded with the late Dr. George McDee. Then strange things start to happen: McDee himself turns up at the party along with other anachronisms, and then, one by one, the guests begin to be murdered – their bodies vanishing shortly afterwards. Secrets and lies involving McDee from fifty years before are resurfacing, Time is trying to rewrite history, and the only ones who can stop it are two uninvited guests – Sapphire and Steel. | ||||
| Patience Collier as Emma Mullrine, Davy Kaye Davy Kaye Davy Kaye MBE , born as David Kodeish, was a British comedy actor and entertainer.-Early life:... as Lord Mullrine, Nan Munro as Felicity McDee, Jeffrey Wickham Jeffrey Wickham Jeffrey Wickham is a British film and television actor. He is the father of the actress Saskia Wickham.-Selected filmography:* Before Winter Comes * The Breaking of Bumbo * Waterloo... as Felix Harborough, Jeremy Child Jeremy Child Sir Coles John "Jeremy" Child, 3rd Baronet is an English actor.He was born in Woking, England and educated at Eton College, as well as trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. After appearing in repertory theatre, he was cast in a significant role in the 1967 film Privilege... as Howard McDee, Jennie Stoller as Annabelle Harborough, Peter Laird as Greville, Stephen MacDonald Stephen MacDonald Stephen MacDonald was a British actor, director and dramatist.MacDonald was brought up and educated in Birmingham, where he trained as an actor, but subsequently worked extensively in Scotland as a theatre director.... as George McDee, Christopher Bramwell Christopher Bramwell Christopher Bramwell is a British actor who was active on television from 1977 until 1996.He appeared in several TV dramas including Grange Hill, Enemy at the Door, Tales of the Unexpected, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Van der Valk... as Tony Purnell, Patricia Shakesby Patricia Shakesby Patricia Shakesby is an English actress, best known for her role as Polly Urquhart in Howards' Way.... as Anne Shaw, Debbie Farrington as Veronica Blamey, Valentine Dyall Valentine Dyall Valentine Dyall was an English character actor, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall. Dyall was especially popular as a voice actor, due to his very distinctive sepulchral voice, he was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear.In... as Radio Broadcast Voice |
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| 6 | 4-01 to 4-04 | 19 August to 31 August 1982 | P.J. Hammond | |
| The scene for Sapphire and Steel's latest investigation is an abandoned roadside café where time has stopped. However, they find that Silver has arrived before them – which is against normal procedure. The interdimensional operatives remain uncertain as to exactly what they are supposed to be investigating. The key may lie in two humans in the café who claim to be from 1948. (Note: Many regional editions of TVTimes wrongly billed this story as a repeat. This was possibly due to confusion caused by the changeover from ATV to Central on 1 January 1982, when an ITV contracts change in 1980 resulted in the Midlands ITV region's franchise ended up going from the first company to the second.) |
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| David Collings as Silver, Edward de Souza Edward de Souza Edward James de Souza is a British character actor and graduate of RADA with ethnic Portuguese Indian and English origins.-Early life:... as the Man, Johanna Kirby as the Woman, John Boswall John Boswall John Boswall was a British actor probably best known for playing Wyvern in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.... as Old man, Christopher Fairbank Christopher Fairbank Christopher Fairbank is an English actor best known for his role as Albert Arthur Moxey in the hit comedy-drama series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.-Career:... as Johnny Jack |
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Each episode begins with the following prologue:
For episode three of Adventure 4 and for all of Adventure 6, Lead's place in the prologue is replaced by Mercury (who was mentioned but never seen). If the series had continued, Mercury could have made an appearance.
The final television story ends on a cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
. Apparently resentful of Sapphire and Steel's independence, a higher authority sends entities known as Transient Beings (similar to the operatives but from the past), to set a trap for them in a motorway café. The serial concludes with Silver dispatched to an unknown fate – and Sapphire and Steel being trapped in the café, floating through space, apparently for eternity. The cliffhanger has never been resolved, although Hammond has said that a seventh adventure had been planned, presumably meaning that Sapphire and Steel eventually escaped. This was also stated by Joanna Lumley in her autobiography, who remembered that they were told that this was merely an end-of-season cliffhanger, and that Sapphire and Steel would be freed at the start of the next series. However, in an interview with Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(#329, cover date: 30 April 2003), David Collings recalled that although another series was planned, Joanna Lumley and David McCallum both decided that they'd had enough and didn't wish to do any more.
Look-In magazine picture strips
A two-page coloured Sapphire & Steel picture strip, written by Angus AllanAngus Allan
Angus Peter Allan was a British comic strip writer and magazine editor who worked on TV Century 21 in the 1960s and Look-in magazine during the 1970s. Most commonly known as Angus Allan and sometimes credited as Angus P...
and drawn by Arthur Ranson
Arthur Ranson
Arthur James Ranson is an English illustrator, whose fine line penwork and attention to visual detail has led to the misapplied epithet 'photo-realistic'...
, appeared in the Look-In
Look-in
Look-in was a long running children's magazine centred around ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior TVTimes". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994...
magazine. It ran for a total of 76 issues from 1979-1981 – with a break of 13 issues between runs – and formed 14 untitled stories. It would appear that Ranson used photographs of Joanna Lumley and David McCallum from the first television adventure for reference, as Sapphire and Steel are almost always depicted wearing the outfits from this story. In the third story, Lead makes a cameo appearance and displays a further power: turning British soldiers from the Napoleonic War into miniature (and presumably lead) toy soldiers. However, the picture strip version of Lead – though depicted as a powerfully built black man – was not based upon Val Pringle who played the part on television; it can only be assumed that Ranson had very little in the way of photographic reference material in this case.
In addition, a one-off Sapphire & Steel text story titled The Albatross was published in the 1981 Look-In Annual. This was illustrated in black and white by Arthur Ranson.
Sapphire & Steel Annual 1981
The first and only Sapphire & Steel Annual was published in late 1980 by World International Publishing Ltd. at £1.95, and featured a number of text stories and features. The front cover used the same photograph as that on P.J. Hammond's 1979 Star Books novelisation of Adventure One.P.J. Hammond did not write the stories for Sapphire & Steel Annual 1981, but he was sent proofs to read in advance of publication. His only reservations with the stories were that Sapphire and Steel were able to move back in time, which he felt tended to contradict the premise set in the television series that Time was only allowed to break into the present day. However, this did not worry Hammond too much as, like Look-In, the Annual was aimed at younger readers.
At the time of writing, Sapphire & Steel Annual 1981 has yet to be made available in PDF format as a Special Feature on DVD.
Note: Where the content of a feature is not obvious from its title, a brief description has been provided.
- Stories: Bid Time Return, Rogue Robot, Chamber of Horrors, Star Gazing, Finger of Blood.
- Features: Telepathy – The Hidden Link?, The Bermuda Triangle, Mystery of the Skies (UFOs), They Vanished Without Trace (the mystery of the Mary CelesteMary CelesteThe Mary Celeste was an American brigantine merchant ship famous for having been discovered on 4 December 1872, in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and apparently abandoned , despite the fact that the weather was fine and her crew had been experienced and able...
, and ships that mysteriously disappeared), The Lost Colony (the mysterious and unresolved disappearance of the first English settlement on the island of RoanokeRoanokeRoanoke may refer to:*Roanoke , Carolina Algonquian-speaking tribe in eastern North Carolina*Roanoke , an American ship *Roanoke Colony, a former English colony that mysteriously disappeared...
in the 16th century), Magical Mystery Quiz, The Final Frontier (black holes), The Remarkable Bloxham Tapes (people regressed to previous existences under hypnosis), The Man Who Makes Pictures (Ted SeriosTed SeriosTheodore 'Ted' Judd Serios was a Chicago bellhop, who became known in the 1960s by producing "thoughtographs" on Polaroid film. He claimed these were produced using psychic powers...
and his amazing ability to imprint pictures onto photographic film, simply by staring into cameras).
Audio plays
In late May 2004, Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
announced that they had secured the rights to produce a new series of Sapphire & Steel audio adventures
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
for release on CD. However, neither McCallum nor Lumley reprised their roles: McCallum was working in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Lumley declined to play Sapphire again. The characters were recast, with Susannah Harker
Susannah Harker
Susannah Harker is an English film, television, and theatre actor. She is the daughter of English actress Polly Adams and actor Richard Owens, and the great-niece of Gordon Adams. She was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award in 1990 for her role as Mattie Storin in House of Cards...
and David Warner
David Warner (actor)
David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
taking over the roles. The range is produced by Nigel Fairs
Nigel Fairs
Nigel Fairs is a British actor, writer and producer.He trained at Bretton Hall College and has appeared in a number of theatre productions, most notably as Christopher Wren in the long-running London stage production of The Mousetrap. On television, he has appeared in EastEnders and as a Dalek on...
and Jason Haigh-Ellery.
The character of Gold (played by Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
) appears in the first adventure The Passenger
The Passenger (Sapphire & Steel)
The Passenger is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:...
and returns in Perfect Day
Perfect Day (Sapphire & Steel)
Perfect Day is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — David Warner*Sapphire — Susannah Harker*Gold — Mark Gatiss*Lydia' — Victoria Carling...
and Zero
Zero (Sapphire and Steel)
Zero is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — David Warner*Sapphire — Susannah Harker*Silver — David Collings*Gold — Mark Gatiss*Andrea — Angela Bruce...
. The character of Ruby (played by Lisa Bowerman
Lisa Bowerman
Lisa Bowerman is a British actress.Bowerman trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and was a regular in the first two series of BBC medical drama Casualty playing Sandra Mute, the show's first female paramedic. Her other television work includes: Dodgem, The Count of Solar, Grange Hill, The...
) appears in the second series story Water Like a Stone
Water Like a Stone
Water Like a Stone is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:...
, reappearing in Cruel Immortality
Cruel Immortality
Cruel Immortality is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — David Warner*Sapphire — Susannah Harker*Mrs P — Muriel Pavlow*Enid — Daphne Oxenford...
and Second Sight
Second Sight (Sapphire and Steel)
Second Sight is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — Blair McDonough*Sapphire — Anna Skellern*Ruby — Lisa Bowerman*Mary — Patience Tomlinson...
. David Collings reprises his role as Silver in the third and fifth stories of the first series of audio plays and then again in the third story of the third series. During the production of each season, Nigel Fairs has had to step in at late notice to write a replacement script (writing Dead Man Walking
Dead Man Walking (Sapphire & Steel)
Dead Man Walking is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:...
from John Ainsworth's outline in series one, replacing Gary Russell
Gary Russell
Gary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
's Big Fun with Cruel Immortality in series two and replacing Joseph Lidster
Joseph Lidster
Joseph Lidster is an English television writer best known for his work on the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.-Biography:His debut work was the audio play The Rapture for Big Finish Productions in 2002...
's Reborn with Second Sight in series three).
It was originally rumoured that the new stories would be set before the climactic final story of the television series, but the released plays are set after Adventure 6, with no explanation given as to how they escaped. However, at the start of The Passenger, the characters comment that it has been a long time since they last worked together and, in Cruel Immortality
Cruel Immortality
Cruel Immortality is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — David Warner*Sapphire — Susannah Harker*Mrs P — Muriel Pavlow*Enid — Daphne Oxenford...
, imply that they were freed in some unspecified way by Silver.
At the end of The Mystery of the Missing Hour
The Mystery of the Missing Hour
The Mystery of the Missing Hour is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — David Warner*Sapphire — Susannah Harker*Narrator — Colin Baker...
, Sapphire and Steel once again find themselves trapped. The following story, Second Sight
Second Sight (Sapphire and Steel)
Second Sight is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — Blair McDonough*Sapphire — Anna Skellern*Ruby — Lisa Bowerman*Mary — Patience Tomlinson...
sees the characters 'reborn' once more - this time in the guise of two young Australians, played by Blair McDonough
Blair McDonough
Blair McDonough is an actor who is best known for playing the role of Stuart Parker in the Australian TV soap opera Neighbours. He first shot to fame in 2001, when he finished runner-up in the inaugural season of the reality TV series Big Brother Australia...
and Anna Skellern
Anna Skellern
Anna Skellern is an actress best known as the first female member of The Chaser's television programme CNNNN.- Early years :...
. At the end of Second Sight, however, Ruby was able to release the previous incarnations of Sapphire and Steel from their trap - with David Warner and Susannah Harker reprising their roles for the rest of the series.
The audio dramas featured some notable guest stars - including Hugo Myatt
Hugo Myatt
Hugo Myatt is a British actor, best known for his role as dungeon master Treguard of Dunshelm in the children's game show Knightmare. He has often commented that he did not mind working with children on Knightmare as his first job was as an actor in children's theatre.In addition to numerous...
, Muriel Pavlow
Muriel Pavlow
Muriel Lilian Pavlow is a British actress. Her mother was French and her father was Russian.-Film career:She began work as a child actor with John Gielgud and the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, Daphne Oxenford
Daphne Oxenford
Daphne M. Oxenford is an English actress known for her television and radio work.She is possibly best known for being the voice for BBC radio's Listen with Mother from 1950 to 1971, and for being one of the readers on newspaper review programme What the Papers Say for over thirty years...
, Lucy Gaskell
Lucy Gaskell
Lucy Gaskell is an English actress. She studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 1998.Gaskell is known for the roles of Ruby Ferris in the BBC1 drama series Cutting It and Kirsty Clements in Casualty...
, Colin Baker
Colin Baker
Colin Baker is a British actor who is known for playing Paul Merroney in The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and as the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, from 1984 to 1986.- Background:Colin Baker was born in London, but moved north to...
, Sarah Douglas
Sarah Douglas
Sarah Douglas is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the Kryptonian supervillain Ursa in the first two Superman movies , and for her role as Pamela Lynch in the 1980s primetime drama series Falcon Crest .-Early life:Douglas was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, the...
, Sam Kelly
Sam Kelly
Sam Kelly is an English actor who has appeared in television, radio and theatre.-Career:He has had roles in British sitcoms such as Porridge as Bunny Warren, Allo 'Allo! as Captain Hans Geering leaving after series three, On the Up as Dennis Waterman's chauffeur and We'll Think of Something as Les...
, David Horovitch
David Horovitch
David Horovitch is an English actor best known for playing the character of Inspector Slack in Miss Marple.-Life and career:...
and Louise Jameson
Louise Jameson
Louise Jameson is an English actress, best known for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the fourth Doctor in Doctor Who. Jameson has also appeared on Emmerdale , The Omega Factor Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951 in Wanstead, London) is an English actress, best known...
.
| CD # | Release date | Story Title | Writer | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 2005 | The Passenger The Passenger (Sapphire & Steel) The Passenger is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:... |
Steve Lyons | A steam train enthusiast boards an antiquated 1930s train for a journey with eleven other passengers, and an old book provides the trigger for Time to start playing out a familiar tale that will end in murder. Can Sapphire, Steel and Gold overcome one man's guilt and prevent the inevitable? (4 parts) |
| 2 | June 2005 | Daisy Chain Daisy Chain (Sapphire & Steel) Daisy Chain is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:... |
Joseph Lidster Joseph Lidster Joseph Lidster is an English television writer best known for his work on the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.-Biography:His debut work was the audio play The Rapture for Big Finish Productions in 2002... |
An ordinary house with a seemingly happy family hides a secret that might destroy them, as well as Sapphire and Steel. The operatives must find the right link in a chain of cause and effect — but to break it, someone may have to be sacrificed. (4 parts) |
| 3 | July 2005 | All Fall Down All Fall Down (Sapphire & Steel) All Fall Down is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:... |
David Bishop David Bishop David Bishop is a screenwriter and author. Born in New Zealand, he was a UK comics editor during the 1990s, running such titles as the Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000 AD, the latter between 1996 and the summer of 2000.... |
In an historical area of London, old artefacts are uncovered, and a journal provides a dangerous link to the past. Even with Silver's help, Steel finds the Black Plague Black Death The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have... reaching out from the mists of Time, while Sapphire risks becoming trapped as part of history itself. (4 parts) |
| 4 | August 2005 | The Lighthouse The Lighthouse (Sapphire & Steel) The Lighthouse is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:... |
Nigel Fairs Nigel Fairs Nigel Fairs is a British actor, writer and producer.He trained at Bretton Hall College and has appeared in a number of theatre productions, most notably as Christopher Wren in the long-running London stage production of The Mousetrap. On television, he has appeared in EastEnders and as a Dalek on... |
A newlywed couple move into a lighthouse intending to renovate it, but ghosts from the past, secrets from the present and phantoms from the future hurtle around one another in a time storm, threatening to engulf them all in an inescapable cycle of madness and death. (2 parts) |
| 5 | September 2005 | Dead Man Walking Dead Man Walking (Sapphire & Steel) Dead Man Walking is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:... |
Nigel Fairs (based on a story by John Ainsworth) | An unexplained death at a prison is only the first of a series of inconsistencies with Time that Sapphire and Steel are called in to investigate. (2 parts) |
| 2.1 | July 2006 | The School The School (Sapphire & Steel) The School is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:The school has stood for exactly a century, and proud of its history... |
Simon Guerrier Simon Guerrier Simon Guerrier is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of Doctor Who and its spinoffs... |
The school has stood for a century, and proud of its history. However, old ghosts are stirring and lessons will be learned… but will Sapphire and Steel become the teachers, or the students? (4 parts) |
| 2.2 | September 2006 | The Surest Poison The Surest Poison The Surest Poison is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:... |
Richard Dinnick Richard Dinnick Richard Dinnick is a British writer, who has written for many media including novels, audio dramas, short stories and comic strips. He works in the science-fiction, fantasy and thriller genres. He has written for several SF franchises including Doctor Who, Stargate, Sapphire & Steel and Space 1889... |
An auction of timepieces, a 156-year-old man, the theft of the greatest watch ever built and its creator, the greatest watchmaker of all: all linked across history. Time has a plan, one with cataclysmic consequences for humanity unless Sapphire and Steel can stop it. (4 parts) |
| 2.3 | November 2006 | Water Like a Stone Water Like a Stone Water Like a Stone is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Plot:... |
Nigel Fairs | In an abandoned theatre on Christmas Eve, plans to celebrate a dead playwright's work threaten to lure Sapphire and Steel into a maze from which there may be no escape… |
| 2.4 | January 2007 | Cruel Immortality Cruel Immortality Cruel Immortality is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — David Warner*Sapphire — Susannah Harker*Mrs P — Muriel Pavlow*Enid — Daphne Oxenford... |
Nigel Fairs | Steel is alone, trapped in a Retirement Home in the middle of nowhere. |
| 2.5 | March 2007 | Perfect Day Perfect Day (Sapphire & Steel) Perfect Day is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — David Warner*Sapphire — Susannah Harker*Gold — Mark Gatiss*Lydia' — Victoria Carling... |
Steve Lyons | Steel, Sapphire and Gold find themselves attending a wedding. |
| 2.6 | May 2007 | The Mystery of the Missing Hour The Mystery of the Missing Hour The Mystery of the Missing Hour is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — David Warner*Sapphire — Susannah Harker*Narrator — Colin Baker... |
Joseph Lidster | Sapphire and Steel arrive in Cairo, 1926 to solve an impossible murder. |
| 3.1 | March 2008 | Second Sight Second Sight (Sapphire and Steel) Second Sight is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — Blair McDonough*Sapphire — Anna Skellern*Ruby — Lisa Bowerman*Mary — Patience Tomlinson... |
Nigel Fairs | Sapphire and Steel have gone. Sapphire and Steel are here. |
| 3.2 | April 2008 | Remember Me | John Dorney John Dorney John Dorney is a British writer and actor best known for stage roles including the National Theatre and his scripts for the Big Finish Doctor Who range... |
A faded sitcom star wanders through the darkness of a deserted pier, haunted by the ghosts of his dead colleagues. |
| 3.3 | May 2008 | Zero Zero (Sapphire and Steel) Zero is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the popular British science fiction television series Sapphire & Steel.-Cast:*Steel — David Warner*Sapphire — Susannah Harker*Silver — David Collings*Gold — Mark Gatiss*Andrea — Angela Bruce... |
Steve Lyons | The Space Shuttle Aspirant is in a decaying orbit, its engines dead. Time is running out. |
| 3.4 | August 2008 | Wall of Darkness | Nigel Fairs | An abandoned shopping centre in the middle of the night. Is the journey at an end? |
DVD releases
Network DVDNetwork DVD
Network DVD is a DVD publishing company that specialises in classic British television. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known ITV programmes...
released the complete series on DVD on November 5, 2007. The 6-disc set features a new documentary and commentaries. On May 26, 2008, the complete series boxset was re-released with new packaging.
A&E Home Video
A&E Television Networks
A&E Television Networks is a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad...
released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 on December 28, 2004.