_________ _________ _________ _________ ___ ___ ___ _________ ________
/\________\\________\\________\\________\\__\ \__\\__\\________\\_______\
/ / ______// ___ // ___ // ___ // / / // // ___ // _____/
/ / /____\ / /__/ // /__/ // /__/ // /_\/ // // /__/ // /___\
\/____ // ___ // ______// ______// ___ // // _ __// _____/
/\______/ // / / // / / / / / / / / // // / \ \ / /___\
\/________//__/ \/__//__/ \/__/ \/__/ \/__//__//__/ \__/_______/
_________ _________ _______
/\________\\________\\______\
/ / ___ // ___ // ___ \
/ / /__/ // / / // / / /
/ / ___ // / / // / / /
/ / / / // / / // /_\/ /
\/__/ \/__//__/ \/__//________/
_________ __________ _________ _________ ___
/\________\\_________\\________\\________\\__\
/ / ______//___ ___// ______// ______// /
/ / /____\ / / / / / /____\ / /____\ / /
\/____ / / / / / / ______// ______// /___
/\______/ / / / / / / /____\ / /____\ / /____\
\/________/ \/__/ \/________//________//________/
"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."
This guide was written by Steve Phillips. If you have any corrections or additions then please email me. I am particularly interested in where abroad the series was shown and magazine articles other than those listed at the end. I will reply to all messages. (Version 10.0, 27/5/94)
All email to rlju100@oak.cc.kcl.ac.uk
"Sapphire & Steel" was a unique blend of science-fiction and thriller to emerge from the studios of ATV (ITV Midlands region) between 1979 and 1982. The series concerned two time detectives (David McCallum and Joanna Lumley) who rectified time disturbances and their bizarre effects. The fact that they often used less-than-decent means to achieve their aims meant that the viewer never entirely trusted them.
The series was intensely claustrophobic and theatrical in its settings, with the atmosphere of menace and unease being conveyed by lighting, sound-effects and moody music. The production team took the restrictions of the show (low budget, small cast, simple special effects, no location filming) and turned them into strengths. Direction was extremely taut with much use being made of cleverly composed visuals. "Sapphire & Steel" was use of the televisual medium at its best although it never managed to be properly repeated or sold abroad.
After a sporadic four year run the show ended in 1982 due to the high production costs, frequent unavailability of the two lead stars and the reformation of ATV into Central. Little was seen of the series until its home video release in 1992, when highly respectable reviews and sales of the tapes showed that the stories were still just as fresh and imaginative as they were over a decade earlier.
Casting: Maureen Riscoe [II; III; IV; V; VI]
Film Cameraman: Chic Anstiss [III 1-3,5]
Film Editor: Glen Cardno [III 1-3,5]
Sound: Len Penfold [I; V]
Bob Woodhouse [II 1; VI]
Henry Bird [II 2-6; III]
Pete Wernham [II 7,8; IV]
Cameras: Mike Whitcutt [I; II; III; IV 1-3; V; VI 3,4]
Gerry Elms [IV 4; VI 1,2]
Vision Mixer: Neil Guy [I 1-5; II 1-6]
Carole Legg [I 6]
Mary Forrest [II 7,8]
Moyra Bird [III]
Yvonne Kelly [IV; V; VI]
Vision Control: Jim Reeves [I; V 5,6; VI]
John Crane [II; V 1-4]
John Willment [III; IV]
VTR Editor: John Hawkins [I; II; III; V; VI]
Al Pigden [IV]
Make-Up: Mary Southgate [I-IV]
Anita Harris [V; VI]
Costumes/Wardrobe: Dawn Evans [I]
Mary Gibson [II-VI]
Programme Administrator: Ron Brown
Floor Manager: Sean O'Farrell [I; II 1-6]
Jeremy Van Bunnens [II 7,8; III; V]
Ron Blanchard [IV; VI 3,4]
Martin Essex [V 6; VI 3,4]
Bill Goodall [VI 1,2]
Stage Manager: Ann Murphy
Denise Shaw-Vance [III; IV; V; VI]
Production Assistant: Sonia Hampson [II 1,2; III]
Glenys Collins [II 3,4,7; VI]
Joyce Lewsey [I; II 5,6,8]
Jan Woolsey [IV]
Jean Stevenson [V]
Title Sequence: Ivor Weir
Music: Cyril Ornadel
Special Effects: George Leuenberger [III; IV 4; V 6]
Photographic Research: Margaret Duerden [IV]
Lighting: Jim Boyers
Designer: Stanley Mills [I-IV; VI]
Su Chases [V]
Executive Producer: David Reid
Producer: Shaun O'Riordan
Thirty-four, colour, 25-minute, 2" videotape episodes (all survive). An ATV
Production. Worldwide rights held by ITC Entertainment.
Steel: David McCallum Sapphire: Joanna Lumley Silver: David Collings [III eps 3-6; VI]
| Ep | TX Date | Start | Length | TVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tu 10/07/79 | 19:01 | 25'40" | 23 |
| 2 | Tu 12/07/79 | 19:01 | 24'30" | 22 |
| 3 | Tu 17/07/79 | 19:02 | 24'00" | 22 |
| 4 | Tu 19/07/79 | 19:01 | 25'40" | 22 |
| 5 | Tu 24/07/79 | 19:01 | 24'40" | 22 |
| 6 | Tu 16/07/79 | 19:01 | 24'40" | 21 |
| Av | 24'40" | 22 | ||
Home Video: Released 10th Feb 1992 (ITC 8120)
Written by P J Hammond
Directed by Shaun O'Riordan
Rob: Steven O'Shea
Helen: Tamasin Bridge
Lead: Val Pringle [4-6]
Mother: Felicity Harrison [1-3,4*,{5},6]
Father: John Golightly [1,5,6]
Policeman: Charles Pemberton [2,{6}]
Countryman: Ronald Goodale [1,2,4*,{5},6]
In a large, remote, coastal house, a mother and father read rhymes to their daughter. Downstairs, fourteen-year-old Rob is doing his homework. One by one the clocks stop and his parents vanish. Rob phones the local policeman and, seconds later, Sapphire and Steel arrive. They are menaced by Roundhead soldiers and images of plague victims. Sapphire becomes trapped in a painting and Steel reduces his body temperature to absolute zero to release her. Eventually, together with another elemental called Lead, they lure the enemy into the cellar. Here the force is crushed out of the foundations of the house by Lead. Sapphire and Steel disappear and the parents return as though they had never been gone.
| Ep | TX Date | Start | Length | TVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tu 31/07/79 | 19:00 | 27'00" | 22 |
| 2 | Th 2/08/79 | 19:01 | 25'40" | 21 |
| 3 | Tu 7/08/79 | 19:01 | 24'50" | 18 |
| 4 | Th 9/08/79 | 19:01 | 25'30" | 20 |
| 5 | Tu 30/10/79 | 19:00 | 27'40" | 19 |
| 6 | Th 1/11/79 | 19:03 | 25'40" | 20 |
| 7 | Tu 6/11/79 | 19:04 | 24'50" | 19 |
| 8 | Th 8/11/79 | 19:00 | 25'30" | 20 |
| Av | 26'00" | 21 | ||
Note: The first run was interrupted by a strike after episode 4.
Additionally episodes 3 and 4 were not broadcast in the Thames, Southern, HTV
or Ulster areas. The entire adventure was run when the service resumed. The
average TVR figure, above, is obtained from the first fully-networked
transmission of each episode.
Home Video: Released 11th May 1992 (ITC 8121)
Written by P J Hammond
Directed by Shaun O'Riordan [1-4,7,8] and David Foster [1-7]
Tully: Gerald James Pearce (Soldier): Tom Kelly 1st Submariner (1st Voice): David Woodcock [2-8] Pilot/2nd Voice: David Cann [2-8]
At a disused railway station, the Darkness is feeding upon the resentment of people who have died prematurely. These include a WWI private blown up on Armistice Day, three workers suffocated in an experimental submarine and a pilot killed one flight from being demobbed. Together with an old ghost-hunter called Tully, Sapphire and Steel attempt to contact the beings. Sapphire is taken-over by the Darkness and tries to kill Steel with a bunch of flowers! Steel finds himself trapped in barbed wire on a battlefield. Time is advanced twelve days and Steel offers a bargain to the Darkness conditional to it returning time to its proper course and freeing its victims. It accepts the last few years of Tully's life. This makes Time itself resentful thus providing the energy the Darkness needs.
| Ep | TX Date | Start | Length | TVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tu 6/01/81 | 20:00 | 24'10" | 22 |
| 2 | Th 8/01/81 | 20:02 | 23'50" | 24 |
| 3 | Tu 13/01/81 | 20:02 | 24'20" | 19 |
| 4 | Th 15/01/81 | 20:02 | 24'00" | 20 |
| 5 | Tu 20/01/81 | 20:01 | 25'20" | 16 |
| 6 | Th 22/01/81 | 20:00 | 25'40" | 21 |
| Av | 24'30" | 20 | ||
Home Video: Released 10th Aug 1992 (ITC 8122)
Written by P J Hammond
Directed by Shaun O'Riordan
Rothwyn: Catherine Hall [1-3,4*,5,6]
Eldred: David Gant [1-3,5,6]
Changeling: Russell Wootton [2*,3-5,{6}]
A couple from 1500 years in the future occupy an invisible time capsule atop a modern-day block of flats as part of an experiment. Time is resentful that, in the couple's home time-zone, man is the only animal not extinct. It begins to menace the couple and their baby with animal-derived products. The baby is made to age into an adult and given the power to age or regress material objects. Sapphire and Steel are joined by Silver and confront this changeling. Silver is sent into the future and Steel destroys the changeling reverting it back into a baby and returning Silver. The agents track down the source of the disturbance, an amalgamation of various types of organic matter, and Steel terminates the experiment.
| Ep | TX Date | Start | Length | TVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tu 27/01/81 | 20:00 | 23'20" | 16 |
| 2 | Th 29/01/81 | 20:02 | 24'00" | 19 |
| 3 | Tu 3/02/81 | 20:02 | 24'00" | 15 |
| 4 | Th 5/02/81 | 20:02 | 25'20" | 20 |
| Av | 24'10" | 18 | ||
Home Video: Released 9th November 1992 (ITC 8123)
Written by P J Hammond
Directed by David Foster
Liz: Alyson Spiro
Shape: Philip Bird
Bob Hornery [2-4]
Ruth: Shelagh Stephenson [3,4]
Parasol Girl: Natalie Hedges
Sapphire and Steel investigate an old junk shop where the original landlord and a tenant have disappeared. The new landlord is a shapeless being who moves between time-zones via photographs and has the ability to imprison or release people from them. The agents find out that the Shape was originally released by the landlord's hobby of splicing together photographs from different periods. They discover the missing tenant, Ruth, trapped in a photograph, but the faceless Shape burns her alive within it. It then traps Sapphire and Steel and they are only saved by the bravery of a stripper called Liz. Eventually, the Shape is trapped in a kaleidoscope and placed on a sinking ship.
| Ep | TX Date | Start | Length | TVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tu 11/08/81 | 19:00 | 25'00" | 16 |
| 2 | We 12/08/81 | 19:01 | 23'40" | 19 |
| 3 | Tu 18/08/81 | 19:01 | 23'10" | 17 |
| 4 | We 19/08/81 | 19:05 | 24'40" | 21 |
| 5 | Tu 25/08/81 | 19:01 | 25'00" | 17 |
| 6 | We 26/08/81 | 19:00 | 25'00" | 18 |
| Av | 24'20" | 18 | ||
Home Video: Released 22nd March 1993 (ITC 8124)
Written by Don Houghton [1,3,4] and Anthony Read [2,5,6]
Directed by Shaun O'Riordan
Emma Mullrine: Patience Collier Lord Mullrine: Davy Kaye Felicity McDee: Nan Munro Felix Harborough: Jeffry Wickham Howard McDee: Jeremy Child [1-5] Annabelle Harborough: Jennie/Jenny Stoller [1-5] Greville: Peter Laird George McDee: Stephen Macdonald [2-6] Tony Purnell: Christopher Bramwell [2-4] Anne Shaw: Patricia Shakesby Veronica Blamey: Debbie Farrington [2,3] Radio Commentator: Valentine Dyall [1]
Lord Arthur Mullrine organises a party to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary since his business partnership began with the late Dr George McDee. 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 Sapphire and Steel realise that the events of the night of his death are beginning to recreate themselves. 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 the lover and is attempting to arrange events such that McDee survives to accidentally unleash the virus. Sapphire and Steel ensure that he is, indeed, killed by the lover and his body and the virus are consumed in a fire.
| Ep | TX Date | Start | Length | TVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Th 19/08/82 | 19:01 | 24'20" | 16 |
| 2 | Tu 24/08/82 | 19:03 | 24'00" | 16 |
| 3 | Th 26/08/82 | 19:01 | 24'10" | 15 |
| 4 | Tu 31/08/82 | 19:03 | 24'20" | 15 |
| Av | 24'30" | 20 | ||
Home Video: Released 5th July 1993 (ITC 8125)
Written by P J Hammond
Directed by David Foster
Man: Edward de Souza Woman: Johanna Kirby [1-3,4*] Johnny Jack: Chris/Christopher Fairbank [3,4] Old Man: John Boswall
Sapphire and Steel arrive at a deserted service station and meet Silver. A couple from 1948 arrive together with an old man from 1925 and a travelling player from 1957. The agents are suspicious as to the lack of interest shown by the couple in the modern trappings of the petrol station and the strange unused condition of the musician's tambourine. The strangers are revealed as Transient Beings, enemies of Sapphire and Steel, who have escaped entombment in the past using a device called a Time Box. They use a Time Box to trap Sapphire, Silver and Steel in the petrol station and the agents find themselves floating through the infinity of space: trapped forever.
Roman numerals (e.g. III, IV etc.) refer to an adventure.
Arabic numerals (e.g. 2, 6 etc.) refer to episodes within an adventure.
All credits are for all episodes of a adventure except where stated.
Transmission dates (TX dates) are in UK (dd/mm/yy) format.
Start times are rounded to the nearest minute.
Running times (lengths) are rounded to the nearest 10 seconds and are taken from the home video releases. These figures do not include commercials.
TVR figures are TeleVision Ratings from JICTAR. This is defined as "the percentage of potential audience who watched a programme". For example, a TVR of 25 means that 25% of viewers watched a certain programme and the other 75% watched another channel or nothing at all.
Titles given are purely fan titles. They do not appear on the scripts, screen, "TV Times" or home videos and should not be considered official. The titles given in capitals have been obtained, with one exception, from comments made by Peter Hammond. The one title that was invented is unknown. The other titles have also been used at various times and in various publications.
The on-screen credits at the end of episodes were often erroneous:
{} = credited, but does not appear
* = appears, but is not credited
"Sapphire and Steel" by Peter J Hammond (W H Allen, 1979) Novelisation of I
"TV Times" (5th July 1979) Introduction with P J Hammond & Shaun O'Riordan
"Look-In" (#29, 14th July 1979) Introduction with Joanna Lumley
"Starburst" (#15, 1979) Introduction
"Look-In" (#33, 11th August 1979) Interview with P J Hammond/start of strip
"Starburst" (#28, 1980) Interview with Joanna Lumley
"Sapphire & Steel Annual 1981" (World International Publishing, 1980) Poor
"Look-In" (8th August 1981) Interview with Shaun O'Riordan
"Time Screen" (#4, 1985) Overview with episode guide
"Fantasy Image" (#3, June 1985) Overview
"Starburst" (#91, March 1986) Overview
"Time Screen" (#4, Summer 1989 reprint) Re-written o/view with episode guide
"TV Zone" (#4, March 1990) Plotline of VI
"Epi-Log" (#11, October 1991) Detailed episode guide
"TV Zone" (Special#4, March 1992) Plotline of III
"DWB" (#102, June 1992) Overview
"TV Zone" (Special#6, August 1992) Analysis of characters
"TV Zone" (#35, October 1992) Interview with David McCallum
"TV Zone" (#37, December 1992) Interview with P J Hammond
"Sapphire and Steel" by Peter J Hammond (Virgin, 1992) Re-release (new intro)
"Epi-Log" (Special#6, February 1993) Re-print of detailed episode guide
"TV Zone" (Special#11, December 1993 and #50, January 1994) Interview with
Shaun O'Riordan
"TV Zone" (Special#12, 1994) Plotline and information on II
"TV Zone" (Special#13, 1994) Interview with David Collings
"TV Zone" (Special#13, 1994) Interview with Alyson Spiro