Flashback: Sapphire and Steel
Its thirty years since ATV’s spooky Sci Fi series Sapphire and Steel made its debut and the show is just as popular now as it was back in 1978 thanks to its spooky plots, tense episode, brilliant acting and excellent scripts. Flashback takes a look at the fondly remembered ATV series.
“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.” Opening narration
Sapphire and Steel was created by Peter J. Hammond who found inspiration for his new series while 
staying at a supposedly haunted castle. The series, originally titled The Time Menders, was conceived as a children’s television to begin with but was later revised in order to appeal to a wider audience. However, the series first story, Adventure One, is different in tone to later stories because it’s still targeted at children, the revision in the show’s tone and target audience changing after the premier of the series. Writer Peter J. Hammond wrote five of out of the six “adventures” in the series with Doctor Who writers Don Houghton and Anthony Read co-writing the fifth story in the series.
Sapphire and Steel was produced by ATV who held the midlands franchise for ITV and the Birmingham based company saw the series as their answer to the ever popular BBC series Doctor Who, which at the time saw Tom Baker in the lead role. Don Houghton, co-write of the show’s fifth story, had also contributed scripts for the infamous ATV soap Crossroads which was made at the ATV studios in Birmingham.
There were only two main stars of the series, David McCallum as Steel and Joanna Lumley as Sapphire while actor David Collins played the recurring character of Silver, who appeared in two 
stories. Sapphire and Steel are two agents of unknown origins who are sent into different places when a time-break occurs and are tasked with putting things right and making sure time doesn’t leak out. Within the series time is presented as an entity in its own right and is constantly trying to break into the “real world” in order to create chaos, from which it thrives. Occasionally the situation in which the two agents find themselves in requires them to ask for additional help from specialist agents, such as Lead [who only appears in the first story] or Silver, who appears in two stories. There are other specialist agents who can also be called upon if required. Little is revealed about the origins of any of the agents seen during the series although it is remarked that Sapphire and Steel don’t always work together and have worked with other agents.
The series spanned four years and was made up of six adventures which compromised of individual parts. In all, across the six adventures, there were 34 episodes which were usually 25 minutes in 
length with most episodes, bar the opening, containing a recap of the last scene of the previous episode. The first two stories were shown in 1979 but the second story was interrupted by ITV strike of that year, which saw the channel of air for a number of months. When ITV resumed broadcasting the second story was repeated. The second story, set in an abandoned railway station, is perhaps the most remembered of the series. Sapphire and Steel arrived at the disused station to find ghost hunter Tully already there as the ghost of a WWI soldier haunts it. The adventure is also considered by some fans to be the best in the series. The difference in tone between this story and the first story is obvious and it’s clear the decision to aim at a slightly different audience was made before this story was written.
As well as the soldier haunting the railway station the two agents also encountered a creature that 
could move between photographs and trap people inside them, scientists from the future being hunted by a deranged time-creature, a murder mystery at a 1930s theme party where time reversed back to 1930 in order for events of that year to drastically change and time using a nursery rhyme in order to break through into the real world. The series limited budget meant it could have or use impressive special effects and so rely on atmosphere instead and effective use of sound and lighting to create effects and tension within the episodes. The two agents, to help them in their task, possess a number of talents with both being telepathetic and often communication along this wave-length. Sapphire also has the power to take time back, literally reversing it, in order to change events that have passed.
The availability of the lead stars meant there were often long gaps between stories being broadcast or even filmed, both stars where in demand at the time and so couldn’t commit on a regular basis. This meant a gap of two years between the broadcast of the second story and the series return with further stories. In January of 1981 the thirds and fourth stories were broadcast while later in the year a further story, the fifth which wasn’t written by Peter J. Hammond, was broadcast. A sixth story had been filmed but was held back for future transmission. The 6th story, which is equally remembered as the 2nd, saw Silver, Sapphire and Steel trapped in a petrol station, seemingly forever, by mysterious foes. The 6th story was not originally intended to be the series finale with Hammond preparing to write further installments which would have seen the agents escape their prison in space but circumstances took over. The series had become somewhat costly and the availability of Joanna Lumley and David McCallum was also a problem for ATV. However, in 1982 ATV was reorganized as Central Independent Television as part of its franchise renewal and a new team came in to replace the old ATV team. The new head of drama at the newly formed Central wanted to produce prestigious drama, like the BBC, and didn’t look favorably upon the Science Fiction series and so didn’t commission any more episodes. The sixth story aired in 1982 without any publicity and the series hasn’t even been repeated on ITV since.
ITV considered reviving the series in the 2000’s and were in discussions with Peter J. Hammond over the revival but the talks broke down as ITV wanted to modernize series too much. Since 2005 a series of audio plays have been produced by Big Finish Productions, who also produce Doctor Who audio plays. However, original stars Joanna Lumley and David McCallum, who now works in American, are not involved in the plays. Instead Sapphire is played by Susannah Harker while Steel is played by David Warner. So far 15 plays, by various writers, have been released but Peter J. Hammond hasn’t written one of the audio plays, as yet.
The actor who narrates the show’s opening monologue has never been stated by fan legend has it that David Suchet, later to find fame in LWT’s Poirot’s adaptations, is the voice of the narrator. While this has been denied by crew on Sapphire and Steel the myth still persists aided by the fact that no one else has been named as a possible candidate. The series has been released on VHS and several times on DVD, most recently by DVD company Network. Peter J. Hammond was recently written two episodes of Doctor Who spin-off series, Torchwood.
