All the right elements
Sapphire & Steel called it time 40 years ago. MARION McMULLEN looks at how the duo were in their element fighting strange foes
MYSTERIOUS disappearances, ghostly shadows or a penthouse with a sinister past all required special handling.
ITV’s Sapphire & Steel was a sci-fi series that offered a sinister twist that usually began with Man From UNCLE star David McCallum and Dame Joanna Lumley turning up as the space time agents tasked with solving the problem.
The series launched in 1979 and began with a voiceover that informed viewers: “All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements my not be used where this is life.
“Medium atomic weights are available – Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned”.
They were the ultimate odd couple who each had their own special powers and could communicate with each other telepathically.
Sapphire once said of her partner: “He’s a shade too serious but you’ll get used to him.”
Her eyes turned a vivid shade of blue whenever she was called on to turn back time or connect with the past while Steel was the cool and practical one who possessed immense strength and could drop his body temperature to freezing to literally ice foes.
Their job was to turn up at weak spots in time and stop any dangers from seeping through into this world.
The cult series ran for 34 half-hour episodes, but came to an end 40 years ago this month in 1982.
The finale cliffhanger saw the duo seemingly trapped in time and space forever. There were plans to see them back tackling stranger things in another season, but the two acting stars were so busy with other projects that no more episodes were ever made.