SAPPHIRE & STEEL

THE STORY BEHIND THE SF AND FANTASY OF YESTERYEAR

1979 – 82

Is the word “transuranic” part of your vocabulary? Do nursery rhymes send a shiver down your spine? Have you ever had a nightmare about being attacked by a pillow? Then you’re surely a fan of Sapphire & Steel. First aired in July 1979, this oblique, atmospheric series centred on two unearthly beings, assigned by some unknown power to deal with cases where the “corridor of time” has become weakened, allowing time to “burst through” into the present. For a generation of viewers, its imagery has proved indelible: Roundheads tramping up the stairs of a house; a World War One soldier haunting an abandoned railway station; a bowler-hatted man with a smooth, featureless face…

The brainchild of PJ Hammond (Peter to his friends), a TV veteran who was formerly a script editor on Z-Cars, the series came about after he was approached by Thames Television producer Pamela Lonsdale, for whom Hammond had previously written episodes of fantasy shows Ace Of Wands and Shadows.

“I was asked, ‘Would I think of a half-hour episode to launch a possible sci-fi series?’” Hammond tells . “So I wrote the first episode. It was called ‘The Time Menders’. They liked it, but [Director of Programmes] Jeremy Isaacs decided it had no mileage. Then it was sent to Southern Television. [Controller of Children’s Programmes] Lewis Rudd was very interested, but wanted a breakdown of all the other episodes. In the meantime, my agents had sent it to AT V, and [Head of Drama] David Reed read it and said, ‘I don’t need a breakdown. We’ll do it!’ I don’t think that would be done today, but he took a chance.”