I still think this is the most inventive series British TV ever came up with, the original 'Prisoner' series being a close second for weirdness, atmosphere, and retaining it's mystery. It scared me then, and still can. With Sapphire and Steel they managed to create a compelling series on a limited budget. It still stands up pretty well, even today, if you can forgive some of the more primitive effects which, in some cases were probably a bit ambitious given what they had to work with. The pace can sometimes seem a little 'stagey' and slow compared with todays dramas, but I still think the writing, direction, lighting and sound are an outstanding achievement for the time. P. J. Hammond is a genius, I really wish there had been more of this series. They do still live on in audio adventures Big Finish - Sapphire And Steel - Trailer but they deserve a TV comeback.
Long as any revival of; Sapphire & Steel isn't heavily 'Americanized' (looking at you 'Tomorrow People') and keeps and retains its English roots i agree! It truly needs and requires a now 'big budgeted' comeback for the 21st Century! with far better special effects but retaining well written original and weird storyarcs and serialized detective style sci-fi and intelligent drama playing out, in a revived brand new series of the show!
You said a mouthful there, thinking is considered a dirty word in modern T.V., no trite solutions, no gift wrapped answers, you had to make half the story yourself, wonderful stuff, sadly people seem to need things spoon fed these days.
Growing up in the US I watched Tomorrow People, and I loved it. I stumbled upon the intro, and after watching the first episode I love it. This has got to be the strangest show ever made. Thanks for posting this.
If they remade it they would probably destroy the mystery of Sapphire and Steel by explaining too much about them a bit like what they did with the all mystical Force from Star Wars. Midifuckinwhations?
great upload. love this show when i was a kid and i remember it was pretty scary back then.always remember one episode set on a railway station. freaked me out.
As a reminder of what a low budget sci-fi show could do for its time, the writing and the acting indeed deserve the most kudos for nourishing the adventures of Sapphire & Steel.
@straker2 The ending of the final assignment left me with the exact same feeling. It still sends chills down my spine to think about it. It's been a couple of years since I properly watched all of the assignments and I really should pull out the DVDs and experience the genius of this classic show once again. I originally got into S&S because I'm a fan of Joanna Lumley, but I ended up loving everything about it.
I remember watching the series when I was young, it blew me away at the time and the memory has been with me ever since, mind blowing. There has never been a program to equal it. The series was more about what you didn't see, it made you think.
If whoever makes the decision to bring back Sapphire & Steel can do for it the same justice that Russell T. Davies did for Doctor Who, then I’m up for it.
@Rumpio 2 is just a little bit long don't you think? 4 is succinct and really scary. I really like 5 too although the supporting cast let it down a little. But it's 3 that caused the nightmares. I still remember my dad telling me that it wasn't possible for pillows to fly and so I shouldn't be scared of them.....
someone said claustrophobic - i mean it was almost compulsive to see them always closing each and every door that they went through.... like what? it wasnt like a live audience thing, it was puzzling.
Thanks so much for posting this! I love Sapphire and Steel and have done since i was a little girl! There's precious little behind the scenes info on this so thanks again for sharing! :D
I think these days, film makers rely so much on special effects that the writers don't have to think up anything genuinely intriguing or creative. 'S&S' is the opposite end of the spectrum, although you still needed a strong stomach for it!!=)
Wether true or not I read in an old magazine that the head of ATV disliked the show due to his view on religion, so he used budget reasons to have it axed. Sad that a visionary show flying high was axed at its peak that very few shows today have even gots close to let alone matched in quality of script writing or acting. British sci fi thriller at its best and had me hooked and has not aged.
Loved this show when I was a kid...one of my favourites and for years I would have loved to see it brought back or reimagined BUT NOT NOW!......! Its a sad state of affairs that I am now hoping to God that they leave this stuff I loved alone because of the left wing identity politics and indoctrination crap....they would literally just destroy it using it (like so many other franchises today) as a vehicle to deliver their dogma
In the old days they had no money for special effects they made up for it with special ideas. Now its boring retreads with breath-taking special effects.
I'm watching adventure 4. I noticed that both Sapphire and Steel were pretty belligerent toward humans. They came off as unlikeable. Did other viewers feel this way too?
I heard the first serial was badly reviewed. Would it be better to start with series 2. My friend actually walked out of a screening of Ep. 1 when I'd invited him to our club viewing ages ago. Not sure I want to go through that again.
The special effects and sound were amazing for the time - excellent art direction regardless of the non existent budget. I don't know why people have problems with the plots or understanding what's going on - short attention spans? There was a radio series that came after this but it got too dogmatic and absurd and was bleak rather than just dark.
Looking at it today the acting seems to rather stilted & over dramatic, speaking to each other without looking , all RP accents and using telepathic speech for no apparent reason, far too classical for an American audience of today
I remember seeing this on the top ten sci-fi programme. It introduced me to sapphire and steel. and i thought to myself i must watch that sometime, i saw the episodes on here eventually and fell in love with the whole thing and got the dvds, it's just brilliant! - which introduced me to something else with David Mccallum in besides NCIS and from there onto Man From UNCLE and so on. So i have to thank it for opening up a whole world of GREAT TV and a GREAT actor!
Well, from the looks of David, I'd guess this was filmed around the time he was doing "Max Bickford". Yes, it would be wonderful if they could do it all again, wouldn't it, and they were two blond-bombshells, weren't they? Love S&S! I watch the DVDs frequently. Great post - thanks so much!
I still think this is the most inventive series British TV ever came up with, the original 'Prisoner' series being a close second for weirdness, atmosphere, and retaining it's mystery. It scared me then, and still can. With Sapphire and Steel they managed to create a compelling series on a limited budget. It still stands up pretty well, even today, if you can forgive some of the more primitive effects which, in some cases were probably a bit ambitious given what they had to work with. The pace can sometimes seem a little 'stagey' and slow compared with todays dramas, but I still think the writing, direction, lighting and sound are an outstanding achievement for the time. P. J. Hammond is a genius, I really wish there had been more of this series. They do still live on in audio adventures Big Finish - Sapphire And Steel - Trailer but they deserve a TV comeback.
Long as any revival of; Sapphire & Steel isn't heavily 'Americanized' (looking at you 'Tomorrow People') and keeps and retains its English roots i agree! It truly needs and requires a now 'big budgeted' comeback for the 21st Century! with far better special effects but retaining well written original and weird storyarcs and serialized detective style sci-fi and intelligent drama playing out, in a revived brand new series of the show!
The Prisoner was a masterpiece compared to Sapphire and Shyte.
I just hate the glib script to this - lazy and contemptuous of its subject.
Awesome love this show 🤩
You said a mouthful there, thinking is considered a dirty word in modern T.V., no trite solutions, no gift wrapped answers, you had to make half the story yourself, wonderful stuff, sadly people seem to need things spoon fed these days.
Growing up in the US I watched Tomorrow People, and I loved it. I stumbled upon the intro, and after watching the first episode I love it. This has got to be the strangest show ever made. Thanks for posting this.
If they remade it they would probably destroy the mystery of Sapphire and Steel by explaining too much about them a bit like what they did with the all mystical Force from Star Wars. Midifuckinwhations?
Fantastic show. It was amazing how much was done with great acting and great atmosphere.
The special effects and sound were amazing for the time - excellent art direction regardless of the non existent budget.
R.I.P., David McCallum.
great upload. love this show when i was a kid and i remember it was pretty scary back then.always remember one episode set on a railway station. freaked me out.
There has never been another show like S & S. It was and still is top notch writing and acting.
As a reminder of what a low budget sci-fi show could do for its time, the writing and the acting indeed deserve the most kudos for nourishing the adventures of Sapphire & Steel.
"You wouldn't DARE go to sleep after Sapphire and Steel," true. especially in my case.
Very true. Trying to sleep while simultaneously stop myself pissing myself with laughter at that TV tripe was impossible 😂😂😂👍👍
BRING IT BACK!!!! with david and joanna as they are now been in space all this time and get rescued by silver or someone
The show even had a kind of romantic rivalry between Steel and Silver over Sapphire.
@straker2 The ending of the final assignment left me with the exact same feeling. It still sends chills down my spine to think about it. It's been a couple of years since I properly watched all of the assignments and I really should pull out the DVDs and experience the genius of this classic show once again. I originally got into S&S because I'm a fan of Joanna Lumley, but I ended up loving everything about it.
I had first seen Joanna Lumley in The New Avengers and in Doctor Who: Comic Relief. Sapphire & Steel earns my best respect for her as an actress.
I remember watching the series when I was young, it blew me away at the time and the memory has been with me ever since, mind blowing. There has never been a program to equal it. The series was more about what you didn't see, it made you think.
I agree from what I’ve seen of it that no other sci-fi show could equal the depth of Sapphire & Steel. Not even Doctor Who and that says a lot.
They should bring Sapphie & Steel back as a TV show now, the Audio Series was great, but lets have it back properly, that would be awesome.
If whoever makes the decision to bring back Sapphire & Steel can do for it the same justice that Russell T. Davies did for Doctor Who, then I’m up for it.
@Rumpio 2 is just a little bit long don't you think? 4 is succinct and really scary. I really like 5 too although the supporting cast let it down a little. But it's 3 that caused the nightmares. I still remember my dad telling me that it wasn't possible for pillows to fly and so I shouldn't be scared of them.....
someone said claustrophobic - i mean it was almost compulsive to see them always closing each and every door that they went through.... like what? it wasnt like a live audience thing, it was puzzling.
I remember David from this series... nothing else really, but this isn't mentioned now he has passed?
I loved this TV series, scary!
@michaelleacy Agreed, watched Adventure 4 on VHS when I was 6 or 7 and that man with no face was in my nightmares for years! lol.
Thanks so much for posting this! I love Sapphire and Steel and have done since i was a little girl! There's precious little behind the scenes info on this so thanks again for sharing! :D
Loved it as a small child, fascinating series, but it made me very scared....
7 years old. This show has much to answer for... 😂
Hope they bring it back left the last episode open?
TV in the late 70s was crazy
I think these days, film makers rely so much on special effects that the writers don't have to think up anything genuinely intriguing or creative. 'S&S' is the opposite end of the spectrum, although you still needed a strong stomach for it!!=)
Wether true or not I read in an old magazine that the head of ATV disliked the show due to his view on religion, so he used budget reasons to have it axed.
Sad that a visionary show flying high was axed at its peak that very few shows today have even gots close to let alone matched in quality of script writing or acting.
British sci fi thriller at its best and had me hooked and has not aged.
What a fantastic show. Thanks for posting this!
@Gazthfc I doubt religion had anything to do with it. Apparently it was affected by the strikes at the time.
Superb show, inferior overview. Parts of this were simply crass. Charlie Catchpole? An authority on television?
odd sci-fi☺
Loved this show when I was a kid...one of my favourites and for years I would have loved to see it brought back or reimagined BUT NOT NOW!......! Its a sad state of affairs that I am now hoping to God that they leave this stuff I loved alone because of the left wing identity politics and indoctrination crap....they would literally just destroy it using it (like so many other franchises today) as a vehicle to deliver their dogma
LOL indeed they would :/
In the old days they had no money for special effects they made up for it with special ideas. Now its boring retreads with breath-taking special effects.
I'm watching adventure 4. I noticed that both Sapphire and Steel were pretty belligerent toward humans. They came off as unlikeable.
Did other viewers feel this way too?
They weren't human. They were elemental spirits. So I think they were supposed to be a bit cold.
Please not, there is so much ruined already these days...
I heard the first serial was badly reviewed. Would it be better to start with series 2. My friend actually walked out of a screening of Ep. 1 when I'd invited him to our club viewing ages ago. Not sure I want to go through that again.
Yes. He's in every photograph you know.
Atmosphere. That's what it had that so many programmes today - even with effects - lack. Insort
The special effects and sound were amazing for the time - excellent art direction regardless of the non existent budget. I don't know why people have problems with the plots or understanding what's going on - short attention spans? There was a radio series that came after this but it got too dogmatic and absurd and was bleak rather than just dark.
Top show! Don't make them like this anymore.
Looking at it today the acting seems to rather stilted & over dramatic, speaking to each other without looking , all RP accents and using telepathic speech for no apparent reason, far too classical for an American audience of today
Could anybody by anychance tell me what the song at 6:16 is? :) cheers :)
Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus.
Just excellent! Many memories...
@michaelleacy No! Adventure 2! The one with Tully at the railway station! (Poor Tully)
Yeah 😭
I absolutely love this show
Great ⚽️
This used terrify me. I was 5 and saw an episode where something attacked one of them from a pillow? Or am I remembering it wrong?
I remember seeing this on the top ten sci-fi programme. It introduced me to sapphire and steel. and i thought to myself i must watch that sometime, i saw the episodes on here eventually and fell in love with the whole thing and got the dvds, it's just brilliant! - which introduced me to something else with David Mccallum in besides NCIS and from there onto Man From UNCLE and so on. So i have to thank it for opening up a whole world of GREAT TV and a GREAT actor!
Has anybody noticed that the recent Dr who scripts are starting to feel like episodes of Sapphire and steel
Jet - I don't want to hear any more. You're fired! Silver - you screwed up in the cafe, you let yourself be caught out. Silver - you also are fired.
This has to be the most melodramatic time travel story I've ever seen. Campy.
"Intelligent nonsense" :)
At a young age only saw two episodes while on holiday, stayed with me ever since.
@michaelleacy absolutely right. Assignment4 made me pee myself when I was 5...literally
Absolutely terrifying 😩
Well, from the looks of David, I'd guess this was filmed around the time he was doing "Max Bickford".
Yes, it would be wonderful if they could do it all again, wouldn't it, and they were two blond-bombshells, weren't they?
Love S&S! I watch the DVDs frequently. Great post - thanks so much!
Yes, I think that IT was made in 2001.
@straker2 Well said Straker2, you nailed it.