If David McCallum looks a little bleary in tonight’s Sapphire and Steel episode, it’s understandable.
During the last year of filming the show, McCallum flew to America at least 20 times. “I was supervising the building of my home in Long Island,” he recalls. “A particularly personal project as I designed and drew up the plans, and my wife Katherine, a designer and interior decorator, planned the scheme inside.”
Life today still seems just as hectic. McCallum recently finished working on the film Critical List (screening on ITV next week). “It’s a scary move,” he says. “It frightened me when I read the script, so it should be quite powerful stuff on the screen.”
Fans of the Sixties TV series The Man from Uncle will be pleased to know that a big-screen version, The Return of the Man from Uncle, is scheduled to be shot in the Autumn with Robert Vaughn again co-starring with David McCallum.
Meanwhile, McCallum has been involved in US cable television, buying foreign documentaries and preparing them for American consumption.
His biggest passion, apart from his wife and five children, is the computer in his home. Living up to the 21st Century image of his role in Sapphire and Steel, McCallum thinks computers can take on many tasks from designing homes to helping children in school.
“Using a computer is a tremendous way for children to learn,” he declares.
His wife prefers artistic pursuits. “She’s been restyling homes in Maine and has an eye for antiques,” he says. “We complement each other in our interests of past and future.”
Despite his love of America, David McCallum misses certain aspects of life in Britain. “I love to be able to get on a bicycle and disappear into the British countryside,” he says. So, spurning the temptations of California sunshine or Florida beaches, next year the McCallums will head home to explore the Scottish countryside – on bicycles, of course.
CHAIRMAN EVANS