Sapphire & Steel is fascinating. It is a series of enigmas, of atmospheric set-pieces and nightmarish images. It is not so much a television programme as an intellectual exercise, with the stories laden with ambiguity and subtext. As I write this, the question I'm asking myself is, 'What was Sapphire & Steel about?' and I'm finding I don't have a clue as to the answer. Yes, it's about darkness, it's about fear and about grief. It's about Time; not as an abstract concept, but as a source of regret and alienation. Yes, it's the children's programme that still scares them as grown-ups.

But it doesn't work in the same way as other Science-Fiction shows. It doesn't draw on the traditions of the genre; instead, it appears to be a cross-pollination of the classic Christmas ghost stories of MR James and the Time Plays of JB Priestley. The mysterious, possibly supernatural, inspector from An Inspector Calls could easily be one of the Medium Atomic Weight Agents from Sapphire & Steel. Add in a Pinteresque sense of claustrophobia and near-hysteria, with oppressive, elusive threats and long, gloomy silences, and moments of Magritte-inspired surrealism, and you have one of the most astonishing, but elusive, dramas ever made.

The most important part of Sapphire & Steel's appeal, however, is that it is, frequently, absolutely terrifying. It is the unknown and the inexplicable that is the most unnerving, and to maintain the viewer's sense of disorientation the explanations are kept to the barest minimum. Sapphire and Steel are two agents, who may be aliens, or Humans, or ghosts. They are sent, by an unknown force, to places where some other unknown forces have become a threat, breaking into the Present from the Past or the Future. They have various ill-defined special powers; telepathy, telekinesis, hypnosis, the ability to create illusions, to immobilise and, most importantly of all, to 'Take Back Time'. Using these powers they usually manage to defeat the forces, though we are never entirely sure how, or indeed, why. The Unknown is a large part of the appeal of Science Fiction; Sapphire & Steel has more Unknown in it per half hour than ay other TV programme.

The most important part of Sapphire & Steel's appeal, however, is that it is, frequently, absolutely terrifying. It is the unknown and the inexplicable that is the most unnerving, and to maintain the viewer's sense of disorientation the explanations are kept to the barest minimum. Sapphire and Steel are two agents, who may be aliens, or Humans, or ghosts. They are sent, by an unknown force, to places where some other unknown forces have become a threat, breaking into the Present from the Past or the Future. They have various ill-defined special powers; telepathy, telekinesis, hypnosis, the ability to create illusions, to immobilise and, most importantly of all, to 'Take Back Time'. Using these powers they usually manage to defeat the forces, though we are never entirely sure how, or indeed, why. The Unknown is a large part of the appeal of Science Fiction; Sapphire & Steel has more Unknown in it per half hour than ay other TV programme.

If Sapphire & Steel was about anything, it was about creating a chill down the spine. It was a programme that literally haunted its viewers…

It was never explained where Sapphire and Steel were from, or who they were.
The first series was interrupted in 1979 by the ITV technicians strike when most areas had just started the second story. When the strike was over ITV started at the beginning again.
None of the stories has a title.