New Sapphire and Steel

[Theta Sigma]

Citizen Chillum posted this at Outpost Gallifrey Doctor Who forum:
"According to Paul Ross on this morning, PJ Hammond has been in talks with ITV about new adventures for Sapphire and Steel!

Suppurb!"

New versions of old TV shows just keeps on coming. Still be interested to see how this one turns out.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Still no news about a new TV Sapphire and Steel however got interesting casting news from the audio series:
http://www.bigfinish.com/news/news_061218_sapphireandsteel.shtml
"In May, Joseph Lidster ends the second season with his bizarrely disquieting tale, The Mystery of the Missing Hour, which guest stars two cult sci-fi figures, Colin Baker (the sixth Doctor in Doctor Who ) and Sarah Douglas (whose roles include Ursa in Superman II and Pamela in V"

Unfortunately I still have not got a chance to start buying the Sapphire and Steel audio series.

 

[Theta Sigma]

PJ Hammond in an interview with Dreamwatch Sci Fi said his talks about reviving Sapphire and Steel eventually reached an impasse when ITV requested too many changes that the Hammond wasn't prepared to incorporate and the people that he talked to have since left ITV.

Full interview (warning there is a spoiler to the ending of Sapphire and Steel):
http://www.dwscifi.com/articles/show/48?category_id=25&type_id=4&page=

 

[Theta Sigma]

I am now making this a general thread of Sapphire & Steel as a result of finally getting the first CD release from the audio series produced by Big Finish Productions, The Passenger.

I neglected to mention in the past for those who do not know what the series is about and I will now rectify this:
The 1979 -82 TV series created by Peter J Hammond (credited in the series as PJ Hammond and now a writer on Torchwood) starred David McCallum as Steel and Joanna Lumley (who had also played the 13th Doctor in the Doctor Who comedy spoof Curse of the Fatal Death) as Sapphire as two beings who are time detectives investigating disturbances in time.

In May 2004 Big Finish Productions announced they had acquired the rights to produce audio plays of Sapphire & Steel but this time the title characters had to be recast. This was due to McCallum working in the United States as a regular in the TV series NCIS and Lumley simply not wanting to play Sapphire again.

In their places for the audio adventures were David Warner as Steel and Susannah Harker as Sapphire. Warner and Harker had earlier appeared in Big Finish's Doctor Who releases including Warner as a Doctor in an alternative world.

So far on Big Finish's debut CD releases of the audio series, The Passenger I finished the first episode in this four-parter:
Prior to The Passenger's release in May 2005, it had been said that the audio series would take place before the final TV story. However from the dialogue in the first episode of The Passenger, the audio series takes place afterwards which is good as I prefer continuing rather than missing adventures.
So far I think this has been a good start to the series. Warner and Harker are good as the title characters and the cliffhanger was something I did not expect. It is a shocker.

 

[Theta Sigma]

The Passenger Part 2:
Mark Gatiss makes his debut as Gold and quite sinister at it.
Quite a revelation at the cliffhanger even though it is quite familiar to a certain Agatha Christie novel.

 

[Theta Sigma]

The Passenger Part 3:
The story becomes more intriguing as we discover more about Philip Burgess which leads to a very climatic cliffhanger.

 

[Theta Sigma]

The Passenger Part 4:
A satisfying conclusion to an overall satisfying opening story to the audio series.

Keen to hear more of the audio series (when my budget allows it).

 

[Theta Sigma]

Daisy Chain:
Second story of the first audio season from Big Finish. Released in June 2005.
Sapphire and Steel visits surburbia when they encounter a mystery at a house nearby in which a secret could destroy the family of this household.
Written by Joseph Lidster (who himself briefly appears here as minor character Tom) this is a very creepy story served very well by the mystery surrounding it.
Shocking on how the resolution is achieved and the manner of the story's ending.

Also included on this release at the end of disc one is a feature on the music of the series by producer Nigel Fairs and it was quite an interesting listen.

 

[Theta Sigma]

All Fall Down:
Third story of the first Big Finish season. Written by David Bishop it was released in July 2005.
All Fall Down sees the return of David Collings as Silver reprising his role from the TV series.
Interestingly David Collings made his first appearance as Silver in third television adventure and this is the third audio adventure.
Just as he worked well with David McCallum and Joanna Lumley on television, he does well with David Warner and Susannah Harker here on audio.
The story, which involves old artefacts being uncovered in a historical area of London, is a very good mystery.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Dead Man Walking:
Dead Man Walking is a two part story that ended the first audio season from Big Finish Productions.
Released in September 2005 it was written by Nigel Fairs based on a story by John Ainsworth.

Dead Man Walking has Sapphire and Steel along with Silver investigate inconsisencies in Time as a result of a death in a prison.

It is slightly better than the previous story The Lighthouse also written by Fairs.

The resolution to the story was slightly adequate.

I like that the lovely Jo Castleton was included in the cast for this story playing a psychiatrist. She also played a psychiatrist in the Doctor Who spinoff videos Cyberon & Zygon.

There is an excellent music track at the end of disc 1. In fact Dead Man Walking is only on the first of the two discs that is on the release. The other disc is a sample disc showcasing other Big Finish products - The Tomorrow People, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Professor Bernice Summerfield, Earthsearch, Fly Me To The Moon, The Treason Show & Sapphire & Steel itself.

The excerpts to these products was quite interesting to hear.

Although there is the presence of the Doctor Who related Bernice Summerfield, the sample remarkably does not include Doctor Who itself.

Now I don't know why this sample disc is on this particular release but the absence of Doctor Who is notable considering the fact that Big Finish releases in general has been bought because of their Doctor Who releases.