SAPPHIRE AND STEEL ITC VHS VIDEO ADVENTURE 1

From the VHS era: More SAPPHIRE AND STEEL, this time in the form of the first volume (a double tape affair) of the ITC VIDEO releases.

It was so cool to see this on the shelves of OUR PRICE VIDEO way-back-when.  Not only was it a long-lost show that I fondly remebered from over a decade earlier but it also showed the potential for VHS to bring all sorts of old shows - previously assumed lost in the vaults forever with no chance of a repeat outing - back from the dead.

As we've seen in past posts (and will do again in the future) ITC (who had spent the previous decade cut loose from the ITV system and doing not very much) really woke up to the potential of the programme library they had previously been - for the most part - sitting on.

Despite being banished from the ITV tent by the early 1980s franchise round, which saw ATV and ITC split with the former being reinvented as Central Independent Television with a new ownership structure and renewed commitment to the midlands (part of the deal was that they had to sell Elstree Centre, home of many of the ATV shows), old ITV shows (mostly the Gerry Anderson ones) had continued to appear on ITV throughout the decade (FIREBALL XL5, in black & white, during the school holidays anyone?).  But these were mostly the high-end film series that were ITC's forte.  Far less likely to see the light of day again were any of the former ATV shows that had become part of the ITC library after the restructure.  

Suddenly, in part thanks to some vintage repeats on Channel Four, ITC opened the floodgates with all manner of old shows suddenly hitting the shelves.  Some of the heavy hitters were initially off-limits thanks to existing licensing deals which - possibly - left some gaps in the schedule for the more obscure stuff.  TV Heaven was born.  

As for this show?  I love it.  For the most part.  The two leads are great, the writing top-notch and the production and direction really make the most of the studio-bound nature of the series.  Indeed it feels weird when, in one story, they briefly decamped to the roof of the London headquarters of ACC, parent company of ATV and ITC.  The sedate pace would horrify viewers today... but it feels just right.  

This isn't the most memorable story.  Some may argue that it is the one with 'the man without a face' (and it is genuinely great) but, I think for many, it is the second adventure: The abandoned railway station.  It suffers a little from being several episodes overlong but the atmosphere and drama is exceptional.  It was the stody that was in mid-run when - in 1979 - a series of local industrial disputes across the ITV network conflated into an all-out shutdown (except, where things are calmer, in the Channel Islands) which halted all broadcasts and production for ten week.  No programmes.  No adverts.  No income.  No TV TIMES And no other option than to watch the two BBC channels.  Those were the days.  

Given such a long hiatus, ITV's schedulers opted to repeat the story from the start rather than rely on anyone remembering what had happened the best part of three months ago.  

Other contemporary S&S merchandise included a novelisation, an annual (with new stories) and - most memorably - a great LOOK-IN comic strip.

1989: SAPPHIRE AND STEEL ON THE COVER OF TIME SCREEN REVISED ISSUE 4

From Summer 1989: the revised and updated second edition of TIME SCREEN issue 4, with a cracking line-up of classic British Telefantasy shows.

Sapphire and Steel have been assigned...

1979: SAPPHIRE AND STEEL in LOOK-IN (ITV Publications)

From August 1979: SAPPHIRE AND STEEL make their LOOK-IN debut.  

The strip was written by Angus Allan and illustrated by Arthur Ransom.  It enjoyed a long, albeit not continuous run, through to 1981.  The sporadically scheduled show ran for another year, ending in August 1982.  

As with almost all the strips that appeared during Look-In's long (and, generally, illustrious) run, the S&S material has never been reprinted or collected. 

The TV show (produced by ATV at their Elstree studios for networking on ITV) made its screen debut a few weeks earlier on the 10th July.  The 1979 run was interrupted, during the second story (the memorable... albeit slow... adventure set in an abandoned railway station), by the national ITV strike which blacked out the entire network (save for little Channel TV). 

1997: THE SECOND SFX GUIDE TO THE GALAXY

The second, and (sadly) final, SFX Magazine SFX EPISODE GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, given away free with a 1997 issue.

As before, the small paperback provided summaries and analysis of the the show's covered and comes highly recommended.  Because both editions had a relatively high circulation (they were free after all!) they do occasionally resurface in charity and secondhand book stores.  Well worth grabbing!

It's hard to believe now that the erratic LOIS AND CLARK (aka simply THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN on the BBC) would deserve such prominent billing as, despite the DVD releases, this SEAQUEST 'killer' (their first seasons were scheduled against each other... and Supes emerged triumphant) has faded from public consciousness and now only seems to be mentioned when discussing Terri Hatcher's 'other' work.  Personally, I liked the first season because it tried hard not to be a superhero show (and recognized the limitations of both the character and the genre on the small screen) in favor of MOONLIGHTING evoking romance.  Plus it had TV legend Tracy Scoggins amongst the supporting cast.  Once they tried to be a proper superpowered show... I lost interest.  

AMERICAN GOTHIC is a show I did (and still do) absolutely love and I highly recommend searching out a copy of the box set.  If you do, double-check the order that the episodes should be viewed in as, I think, the set follows the CBS transmission order which (as the ratings dropped) started to get out-of-sequence with the intended internal chronology of the show.  

ALIEN NATION, the show that would not die, is a nice (albeit, sometimes heavy-handed) police procedural with-a-twist based on the feature film.  It returned as a series of five TV movies and they're worth seeking out (as a DVD box set) as Producer Ken Johnson supplies an audio commentary for each and no-one in TV does commentaries as well as Johnson.  His commentary on the original 'V' mini-series is essential. 

SAPPHIRE AND STEEL, from ATV, is just the most amazing show ever.  It is the quintessential something-out-of-nothing production maxing out the limitations of the studio-bound format and small cast to create something really special...

ITC HOME VIDEO

This was a 16-page A5 booklet, promoting ITC Home Video (VHS of course!) published sometime in the early 1990s and free from branches of OUR PRICE VIDEO (although they MAY have rebranded as PLAYHOUSE by the time this appeared) and, possibly, elsewhere as there is no retailer branding anywhere on it.

As you'll see, it's full colour throughout and printed on glossy heavy paper (really bordering on card).  A really nice little package.

After years of half-arsed VHS releases under the Precision (another ACC company) and Channel Five (not THAT one... but you can see the cleverness in that brand) labels, the early 1990s saw ITC finally fully exploit their back-catalogue of TV series.

ITC held the rights not only to the series originally produced under the ITC banner (generally shot on film and aimed at an international market) but also the ATV library (as a rule of thumb, usually shot on tape for the UK market), blurring the lines between the two production entities.

This was a boom time for TV fans, finally giving them a chance to see programmes considered long-buried with little chance of ever resurfacing.

Those pesky existing licensing deals did create a few headaches: THE PRISONER, U.F.O, THUNDERBIRDS and the SPACE: 1999 episodes cobbled together for the ITC faux feature films were all placed off-limits.  At least at first.

Many of the series only enjoyed a  couple of tapes, certainly not the full runs we've come to expect in the DVD, although SAPPHIRE AND STEEL, TIMESLIP etc. did enjoy a complete re-release.