I'm currently four episodes of six into
Assignment One of
Sapphire and Steel.
When i first saw this in the early days of dvd i have to be honest it bored the pants off me, however thanks to a Network sale i bought the complete series and my thoughts are somewhat different now.
Basically i love it. I can see why the me of nearly 20 years ago found it boring as it's extremely slow burning, but that's what it does, it burns itself into your head and becomes compulsive television.
The two leads Sapphire (Joanna Lumley) and Steel (David McCallum) are quite wonderful. They play 'operators'. Beings based on elements who right wrongs in the dimensions. In this first assignment they are righting wrongs in the time line of a house in 70's England.
It's a wickedly creepy story that plays on the historical meaning of nursery rhymes and as one is spoken ghosts from the past as elements from each rhyme appear in the house, so we get plague victims for Ring-a-Ring-a-Rosie and Parliamentarian Roundheads doing door-to-door searches for Goosie-Goosie-Gander. The way old England is interpreted into a sci-fi concept is well done and also startlingly original.
Little is known about Sapphire and Steel, McCallum and Lumley play it very cool, in fact alien is a better term. McCallum is well suited to the part and his cold facial expression barely slips, Lumley on the other hand has a gentleness about her but also exudes a sexual sophistication (That's possibly just Lumley full stop though).
Being four episodes into a six episode serial nothing is resolved yet but i really can't wait to continue the story this evening.