Bring Back Sapphire And Steel!!!

Well someone should right???

One of the best ever tv/sci-fi/ghost series ever.

I think a new series handled with care would be magnificent.
BBC 3 are you listening?

I might agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that PJ Hammond seems to have lost it a bit.....

sheringham wrote:I might agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that PJ Hammond seems to have lost it a bit.....

Ah, but remember he was working under the constraint of having to write for somebody else's characters...I suspect he's still got what it takes.

Of course, that does beg the question of who exactly should play S&S?

sheringham wrote:I might agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that PJ Hammond seems to have lost it a bit.....

Well, after the dreadful missed opportunity that was his Torchwood episode which called for restraint, under acting and a modicum of style, thhis one missed the boat by miles.
As for the Original series which Iv only very recently watched after many years off air( I dont think Id seen it since I was a wee boy)
and my god they pulled it off . It was just wonderful to behold. Unsettleing, uneasy, took its time, eerie and simply and incredible series.
The lack of money make them concentrate on atmosphere and they had it in buckets
I dread to think if it was brought back they would make a slapstick show of it.

In many ways, it shouldnt have worked, but it SO did.

Sid Seadevil wrote:

sheringham wrote:I might agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that PJ Hammond seems to have lost it a bit.....

Ah, but remember he was working under the constraint of having to write for somebody else's characters...I suspect he's still got what it takes.

Of course, that does beg the question of who exactly should play S&S?

Christopher Eccleston and Laura Fraser

72lf wrote:Christopher Eccleston and Laura Fraser

Very, very good choices. Unfortunately I doubt they'd net Eccleston for a series again. Although ideally, any new series should be at best self contained feature length stories or two-parters. Easier to maintain the atmosphere.

Rupert Penry Gorgeous and Hermione Norris.

sheringham wrote:Rupert Penry Gorgeous and Hermione Norris.

And rob Spooks of Ros! On yer bike!

Although I agree with Rupert as Steel.

A truly wonderful series. More BBC4 than BBC3 I think. If BBC4 can revive The Christmas Ghost Story they could easily do this, even as a one off. It proved that you didn't need mega-budgets to make excellent telefantasy. This tradition needs reviving!

Er...and we still have Jo Lumley and David McCallum living and breathing. Why not just bring them back? Why recast?

Frank wrote:A truly wonderful series. More BBC4 than BBC3 I think. If BBC4 can revive The Christmas Ghost Story they could easily do this, even as a one off. It proved that you didn't need mega-budgets to make excellent telefantasy. This tradition needs reviving!

Er...and we still have Jo Lumley and David McCallum living and breathing. Why not just bring them back? Why recast?

I'd love them both back. However I doubt that McCallum would be that easily able to free himself from NCIS for anything other than a one-off.

It could very easily work though. Especially if they picked the characters up from the end of their last televised adventure - that would neatly explain their having aged.

By the way - has anybody heard any of the Big Finish S&S with David Warner and Susannah Harker? I've been meaning to give them a try but it keeps slipping my mind.

I suspect that Sapphire and Steel is something that can never be revisited or revived. It was very much of its time, and seemed to thrive on the limitations that were heaped upon it. Any revival would either look dated because of trying to recreate a style of television making that was on the way out when Sapphire and Steel was originally made, or so far removed from the original that people may as well come up with a new concept.

In many ways, I think this is what people find dissatisfying about Hammond's Torchwood work. They're very much mood pieces constructed around the ideas he investigated with Sapphire and Steel, but made with the higher budgets and filmatic style of modern tv. Any revival would of Sapphire and Steel would have the same problems, in my opinion.

Far better to remember and cherish the originals than besmirch them by an ill-advised remake.

Well, if it was to be on BBC3, it'd likely end up starring Ralf Little and Sheridan Smith...and I've just realised that the rest of my list of 'how BBC 3 makes drama' are pretty much exactly the same as the ones they make in the Orange adverts at the cinema.

'Instead of them confronting the darkness from beyond time that's threatening to break through and devour reality, how about they just send it a picture message?'

Lee Carey wrote:I suspect that Sapphire and Steel is something that can never be revisited or revived. It was very much of its time, and seemed to thrive on the limitations that were heaped upon it. Any revival would either look dated because of trying to recreate a style of television making that was on the way out when Sapphire and Steel was originally made, or so far removed from the original that people may as well come up with a new concept.

In many ways, I think this is what people find dissatisfying about Hammond's Torchwood work. They're very much mood pieces constructed around the ideas he investigated with Sapphire and Steel, but made with the higher budgets and filmatic style of modern tv. Any revival would of Sapphire and Steel would have the same problems, in my opinion.

Far better to remember and cherish the originals than besmirch them by an ill-advised remake.

I see your point. However, I'm sure S&S could pull off episodes similar to 'Midnight' which was very striking and worked in a similar way to old S&S - ie: working within limitations.

I used to hate Sapphire and Steel, until I sat down and watched a story in a single sitting. Freed from the constraints of being cut up into half hour episodes, and without the irritating interruptions of commercial breaks, it was a damn sight better than I remembered. Although some of the stories could do with a little tightening up in places, it could be remade today and still work.

A few years ago, I thought that Johnny Depp and Keira Knightly would be ideal casting, but now I really want to see Benedick Cumberbatch and Miss Knightly in the roles.