History Series / SapphireAndSteel

* TimePolice: Sapphire, Steel, and presumably all of the Elements act as this. Although often Time itself is what they're "correcting".

* BottleEpisode: All of them. The only location footage in the entire series was filmed on the roof of ATV's own offices, masquerading as an apartment block.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Liz is gently hinted to be some kind of sex worker.

* CodeName: A human assisting Sapphire and Steel assumes that "Sapphire" and "Steel" are code names, and asks if he can have a code name too. (He gets dubbed "Brass" for the duration.)

* PsychicLink: Sapphire and Steel can communicate telepathically and are very in tune to each others thoughts and feelings. Presumably, all agents can communicate this way because Silver and Lead also have this ability.

''Sapphire and Steel'' probably influenced ''Series/TheXFiles'' and ''Series/BabylonFive''. Its creator, Peter J. Hammond, would go on to write for ''Series/MidsomerMurders''. He would also stand responsible for two of the most bizarre episodes of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', "[[Recap/TorchwoodS1E5SmallWorlds Small Worlds]]" and "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E10FromOutOfTheRain From Out of the Rain]]", which are [[SpiritualSuccessor more like]] ''Sapphire and Steel'' than they are most other ''Torchwood'' episodes. He also wrote the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoTLSS1E5Paradise5 Paradise 5]]", which would have been part of the original Season 22 (which was cancelled), and was eventually produced by Creator/BigFinish.

''Sapphire and Steel'' probably influenced ''Series/TheXFiles'' and ''Series/BabylonFive''. Its creator, Peter J. Hammond, would go on to write for ''Series/MidsomerMurders''. He would also stand responsible for two of the most bizarre episodes of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', "[[Recap/TorchwoodS1E5SmallWorlds Small Worlds]]" and "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E10FromOutOfTheRain From Out of the Rain]]", which are [[SpiritualSuccessor more like]] ''Sapphire and Steel'' than they are most other ''Torchwood'' episodes. He also wrote the unproduced ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "Paradise 5".

While most other notable British Science Fiction shows were over-ambitious in their special effects, with results ranging from the troubling (''Series/DoctorWho'') to the disastrous (''Series/TheTomorrowPeople''), ''S&S'' simply did not ''try'' to do anything the budget wouldn't allow. The result called for milking SurrealHorror for all its worth, creating a show that is, while definitely not for everyone, quite capable of reducing so-inclined viewers to quivering little heaps behind the sofa.

''Sapphire and Steel'' (1979-1982) is a British series sitting squarely at the intersection of ScienceFantasy and {{Horror}}. It was created by ATV, one of Creator/{{ITV}}'s regional franchises, and was probably the best of ITV's several attempts to produce an [[DuelingShows answer]] to Creator/TheBBC's classic-era ''Series/DoctorWho''. The title characters, played by Creator/JoannaLumley and Creator/DavidMcCallum, are stoic inter-dimensional agents who protect... um, something. The opening monologue above is really all the explanation we ever get. Their role seems to involve preventing [[EldritchAbomination Lovecraftian horrors]] from slipping in through weak spots in time and snatching things. Exactly what this means -- or for that matter, what Sapphire and Steel ''themselves'' really are -- never quite becomes clear.

* InfantImmortality Played straight with Rothwyn and Eldrid's baby. Averted with the children in the other capsules.

''Sapphire and Steel'' probably influenced ''Series/TheXFiles'' and ''Series/BabylonFive''. Its creator, Peter J. Hammond, would go on to write for ''MidsomerMurders''. He would also stand responsible for two of the most bizarre episodes of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', "[[Recap/TorchwoodS1E5SmallWorlds Small Worlds]]" and "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E10FromOutOfTheRain From Out of the Rain]]", which are [[SpiritualSuccessor more like]] ''Sapphire and Steel'' than they are most other ''Torchwood'' episodes. He also wrote the unproduced ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "Paradise 5".

* [[spoiler: DrivenToSuicide]]: The occupants of the other experimental capsules resorted to this when faced with no way out.

* ItCanThink: The closest Steel comes to sounding at all perturbed by events is when he informs Sapphire that ''the Time-breach itself'' seems to exhibit the ability to reason and plan this time.

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: Of the "elements" mentioned by name in the opening titles, two are non-elemental gemstones and one is an alloy. It would be easier to overlook or {{handwave}} if two of them weren't also ''the main characters''. Hammond did the research, but he didn't particularly care as long as [[RuleOfCool the title (and opening narration) had a cool ring to it]].