First broadcast 10th July 1979.
A pair of inter-dimensional operatives, Sapphire and Steel are two of multiple elements that assume human form and are sent to investigate strange events, where they appear to be engaged in guarding the continuing flow of time.
On an ordinary evening, a mother and father sing nursery rhymes to their daughter Helen before bed. Their teenage son Robert becomes alarmed when all the clocks in the house stop working.
David McCallum ... Steel
Joanna Lumley ... Sapphire
Steven O'Shea ... Robert Jardine
Tamasin Bridge ... Helen Jardine
Felicity Harrison ... Mother
John Golightly ... Father
Ronald Goodale ... Countryman
Charles Pemberton ... Policeman
A pair of inter-dimensional operatives, Sapphire and Steel are two of multiple elements that assume human form and are sent to investigate strange events, where they appear to be engaged in guarding the continuing flow of time.
On an ordinary evening, a mother and father sing nursery rhymes to their daughter Helen before bed. Their teenage son Robert becomes alarmed when all the clocks in the house stop working.
David McCallum ... Steel
Joanna Lumley ... Sapphire
Steven O'Shea ... Robert Jardine
Tamasin Bridge ... Helen Jardine
Felicity Harrison ... Mother
John Golightly ... Father
Ronald Goodale ... Countryman
Charles Pemberton ... Policeman
Category
📺
TVTranscript
01:00Come on, you've got this.
01:021, 3, 3, 2, 3's a 6, 3, 3's a 9, 4, 3's a 12, 5, 3's a 15, 6, 3's a...
01:11Come on, 6, 3's a 18, 6, 3's a 19, 6, 3's a 20, 6, 3's a 21, 6, 3's a 22, 6, 3's a 22,
01:256, 3's a 18, 6, 3's a 18, 6, 3's a 21, 8, 3's a 24, 9, 3's a 25, 10, 3's a...
01:3910, 3's a 30, 10, 3's a 30, 11, 3's a 33, 12, 3's a 36.
01:48Now come along, Helen, it's time for bed.
01:50Oh, you promised I could have one more.
01:52Oh, Henry!
01:55All right, all right, I know. Little Miss Muffet.
01:58Yes!
01:59But this time, you'll do it for Mummy and Daddy all by yourself.
02:01Yes.
02:02Little Miss Muffet sat on a carpet, eating her carbs and whey.
02:09There came a big spider, stepped down the shelter, and little Miss Muffet went away.
02:18One more?
02:19No, no more, it's late.
02:21Oh, please, Mummy.
02:22No!
02:23Oh, come on, there's time for another one.
02:26Well, all right then, but just the one.
02:29Ring-a-ring-a-rosies, a pocket full of posies, a tissue, a tissue, we all fall down.
02:53Ring-a-ring-a-rosies, a pocket full of posies, a tissue, we all fall down.
03:24Ring-a-ring-a-rosies, a pocket full of posies, a tissue, we all fall down.
03:53Dad?
04:11Dad, what's that noise? All the clocks are...
04:23All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension.
04:37Transuranic, heavy elements may not be used where there is life.
04:45Medium atomic weights are available.
04:48Gold, lead, copper, jet, diamond, radium, sapphire, silver, and steel.
05:00Sapphire and steel have been assigned.
05:15Oh!
05:35Where's Mum and Dad?
05:39It's all right, Helen. I'm here.
05:42So where are they, Mum and Dad?
05:45Gone.
05:46Gone, gone where? Out of the door, downstairs.
05:50Well, where then?
05:52Just, just went away.
05:55Here, in the room.
06:12MUSIC
06:35You mean they disappeared, Helen?
06:37Yes.
06:41Yes, Mum and Daddy, they just went away.
06:45But not here, not in the room.
06:47Yes, just went away.
07:07MUSIC
07:37MUSIC
08:01Drink your milk, Helen. Everything's all right, see.
08:04I ran all the way to the phone box at Scar's Edge.
08:07And I found the policeman's house at the point.
08:09I told him.
08:12He's coming out here.
08:18So, everything's all right then, isn't it?
08:22I mean, that policeman, he'll only have to come to the other side of the point,
08:25and cross the bay in a boat, and he'll be here.
08:28So just drink your milk, Helen. Everything's going to be all right.
08:35Stay there.
08:38Come.
08:42Who is it?
08:44Robert Stephen Jardine?
08:46Yes.
08:47Have you asked for help?
08:49I did, yes.
08:50Then unlock the door.
08:53That's quick.
08:54Yes.
09:06I've only just...
09:10I don't know you.
09:14Only the policeman at the point.
09:16The policeman at the point isn't coming.
09:19I've contacted him and told him that everything now here is under control.
09:22But it isn't.
09:24I know.
09:26That's why we're here and not him.
09:31He's a shade too serious, but you'll get used to him.
09:33But he's got no right to tell the policeman...
09:35Your parents have disappeared, right?
09:36Yes.
09:37And you want them back?
09:38Of course I want them...
09:39Safely?
09:40Yes.
09:41Well then, your policeman at the point with his idiot notebook and his idiot questions
09:45stands no chance of getting them back for you.
09:47But we do.
09:49Whatever it is that's happened to them, my mother and father,
09:53is it serious?
10:01Yes.
10:07How old would you say the house was?
10:09At a rough estimate, 250 years.
10:13It's old land.
10:14Arable land.
10:15It's probably been that way for centuries.
10:17There could have been other buildings on these foundations back in time.
10:20Yes.
10:21Genuine antiques?
10:23I'd say most of them.
10:27Some vibrations.
10:28And a surname, Jardine.
10:30Old French.
10:32The father's name is Henry, the mother's name is Sarah, and the child is called Helen.
10:36How do you know?
10:38Old names, an old house.
10:40Lots of old things.
10:44Lots of old...
10:46Old echoes.
10:48A pressure point, then.
10:50Could well be.
10:53Could well be it.
10:55You know so much about us.
10:57We do, yes.
10:58Then perhaps you'd like to say who you are, what your names are.
11:01My name is Sapphire, and my friend's name is Steel.
11:04Sapphire?
11:05Yes.
11:06That's a...
11:07What?
11:08Well, that's a beautiful name.
11:11Thank you.
11:12There are lots of clocks in this house.
11:15Yes, my father collects them, makes them work.
11:17So why aren't they working now?
11:18They do work.
11:20They all stopped when?
11:22Yes.
11:23Well, just before it happened.
11:26I did search the house after.
11:27At the time it happened, where were you?
11:30Down here in this room.
11:31And your parents were where?
11:33In Helen's room at the top, and they were reading to her.
11:38Mum and Daddy just went away.
11:43I think we'd all better go up to the top room.
11:45Yes.
11:46We'll take some clocks with us.
11:48Bring the child.
11:51Thank you.
12:03When the clock stopped, did you hear anything?
12:06I heard Helen crying.
12:09Anything else?
12:12Well, there was this kind of sound.
12:15What kind of sound?
12:17Well...
12:18Describe it.
12:19Like a low murmur, a low rumbling sound.
12:28So where have they gone?
12:30My parents!
12:35Look!
12:36I want to know!
12:38Now!
12:39Now!
12:47I mean, you...
12:48You come here, just like that.
12:51This place, well, you can hear people or cars approaching from miles away.
12:55But you two, you arrived just like that.
12:58Yes.
13:00So...
13:01Well, I want to know at least something before we go in there to do whatever we're going to do.
13:07There is a corridor.
13:08It can't be explained to him.
13:10It can, in a way.
13:11But not by you, perhaps.
13:15There is a corridor.
13:16And the corridor is time.
13:19It surrounds all things.
13:21And it passes through all things.
13:25Oh, you can't see it.
13:27Only sometimes, when it's dangerous.
13:30This corridor, can you enter it?
13:33No, not in the way you imagine.
13:34You cannot enter into time.
13:35But sometimes, time can try to enter into the present.
13:39Break in.
13:40Burst through and take things.
13:42Take people.
13:44The corridor is very strong.
13:45It has to be.
13:46But sometimes, in some places, it becomes weakened.
13:50Like fabric.
13:51Worn fabric.
13:53And when there is pressure put upon the fabric, time comes in.
13:56Reaches in and takes out what it wants.
13:59And we think that time has broken into that room.
14:03Broken through.
14:04And taken away your parents.
14:07Come on.
14:08Come on.
14:33Will they work again?
14:35Yes.
14:37Simply wound themselves down, that's all.
14:40But my father wound himself clocks almost every day.
14:42I expect he does.
14:44But clocks don't do that. It isn't possible.
14:47No. And yet it happened.
14:49You were in this room with your mother and father and sister before you went downstairs.
14:53Yes.
14:54And that's the last you saw of your parents.
14:57Yes.
14:58Where was the child?
14:59Sitting up in bed.
15:06Like that?
15:07Kneeling.
15:08Kneel.
15:10So I did.
15:16Your father was where?
15:17Sitting in that chair.
15:19Sit in it, will you please?
15:21What?
15:23Just sit there.
15:25Please don't touch anything.
15:32Your mother was sitting in the rocking chair?
15:34Yes.
15:42All three like this then?
15:44Yes.
15:46And your father?
15:48Sitting in the rocking chair.
15:50Yes.
15:51All three like this then?
15:52Yes.
16:13I take it your mother was reading aloud to the child?
16:16Yes.
16:17Reading from this book?
16:19She did it.
16:21She does it every night.
16:23My dad often sits with them.
16:25Traditional nursery rhymes.
16:27Do you know which particular rhyme was being read when the clocks began to stop?
16:31No.
16:32When things began to happen.
16:34No, I was downstairs.
16:36It is important to know the exact rhyme.
16:38Do you know which one it was?
16:41Helen.
16:42She's not very talkative with strangers.
16:45Then you try.
16:52Helen.
16:54When mumma, just before mumma went away, you remember?
16:57What was she reading to you?
16:59Which nursery rhyme?
17:01Don't know.
17:03You do know, Helen. Tell us, please.
17:05First one.
17:07Your favourite.
17:08Ring-a-ring-a-rosies.
17:11Good.
17:13Ring-a-ring-a-rosies dates back to the time of the plague.
17:15Yes, another echo.
17:17Another ingredient.
17:19I found it.
17:20Wait.
17:26Read the rhyme carefully.
17:28Whenever I raise my hand, stop.
17:31When I lower it, continue.
17:33Right.
17:35If I say back, back, reverse the order of the words immediately.
17:40I know.
17:41And be carefully.
17:43Not one mistake, not even one wrong letter.
17:46No.
17:48All right.
17:51Now.
17:53Begin.
17:55Ring-a-ring-a-rosies.
17:57A pocket full of posies.
17:59A tissue, a tissue.
18:01We all fall down.
18:04The king has...
18:14The king has sent his daughter.
18:15The king has sent his daughter to fetch a pail of water.
18:29Go on.
18:31A tissue, a tissue.
18:33We all fall down.
18:35The bird upon the steeple sits high above the people.
18:40A tissue, a tissue.
18:42We all fall down.
18:43The cows are in the meadow, lying fast asleep.
18:47A tissue, a tissue.
18:49We all get up again.
19:02The cows are in the meadow, lying fast asleep.
19:06A tissue, a tissue.
19:08We all get up again.
19:09A tissue, a tissue.
19:10We all get up again.
19:12The wedding bells are ringing.
19:14The boys and girls are singing.
19:16A tissue, a tissue.
19:18We all get up again.
19:32No!
19:34Backwards!
19:35Backwards!
19:37The meadow lying fast asleep.
19:47Down!
19:49Fall all we!
19:52Pictures! Saw pictures!
19:54Yes, Helen!
19:56So it's there then?
19:58We can't seal it yet?
20:00No, not till we brought those people back.
20:02But tear the rhyme out of the book.
20:03destroy it.
20:17has the child somewhere else to sleep?
20:19she can sleep in my room.
20:21take her there then will you?
20:23come on.
20:25Vicar!
20:37is there a key to this door?
20:39no. it was lost years ago.
20:41no one is to come back into this room. do you understand?
20:51not till we've done what we have to.
20:55take it downstairs and burn it.
21:25I suppose I've surprised you.
21:47Helen's fast asleep.
21:49oh I suppose I've surprised you. well I fancied a change.
21:57Steele says I shouldn't use time as if it's some sort of a wardrobe but
22:01he's so serious. I get bored wearing the same old clothes.
22:05now salt and pepper.
22:07over there. but where did you get them from? what? the clothes.
22:11oh these aren't real.
22:13not real? no these aren't real ones.
22:17salt and pepper.
22:23look this was my favorite last week. what do you think?
22:27well I think that...
22:29yes?
22:31I just think that you're beautiful.
22:33thank you.
22:35and the name Sephir. like blue as if you were blue.
22:37and Steele?
22:39well I suppose he's like Steele. grey.
22:43the Commodore. have you ever seen it? seen inside it?
22:47not properly. I did catch a glimpse once on a ship.
22:51a ship? in the middle of the sea.
22:53anyway it was a simple operation. we fixed it.
22:55and you say you're so...
22:57well just a glimpse. it was like looking through frosted glass. all the images were blurred and broken.
23:03like the images upstairs?
23:05something like that yes.
23:09sorry.
23:11perhaps when you finish telling the boy about the nicer aspects of our job you'd tell him about the dangers.
23:15he knows about them.
23:17he knows about them.
23:19about the dangers in this house.
23:21the Commodore.
23:23don't try and imagine it.
23:25it's immense. time is immense.
23:27try and imagine instead you, Rob, or your lifetime as approximately one inch in length.
23:37then compare it to the corridor of time which is a thousand million miles long.
23:43one inch.
23:45you.
23:47time in the unknown a thousand million miles.
23:51just compare them.
23:53it's very very big.
23:55and it's very very dangerous.
23:57dangerous?
24:01there are things.
24:03creatures if you like.
24:05from the very beginnings of time and the very end of time.
24:09and these creatures have access to the corridor.
24:13they're forever moving along it.
24:15searching.
24:17looking. trying to find a way in.
24:21they're always searching.
24:23always looking.
24:25for the hole in the fabric?
24:27yes. but they must never be allowed in. never ever.
24:31you've already seen what can happen upstairs this evening.
24:35stopped them.
24:37held them.
24:39took the trigger away from them.
24:41the trigger?
24:43yes. the final ingredient.
24:45a certain traditional nursery rhyme spoken in a certain room.
25:05mama. daddy.
25:21no pictures.
25:23no pictures rebecca.
25:29ringa ringa roses
25:31the pocket full of poses
25:33that's why we tore it out of the book.
25:37that's why we burned it.
25:39a tissue. a tissue.
25:41we all fall down.
25:43that's why sapphire and i.
25:45king has sent his daughter
25:47to fetch a pail of water.
25:49a tissue. a tissue.
25:51we all fall down.
25:53wedding bells are ringing.
25:55the bridesmaids are singing.
25:57a tissue. a tissue.
25:59we all fall down.
26:01the birds upon the sea
26:03pull the tide of the sea.
26:05a tissue. a tissue.
26:07we all fall down.
26:09the cows are in the meadow.
26:11lions on the steep.
26:13a tissue.
26:31a tissue.
27:01© transcript Emily Beynon