Stars: David McCallum, Joanna Lumley

Director: Shaun O'Riordan

Summary: This unusual late 1970s/early 1980s sci-fi series features Joanna Lumley and David McCallum as Sapphire and Steel (respectively), otherworldly operatives who appear as humans on Earth to right mysterious wrongs. In ASSIGNMENT I (the first six episodes), Sapphire and Steel must deal the disappearance of two parents and the children left behind. ASSIGNMENT II (eight episodes) focuses on a ghost of a WWI soldier, and ASSIGNMENT III (six episodes) involves time travel. This collection presents all 20 episodes.

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One of the oddest shows ever mounted for mainstream UK television, Sapphire &Steelwas one of ITV's many short-lived attempts at grabbing the sci-fi cult status of the BBC's Doctor Who. Ex-Man From U.N.C.L.E. David McCallum and ex-Avenger Joanna Lumley play human-looking incarnations of the eponymous substances, mysterious investigators working at the behest of an apparent God of Order and zipping about TARDIS-like to cope with anomalies in the time-stream that manifest as apparent supernatural forces in remote English locales like an isolated farmhouse (Adventure One), a deserted rural railway station (Adventure Two) and a high-rise block of flats (Adventure Three).

McCallum and Lumley play their "medium atomic weights" with blank style and a few touches of baffled humour, not to mention visual flair in the case of Lumley's blue fashions and occasional glowing eyes. But the lengthy serial format, strictly limited guest casts and claustrophobic confinement to studio floor sets tend to mean individual serials straggle on with a great deal of repetition, providing longeursas six or eight-part stories seem to take forever to get moving and then resolve. Shot on video, with a few strange 1970s effects (evil follow-spots, floating pillows), this remains prime cult material, though it's hard to sit still for more than one episode at a time. It will take an extremely devoted fan to get through all three adventures in under six months.

On the DVD:Sapphire &Steelon disc has to be reckoned a disappointment when compared with the wealth of extra material included on the Gerry Anderson or Doctor WhoDVDs. This set stretches only to a few press releases and a TV Timesarticle from the launch of the series that tries hard to build up a mystique about the show which it would take some years to actually acquire. There are basic bios of the two stars, and some unresonant stills. Image quality-wise, this looks much the same as previous VHS releases: shot on video, with only a few tiny film inserts for Adventure Three (on the roof of a London building), the series' transfer to DVD is plagued by artefacting of various kinds (some of which can just about be passed off as visual effects), but then again so were the original transmissions. The pristine look is especially unfortunate in exposing the extremely ordinary trickery as far less terrifying than the onscreen characters make them out to be. --Kim Newman

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Introductions, TV Times Article, Stills Gallery, Cast Biographies
Year:	1979
Release Date:	August 12, 2002
Runtime:	500 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	37115 03903
Keywords:	Action, Steel, Iii, Box, General, Three, Set, Sapphire, I, Tv, Adventure, Discs, Ii, Assignments
Genre:	Action/Adventure