I am really enjoying seeing this series again as much or more as I did when I was a young man. This was done around the time of the Hippies, the Beatles, mind-expansion, etc. and it does touch on subjects that are still and always will be relavant for humans such as the destructiveness of resentment and other mental and spiritual problems in a well done thinking persons sci-fi. Special note for anyone seeing this series for the first time: The BBC has restarted the series only as radio shows furthering the storyline. I do enjoy audio books, as well, and it's a trip to see that the BBC is still producing radio-shows for the public. You can get the continuing story from BBC if you're interested. This is the first time I've come across a television to radio show. Cosmic--as we use to say in the 60's...but do enjoy the disks if you like this kind of sci-fi.
This reminds me of another English show of around the same time, the Prisoner. They both share that same quality where even after watching an episode and thinking you have a grasp on what is happening that you are left with a feeling that something far bigger is afoot.
Here is my take on what the show is all about. Time is a malignant force trying to break free of the bonds which keep it in check. This is a battle being waged on another level of reality that we can not really understand but the battle is also being played out in our reality in a way that allows us some insight into what is happening. The Elements who work for a higher power have taken Human form and it is their job to find places and times where Time is trying to break free and rectify the situation. ...But I might be wrong:-) the bottom line is its a great show and if anyone figures out what it was all about then please let me know.
I was struck by the similarity of "feel" from Sapphire and Steel to the soap opera Dark Shadows that I rushed home to see each weekday when I was younger. Although Dark Shadows was not intended for children and Sapphire and Steel apparently was meant to be a children's show, they each have similar ways of evoking suspenseful tension.
Being a big Illya Kuryakin fan from way back, I was mostly interested in David McCallum's appearance in the series, but thought that Joanna Lumley and the other actors did a good job interacting with the "alien presence" even though some of them were aliens as well.