Film Review
Sapphire and Steel's second assignment, first broadcast on ITV in the
summer of 1979 and oft referred to by its unofficial title
The Railway Station, marks the
artistic and nightmarish highpoint for the entire series. Running
to eight episodes, it is the longest of the time-fixing duo's six
television outings and, thanks to some superb direction, lighting,
camerawork and set design, by far the creepiest. In fact it is
hard to recall a British television programme that is more weirdly
unsettling than this. Although it takes minimalist drama to
extremes, with just four principal actors to carry the entire three and
a half hour-long story, it is utterly compelling, even if the plot is
virtually unfathomable and the nature of the threat facing our heroes
nigh on impossible to pin down.
What begins as an eerie semblance of a classic ghost story soon becomes
something far more sinister and frightening, with shades of
The Blair Witch Project
(1999) skulking in the background. It's a massive progression from Sapphire and Steel's
first story (which aired immediately before this one), with the series
now clearly aimed at an intelligent adult audience. P.J. Hammond's
script does tend to drift and fold back on itself with some inevitable
repetition across the eight episodes but the abundance of truly scary
concepts together with some terrifying imagery make it compulsive
viewing. Among the delights on offer are some of the most
chilling scenes to be found in any British television series - Steel
caught, apparently dead, in a barbed wire fence; Tully and Sapphire
being asphyxiated in an empty corridor; and, most terrifying of all,
Sapphire sent into a trance with her eyes turned a demonic black.
Definitely not one for the kiddies.
After the fun and games of
Assignment
One, David McCallum and Joanna Lumley are now well into their
stride and genuinely do look as if they are beings from another
dimension rather than overdressed child minders with special
powers. It's an effective combination, Steel's brusqueness and
cold ruthlessness set against Sapphire's more empathic persona, which
leads to some interesting interplay and conflict between the two
characters. Despite their special powers, it is clear right from
the start that Sapphire and Steel are imperfect custodians of universal
harmony and by episode four it appears that they are both well and
truly out of their depth. The troublesome human, George Tully,
who first gets in their way becomes an invaluable member of their team,
and someone Steel is all too willing to sacrifice for the greater good
(an echo of the story's apparent anti-war subtext).
As the likeable but subtly Pinter-esque Tully, Gerald James gives the
story another interesting point of focus, and it is astonishing the
degree to which his presence accentuates the alienness of McCallum and
Lumley's characters. Tom Kelly has the most haunting presence, not just
because he is playing the principal ghost, but because his WWI soldier
becomes firmly established in our minds as a symbol of the injustice and
cruelty of war. Like all great pieces of art, Sapphire and
Steel's second assignment seizes both the heart and the imagination and
forces us to interpret it in whichever way we choose. It is one
of the most remarkable pieces of drama to have been made for British
television.
© James Travers 2014
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Film Synopsis
Sapphire and Steel arrive at a disused English railway station which is
completely deserted apart from the presence of one George Tully, a
50-something investigator into the paranormal. Tully has
been squatting in the railway station and its adjoining hotel for
several weeks and in that time he has observed several bizarre
phenomenon - flowers suddenly appearing in full bloom on the station
platform at night, the sound of someone whistling and moving about
unseen in the shadows. Sapphire senses an overwhelming feeling of
resentment and experiences an unaccountable change of season, from late
autumn to mid-summer. The ghostly presence that Tully has sensed
then manifests itself as a young soldier from the First World
War. On one of Tully's tape recordings Steel hears the voices of
men trapped aboard a sunken test submarine in 1938 and is then forced
to experience for himself the death of a WWII air pilot.
Realising that the soldier is the key to the mystery, Steel coerces
Tully into conducting a séance, with Sapphire acting as the
medium. If they can only uncover the soldier's identity they
might stand a chance of understanding the nature of the threat facing
them...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.