Sapphire & Steel poster

Sapphire & Steel (1979)

Mystery · Sci-Fi · Thriller

Sapphire & Steel is a British television science-fiction fantasy series starring David McCallum as Steel and Joanna Lumley as Sapphire. Produced by ATV, it ran from 1979 to 1982 on the ITV network. The series was created by Peter J. Hammond who conceived the programme under the working title The Time Menders, after a stay in an allegedly haunted castle. Hammond also wrote all the stories except for the fifth, which was co-written by Don Houghton and Anthony Read. None of the stories had onscreen titles, or any official titles assigned by the writers. The Region 1 Complete Series DVD release gives the titles "Escape Through a Crack in Time", "The Railway Station", "The Creature's Revenge", "The Man Without a Face", "Dr. McDee Must Die" and "The Trap", respectively. These titles have often been cited as having been created by science fiction magazine Time Screen.

IMDb rating
7.8 (2,172 votes)
Seasons
4
Streaming (US)
fuboTV · Shout! Factory Amazon Channel · Pluto TV · Shout! Factory TV · Tubi TV · Plex · Plex Channel
Language
EN
Type
TV series

Ratings refreshed Jul 3, 2026 · 4 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1979)

7.61 avg 14 episodes 7.2 → 8.1 27 min avg

Ep 1: 7.2 · 221 votesEp 2: 7.2 · 163 votesEp 3: 7.3 · 150 votesEp 4: 7.2 · 144 votesEp 5: 7.1 · 139 votesEp 6: 7.5 · 141 votesEp 7: 8.0 · 151 votesEp 8: 7.8 · 124 votesEp 9: 7.9 · 114 votesEp 10: 7.8 · 112 votesEp 11: 7.8 · 109 votesEp 12: 7.8 · 110 votesEp 13: 7.8 · 107 votesEp 14: 8.1 · 117 votes
Season 1 episodes — IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Assignment One: Part 17.2221
2Assignment One: Part 27.2163
3Assignment One: Part 37.3150
4Assignment One: Part 47.2144
5Assignment One: Part 57.1139
6Assignment One: Part 67.5141
7Assignment Two: Part 18.0151
8Assignment Two: Part 27.8124
9Assignment Two: Part 37.9114
10Assignment Two: Part 47.8112
11Assignment Two: Part 57.8109
12Assignment Two: Part 67.8110
13Assignment Two: Part 77.8107
14Assignment Two: Part 88.1117

Season 2 (1981)

7.36 avg 10 episodes 7.3 → 7.9 25 min avg

Ep 1: 7.3 · 91 votesEp 2: 7.1 · 80 votesEp 3: 7.2 · 81 votesEp 4: 7.0 · 81 votesEp 5: 7.0 · 79 votesEp 6: 7.1 · 78 votesEp 7: 7.7 · 83 votesEp 8: 7.7 · 78 votesEp 9: 7.6 · 76 votesEp 10: 7.9 · 79 votes
Season 2 episodes — IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Assignment Three: Part 17.391
2Assignment Three: Part 27.180
3Assignment Three: Part 37.281
4Assignment Three: Part 47.081
5Assignment Three: Part 57.079
6Assignment Three: Part 67.178
7Assignment Four: Part 17.783
8Assignment Four: Part 27.778
9Assignment Four: Part 37.676
10Assignment Four: Part 47.979

Season 3 (1981)

7.38 avg 6 episodes 7.7 → 7.5 25 min avg

Ep 1: 7.7 · 86 votesEp 2: 7.3 · 71 votesEp 3: 7.2 · 69 votesEp 4: 7.2 · 67 votesEp 5: 7.4 · 68 votesEp 6: 7.5 · 71 votes
Season 3 episodes — IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Assignment Five: Part 17.786
2Assignment Five: Part 27.371
3Assignment Five: Part 37.269
4Assignment Five: Part 47.267
5Assignment Five: Part 57.468
6Assignment Five: Part 67.571

Season 4 (1982)

8.15 avg 4 episodes 8.1 → 8.6 25 min avg

Ep 1: 8.1 · 80 votesEp 2: 7.8 · 69 votesEp 3: 8.1 · 69 votesEp 4: 8.6 · 81 votes
Season 4 episodes — IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Assignment Six: Part 18.180
2Assignment Six: Part 27.869
3Assignment Six: Part 38.169
4Assignment Six: Part 48.681