Sapphire and Steel       ADVENTURE TWO

Theme:
The scene: a disused railway station cum hotel. A man, George Tully, is setting up a tape recorder and other equipment designed to record any ghostly visitation. He appears to have been here for some time. Into the middle of his "psychical investigation" appears a slim blond figure (very elegant in long dark coat, which covers a dark-plum coloured velvet jacket!). With typical Steel tact, he tells Tully, "You'd better pack up your junk and leave"!
During the course of this adventure, Tully sometimes helps, sometimes hinders, and ultimately is the lever enabling Steel to rescue Sapphire from the dark force at work.
Tully is played by Gerald James, on leave from the National Theatre, where he was a regular cast member. His gentle, bumbling innocent, with his carpet slippers and thermos flask, is a real plus in this show; Tully is an excellent foil to both Steel (though slower witted, he surprises Steel with his intuition) and Sapphire, who responds to his evident admiration. A number of characters from the past appear. First, a young soldier who died in the first world war, then an airman, and later three men who died in a submarine. They are being brought there by the "dark force", which appears as a dark mass, and which feeds on resentment.
Events move fast in this story. First, Steel has to rescue Sapphire, then she has to rescue him, then he has to rescue her and Tully (and that is only episode two). This adventure contains one of the few instances of Steel showing fear, although moments later, Sapphire is able to say, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" As more characters appear, the dark force becomes stronger, feeding off their resentment. The force appears to create "holes" in time. When Sapphire and Steel step into one of these areas, their clothing changes to a different time period, and it is difficult to move away and back to the "present".
In this adventure we discover that Sapphire can do a "spot analysis": holding Tully's hand in hers, she can discern what it is composed of, deciding he is definitely human, and even give his life-expectancy. (Some nice, dry, humour here, as Tully misunderstands Sapphire's motive in holding on to his hand. Having asked Steel what is her relationship to him, he is told, "business associate"!)