The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as We Know It

 "The unexpected but accurate bisecting of the Belgian foreign minister; the Royal College of Needlework massacre; the strange affair of the seven boiled bishops; and the man-eating poodle of Lambeth Palace enigma?"

This is, shall we say, somewhat obscure. A one-off ITV comedy thing, co-scripted by and starring John Cleese, and with his signature absurdist verbal humour all over it. It's not available anywhere officially, as far as I know, and will certainly never be seen on television again- it was 1977, and there's a little light racism on show here. But let's just say that YouTube happens to exist, shall we?

But damn, this is funny. Don't get me wrong, it's uneven, and it would be absurd to expect the plot to make sense. But there are some delightfully clever touches and, despite the fact it all looks extremely cheap, the performances are excellent. Atrthur Lowe steals the show as the most bumbling Watson ever, but Connie Booth is also hilarious as Mrs Hudson. And Denholm Elliott is, of course, his usual superb self.

It's also illuminating as to the world of 1977- the Chinese delegate to the Police of Five Continents meeting has Mao's Little Red Book; there's a hilarious spoof of both Henry Kissinger and Gerald Ford; and there's a rather funny scene with a very 1970s computer. Oh, and there's a nicely casual skewering of all sorts of pop culture detectives.

This is not, by any means, one of the best things John Cleese has ever done. Some bits are funnier than others. But this is just so much fun to watch.

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment One- Escape Through a Crack in Time, Part 6

 "Goodbye, Rob."

Probably best not to analyse this last episode too much; some stuff happens and we're back at the beginning, courtest of "The House That Jack Built". It's an entertaining spectacle, especially with Rob in the past as the house is being built, and all the storytelling beats are there... but it makes no real narrative sense. This episode feels oddly as though it's not so much a final episode but just a series of events in the shape of a final episode.

Again, no new cool concepts are introduced; this is about finishing things rather than throwing new ideas around. It all feels dramatic enough but there's a real vagueness to what happens.

This first serial, overall, introduces a mindblowingly good concept and throws loads of equally mindblowing ideas at us... but at six parts it's about a third too long, and most of the cool ideas are focused in the early episodes. This is what prevents what was a promising story from being quite as good overall as the early episodes seemed to indicate.

Still, overall this is a promising start. On to the next serial...

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment One- Escape Through a Crack in Time, Part 5

 "They're the real danger, the real threat. Nothing else is."

I love this serial, as all the gushing I've done maks quite clear. But, unfortunately this episode, while it fills the time adequately enough, suffers from a fairly obvious case of Penultimate Episode Syndrome. It's far too obvious that it's just passng the time until the finale.

The main point is that all three patches of light are now loose, and there is much peril. Other than that, the main thing is Rob being persuaded into the cellar by something pretending to be hia dad, ending with Lead ripping the cellar door open so that he, Sapphire and Steel can venture in for the finale.

And that's it; no new fresh conceptual weirdness to stimulate our minds this time. There's a nice character bit about how Steel, being so stern and serious, is rubbish with kids (such as Helen, while both Sapphire and the big but cheerful Lead are much better in this regard- the contrast is basically me both before and after I became a dad.

So let's proceed to the finale...

Sapphire & Steel: Assignment One- Escape Through a Crack in Time, Part 4

 "Well, I sank the real one, yes."

In some ways this fourth episode gives us spins on what we've already seen, not that this is a bad thing as the concepts have hardly lost their novelty. Hence we have last week's haunting cliffhanger resolved by Steel having frozen himself to absolute zero, returning Sapphire to reality somehow, and freezing the Roundheads. We have a new nursery rhyme at the end causing wind, well-directed chaos and more Roundheads. Again, we have a compelling piece of weird horror that doesn't place huge demands on the budget.

We also, this time, get some answers as to whom Sapphire and Steel are- although, as the best answers do, they only serve to give us further questions. So the oft-mentioned ship turns out to have been the Mary Celeste. And, as Sapphire tells Rob, there are 127beings like Steel and herself- only for Steel to reduce that number to 115 because the "Transuranics" are unstable. That still doesn't explain why Sapphire, Steel, and several other agents named in the opening monologue are not actually elements but never mind.

Of course, the episode is mostly about the appearance of Lead, a jolly giant with mysterious "insulation" powers. He's full of intriguing gossip, too- "Jet sends her love", and "Copper's having problems with Silver- again". I suspect al this will never be fully fleshed at, only hinted at like this- which is as it should be. I wonder how much more mythology will be let slip over the series.

This is still excellent stuff, pacing its six parts very well indeed.