The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

The programme centres on a pair of interdimensional operatives, the eponymous Sapphire and Steel. Very little is revealed about their purposes or backgrounds in the course of the series but they appear to be engaged in guarding the order, if not the integrity of Time. They are two of several elements that assume human form and are sent to investigate strange events; others include Lead (Val Pringle) who takes the aspect of a jovial, friendly giant, or Silver, a technician who can melt metals in his hands.

In the series, it is explained that Time is like a corridor that surrounds everything, but there are weak spots where Time - implied to be a potentially malignant force - can break into the present and take things. There are also creatures from the beginnings and ends of time that roam the corridor looking for the same weak spots to break through.

These breaks are most often triggered by the presence of an anachronism, for example a nursery rhyme, a doctored photograph that mixes period and contemporary elements, or a house decorated to replicate a 1930s setting. Investigators will assess the situation and then, if intervention is warranted, Operators are assigned to deal with the problem by a mysterious unseen authority, to be assisted by Specialists if necessary.