Radio Sounds Familiar

‘’What is a Time Bubble? You can't see it, of course, but it might help you visualise it to think of a balloon... Supposing some little patch of information – some little patch of history – gets slowed down, and instead of flashing backwards and forwards it floats, gently, as if in a bubble... Supposing you could get into that bubble – that bubble of history – and travel with it. Then you could move forwards and backwards in time at will... ”

Introduction by Peter Fairley, Timeslip:  Episode “The Time of the Ice Box”,  )
 
Do you remember the Scfi series Timeslip?  Aged ten it replaced  Doctor Who as my favourite show .

Monday nights at 5.15pm were definitely an appointment to view.

Liz and Simon

 Made by ATV for the ITV network it comprised of  26 x 25 minute episodes covering 4 storylines, and was first  broadcast  between 1970 and 1971.
The plot lines centred around two children, Simon Randall (Spencer Banks) and Liz Skinner (Cheryl Burfield) who discover an extraordinary irregularity, known as the “Time Barrier”,  By crawling through some barbed wire in a field at the back of an abandoned naval research base it enabled them to time travel. The two main characters had differing personalities, Simon was the scientist, always inquisitive trying to find rational explanations for their assorted predicaments’  whereas Liz liked the adventures and was more scatter-brained, resulting in conflicts between their characters,  however they always remained firm friends through out.

Simon Randall (Spencer Banks)

The opening episodes of the first two serials  - “The Wrong End of Time” and “The Time of the Ice Box” - were introduced by Peter Fairley, who was the then science correspondent for ITN (Independent Television News).  I recall, as a impressionable ten year old, this was genuinely blurring fact and fiction.

The premise of the series seemed to be principally concerned with the way science and technology was exploited for greed and evil by the human race, this was reflected in the threatening opening theme music¸ “Rite de la Terre” by Edouard Michael.
The series also looked at the implications of time travel into both  the past and future, one theme exploring the consequences of characters meeting their future selves.

The opening titles to the first episode of 'Timeslip'

with Peter Fairley introduction

Liz Skinner (Cheryl Burfield) 

The cast included actors like John Barron ( CJ in 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'), Denis Quilley and Sandor Elès ( Paul Ross in Crossroads).

The series was developed by Ruth Boswell, who went on to produce the first 39 episodes of ‘The Tomorrow People’ an equally renowned children’s science fiction drama for Thames Television.
The series was recorded and edited in colour, on  2-inch quadruplex videotape, apart from episodes 21-24, which were recorded in black and white owing to the appropriately named  “colour strike”  by ITV  technicans, which affected all of ITVs output between 13th November 1970 to 8th February 1971.
Regrettably, all original masters have been erased and apart from the final episode of the second story, all the remaining episodes only exist as black and white film recordings.

All episodes, as well as the surviving colour one, were released on a four disc Region 2 DVD boxset in 2004, and is still available at Amazon.

A comic strip version, based on the original series, was also produced, written by Angus P. Allan and Michael Noble, and printed in the children’s TV comic Look-In

The Official Timeslip Episode Guide

(Taken from the official timeslip website )

Regular Cast & Crew:

Spencer Banks (Simon Randall)

Cheryl Burfield (Liz Skinner)

Denis Quilley (Commander Traynor)

Iris Russell (Jean Skinner)

Derek Benfield (Skinner)

Produced by John Cooper

Script edited by Ruth Boswell

Scientific Advisor - Geoffrey Hoyle

The Stories

The Wrong End of Time

Brief Synopsis:

When a young girl vanishes near a derelict naval station in St. Oswald, a fantastic series of events is set in motion which sends teenagers Simon Randall and Liz Skinner back in time to 1940 and the very night when the base was taken over by a group of German marines. It also re-awakens the nightmare faced by Liz's father who was stationed there at the time as his former commanding officer turns up in St. Oswald seeking answers to the situation and creating questions about his true motives.

Guest Cast:
John Alkin (Frank)

Sandor Eles (Gottfried)

Paul Humpoletz (Graz)

John Garrie (Arthur Griffiths)

Royston Tickner (George Bradley)

Peter Sproule (Ferris)

John Abbott (Phipps)

Kenneth Watson (Dr. Fordyce)

Virginia Balfour (Alice Fortune)

Sally Templer (Sarah)

Hilary Minster (Fritz)

Peter Fairley (Introduction to part 1: uncredited)

 6 episodes / Parts 1 - 6
Written by Bruce Stewart
Designed by Gerry Roberts
Directed by John Cooper
Tx. 28.9.70 to 2.11.70 @ 17.15 - 17.50
Rpt Tx. 2.11.73 to 7.12.73 @ 16.20 - 16.50


The Time of the Ice Box

Brief Synopsis:

An increasingly duplicitous Traynor convinces Simon to return through the time barrier against the wishes of Liz's parents. When Liz follows him, the two time travellers find themselves mistaken for scientific guinea pigs at an Arctic research base twenty years in the future where the officious base commander is apparently on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Guest Cast:
John Barron (Devereaux)

Mary Preston (Beth Skinner)

Peggy Thorpe-Bates (Dr. Edith Joynton)

John Barcroft (Bukov)

Robert Oates (Larry)

Peter Fairley (Introduction to part 7:uncredited).

6 episodes / Parts 7 - 12
Written by Bruce Stewart
Designed by Gerry Roberts (Part 7) and Michael Eve (Parts 8-12)
Directed by Peter Jefferies
Tx. 9.11.70 to 14.12.70 @ 17.15 - 17.50
Rpt Tx. 14.12.73 to 18.1.74 @ 16.20 - 16.50


The Year of the Burn-Up

Brief Synopsis:

Escaping from the dying Ice Box, Simon and Liz are transported by the time barrier to an alternate 1990 where a technocratic society's misuse of scientific progress has resulted in the breakdown of the planet's climate. As the Earth faces destruction from the growing heat, Simon is forced to confront not just his own personal future but an elderly, schitzophrenic Traynor bent on revenge against those who betrayed him.

Guest Cast:
Mary Preston (Beth Skinner)

David Graham (2957)

Teresa Scobie (Miss Stebins)

Merdal Jordine (Vera)

Brian Pettifer (Paul)

Ian Fairbain (Alpha 4)

Teresa Scoble (Alpha 16)

Lesley Scoble (Alpha 17)

Patrick Durkin (Delta 22)

Stuart Henry (Technician)

8 episodes / Parts 13 - 20
Written by Bruce Stewart (Parts 13-19) and Victor Pemberton (Part 20)
Directed by Ron Francis (Parts 13 & 20) and Peter Jefferies (Parts 14 - 19)
Designed by Gerry Roberts (Parts 13 & 20) and Michael Eve (Parts 14 - 19)

The Day of the Clone

Brief Synopsis:

Returning to the present day, Liz is kidnapped. Simon's search for her leads him to the government research centre run by Traynor. Escaping through the time barrier, the two teenagers find themselves back at the centre but five years in the past. There, they are surprised to discover not just Morgan C. Devereaux from the Ice Box but also a very different Charles Traynor.

Guest Cast:
Ian Fairbairn (Dr. Frazer)

John Swindells (Pitman)

Teresa Scoble (Stebbins)

Mary Larkin (Maria)

Bruce Beeby (Desk Attendant)

Harry Davis (Commissionaire)

Dennis Balcombe (Driver)

John Barron (Devereaux)

Derek Sydney (De Sarem)

John Cazabon (Mr. Randall)

John Herrington (Newsvendor)

Hilary Lidell (Ward Sister)

Keith Grenville (Dr. Ferguson)

Richard Thorp (George Pointer)

6 episodes / Parts 21 - 26
Written by Victor Pemberton
Designed by Gerry Roberts
Directed by Dave Foster (Parts 21 - 24) and Ron Francis (Parts 25 & 26)
Tx. 15.2.71 to 22.3.71 @ 17.10 - 17.45
Rpt Tx. 29.3.74 to 10.5.74 @ 16.20 - 16.50

For more information on this series take a look at ‘The Official Timeslip Website’

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