Timeslip

Timeslip, a British children's science fiction series, was produced by ATV for the ITV network and aired in 1970 and 1971. Its first episode went out on Monday, 28 September 1970, around 5:15 to 5:20 pm across all ITV regions, except for Thames (London) and Southern, which broadcast it the following Friday.

The story centres on two children: Simon Randall (played by Spencer Banks) and Liz Skinner (Cheryl Burfield). They stumble upon a strange phenomenon called the Time Barrier, which lets them travel not only through time but also across space. For instance, they move from St Oswald in the UK during 1940 to an Antarctic setting in one version of 1990. Simon is the studious type, while Liz tends to cry easily, which often sparks arguments between them. Over the course of the series, though, their friction grows into a strong friendship.

A major theme of the show is how humanity uses—and misuses—science and technology, suggesting that the chase for scientific progress can strip people of their individuality and moral compass. A secondary theme, explored when the children meet possible future versions of themselves, asks how much a person can change—or be changed—by the situations they face.

The series is divided into serials. In the first, "The Wrong End of Time," Simon, whose mother has recently died, goes on holiday in 1970 with the Skinner family—father Frank (Derek Benfield), mother Jean (Iris Russell), and daughter Liz—to the village of St Oswald. Frank served at a now-abandoned naval research base there during World War II but suffers from amnesia about his time there. A local girl named Sarah vanishes through an invisible time barrier, witnessed by a man whose story is dismissed in the pub where the Skinners are staying. However, the tale attracts Charles Traynor (Denis Quilley), Frank's former commanding officer at the base. Traynor had ordered Frank to destroy the apparatus the scientists were working on, and he wants to know if the order was carried out. A German expeditionary team had attacked and seized the base briefly in 1940; their commander, Gottfried (Sandor Elès), is now a kidnapped scientist forced to work behind the Iron Curtain, and Traynor fears the research could be used against the West.