Timeslip

Did You Know?

• Most of Timeslip was originally recorded on 625 line PAL colour videotape, but episodes 23 and 24 were recorded in black-and-white due to a colour strike by technicians.
• A comic strip depicting new adventures for Liz and Simon appeared concurrently with the broadcast in Look-In, drawn by Mike Noble.
• The 2009 documentary 'Timeslip: Behind the Barrier' features interviews with surviving cast members including Cheryl Burfield, Spencer Banks, David Graham, Ian Fairbairn and Iris Russell.

Overview

The story follows two children, Simon Randall and Liz Skinner, who stumble upon a strange phenomenon called the Time Barrier in a field at an old military base. This anomaly lets them travel through time, visiting both the past and alternate versions of the future, and it also shifts them across space—for instance, they go from St Oswald’s in the UK during 1940 to the Antarctic in one possible 1990. Simon is the bookish type, while Liz tends to cry easily, which sparks frequent arguments between them. Over time, though, their squabbling grows into a strong friendship. The show’s big idea is how humanity handles science and technology, often badly, suggesting that chasing scientific progress can strip people of their humanity and moral compass. A smaller theme pops up when Simon and Liz meet future versions of themselves, raising questions about whether a person can truly change based on the situations they face. Simon, whose mother has just died, is on a 1970 holiday with the Skinner family—dad Frank, mum Jean, and daughter Liz—in the village of St Oswald. Frank once served at the now-abandoned naval research base there during World War II, but he lost his memory and can’t recall what happened. A local girl named Sarah vanishes through an invisible time barrier, and a man who sees it tells the story in the pub where the Skinners are staying, but no one believes him. His tale does catch the attention of Charles Traynor, who shows up in the village and reveals he was Frank’s commanding officer at the base during the war. Traynor had ordered Frank to destroy the equipment the scientists were building, and he wants to know if Frank actually did it. The reason is that a German team attacked and briefly took over the base in 1940. Their commander, Gottfried, is now a top scientist who has been kidnapped and forced to work behind the Iron Curtain. Traynor worries that if the base’s research fell into Gottfried’s hands, it could be turned against the West.

Production

Timeslip was created by ATV script editor Ruth Boswell, who worked out the show's concept and the basic plot of its first story alongside her husband James. The project was set in motion by ATV producer Renee Goddard, who wanted a children's programme that could compete with the BBC's popular science fiction series Doctor Who. Boswell aimed to create a show that felt more grounded in ordinary life, as she believed Doctor Who had grown too fantastical. The time travel ideas in Timeslip drew heavily from J. W. Dunne's book An Experiment with Time. To make the science seem believable, Geoffrey Hoyle, a science fiction writer and son of physicist Fred Hoyle, provided advice on how time travel could theoretically work. The first two serials, "The Wrong End of Time" and "The Time of the Ice Box," each began with an introduction from Peter Fairley, ITN's science correspondent. The storyline for the first serial was based on a tale, initially unverified but later reportedly confirmed after being a state secret for over seventy years, about a German force that landed in Britain during World War II to raid a radar station on the Isle of Wight in either 1940 or 1943. Later stories were driven by emerging ecological issues, which led Jeff Arnold in the journal Timescreen to compare Timeslip to the adult drama series Doomwatch. A TV Zone article also observed that the show likely introduced the general public to concepts like cloning and climate change, which are now widely understood.

Cast and crew

Cheryl Burfield, the actress who portrayed Liz Skinner, first worked as a child model. She arrived at her audition for Liz wearing trousers and a pigtail to highlight the character’s tomboyish side, and that look stayed with the role throughout the show. Originally, Liz was meant to be 13 years old, but after the 18-year-old Burfield was cast, the character’s age was raised to 15. Timeslip marked the first major television role for Spencer Banks, who played Simon Randall. Unlike his co-star, Banks did not require any age adjustment for his character; though he was 15 at the time, he could convincingly play younger. Banks recalled that when he first met Burfield, she commented that she looked “positively matronly beside him.” As production went on, Banks grew taller, matured, and his voice changed. He later appeared in the children’s series Tightrope (1972) and The Georgian House (1976), as well as the acclaimed television drama Penda’s Fen (1974). In 2015, Banks and Burfield reunited on screen as characters named Rev. Simon Randall and Liz Randall in The Amityville Playhouse. Denis Quilley, who played Commander Charles Traynor, became a prominent figure at the National Theatre and received an O.B.E.; he passed away in 2003. Iris Russell, who played Jean Skinner, was best known for her role as Matron Stevenson on Emergency – Ward 10 and also appeared as “Father” in the 1969 episode of The Avengers titled “Stay Tuned.” Derek Benfield, who played Frank Skinner, later held regular roles on The Brothers (1972–76) and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996–98), and also had a successful career writing plays; he died in 2009. David Graham, who voiced Controller 2957 and also played Simon Randall, was a frequent voice actor for Gerry Anderson’s Century 21 Supermarionation series, providing voices for Parker, Brains, and Gordon Tracy in Thunderbirds, along with characters in Stingray, Fireball XL5, Four Feather Falls, The Secret Service, and Supercar. He also appeared in Doctor Who in the stories The Gunfighters and City of Death, and voiced Daleks in several episodes. Ian Fairbairn, who played Alpha 4 and Doctor Frazer, had minor roles in Doctor Who, including the Patrick Troughton stories The Macra Terror and The Invasion, Inferno with Jon Pertwee, and Tom Baker’s The Seeds of Doom.

Critical reception

John Lawrence, writing in The Stage about the first episode, admitted he usually distrusts programmes labelled "science fiction," as the term often masks weak plotting with absurd events. But he found ATV's new series Timeslip, created by Bruce Stewart, to be a refreshing exception, praising its imaginative, detailed plot and strong writing. He suggested that if the quality held, it would appeal to more than just children. During the broadcast of "The Time of the Ice Box," the scene where Edith Joynton, played by Peggy Thorpe-Bates, rapidly ages to death after receiving the wrong dose of HA57 frightened many young viewers. This moment was later trimmed when the series was repeated in 1973. Over the years, Timeslip has kept a strong reputation. A 1996 retrospective in Dreamwatch magazine noted that the series "demanded much of the viewer over 26 weeks and rewarded those who persevered." In 1999, SFX magazine asked an expert panel, including Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, to rank the top 50 science fiction shows ever; Timeslip placed thirtieth. Six years later, SFX polled its readers for the top 50 British telefantasy shows, and Timeslip came in twenty-eighth. The magazine described it as "surprisingly intelligent and thoughtful SF with some ambitious ideas," adding that it "dared to be more adventurous with its science fiction than most so-called grown-up SF shows."