Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: David Warner, Susannah Harker, David Collings, Mark Gatiss, Angela Bruce.
Time is forever decaying, what might be considered a moment of absolute endeavour by humanity in one moment, slowly erodes to the point where all that follows becomes ordinary, routine, and then, like everything that was once painstakingly spectacular becomes mundane, predictable, safe.
Time though doesn’t just exist on Earth, for humanity at least, it is also often just out of our grasp, save for a select few, in space, and in that region of darkness and quiet, the routine is replaced by the highly volatile and the unstable, the sense that Time is not just in control, that it doesn’t decay, but roars with anger at our capriciousness and daring to travel past the confines of our earthly chains.
Besotted with the idea of space exploration as we are, we turn our heads away from the problems we might encounter, we daydream and eulogise about part of, or even witnessing, a mission to Mars, to leave the Solar System, but we push aside the possible triggers of disaster when we remember that to do so, we must put our faith in a machine that is essentially one large bomb.
Across the audio drama recordings by Big Finish for Sapphire and Steel, there have been great successes, and the odd fall, but few have perhaps captured the point of discovery as Steve Lyons’ story Zero.
It is in Zero that the audio inspired Gold, played with sublime maleficence by the consummate Mark Gatiss, and the effortlessly suave Silver, portrayed by the late and much missed David Collings, collide and have a profound effect on the lives of the titular heroes, Sapphire and Steel.
The cold emptiness of space has long been a staple of Science Fiction, the dreaded knock at the capsule door is a trope that arguably never ceases to send shivers of fear and delight down the viewer’s spine. You only have to understand the drama of such an event, the unknown knock at the door that must not be opened, it is enough to thrill the heart; and that is exactly what Steve Lyons and the cast present with careful and endearing persuasion.
As the Space Shuttle starts to decay in its orbit, the life of one remaining, but in a deep coma, crew member is fought over by Time and the agents sent to thwart its plans, is fought over, and a war inside a capsule, inside a mind is waged. The feeling of confinement, of treachery, of realisation plays a huge part in the story, and it is one that must not be entered into by the listener without due reverence, for we misuse time at our own peril, we dream of being amongst the stars, we forget the limitation and captivity we must endure to attain the freedom that is offered by the countdown reaching Zero.
Ian D. Hall