SIDEWAYS IN TIME

THOUGHT LOST FOREVER, DOCUMENTS PLANNING A ’90S REVIVAL OF THE CLASSIC KIDS SCI-FI SHOW TIME SLI P HAVE RECENTLY BEEN UNEARTHED…

- CHRIS GIBBINGS

THE INNOVATIVE 26-PART science fiction series Timeslip was shown on ITV from September 1970 to March 1971, making a lasting impact on both children and adults, despite being intended for the former.

Its four linked, multi-episode storylines included an attempt to uncover the whole truth about a secret project 30 years back in World War Two; human cloning; a faulty lifespan longevity drug with a terrible impact; and future scientific manipulation of the climate which runs out of control (in the eight-part adventure “The Year Of The Burn Up”). The show may have been short-lived, but it was fondly remembered.

The only further adventures for teenage time travelers Liz and Simon came in the comic-strip in Look-in – “the junior TV Times” – in the early 1970s, initially with artwork by one of the favorites of comics fans, Mike Noble, who already had Gerry Anderson strips such as Captain Scarlet and Zero X under his belt from his days on TV21.

But had time slipped another way, there could’ve been up to 13 further episodes of the show – and who knows what else…

A magazine piece in 1990 revealed that Victor Pemberton, one of the series’ writers, had obtained the rights from ITC to make a new series – something he then confirmed in person at a Cult TV weekend in 1994. He and his fellow writer from the show, Bruce Stewart, had indeed devised new outlines. But as time slipped away, the project failed to materialize and details became sketchy.