Look-In #29/1979
Look-In #29 (14 July 1979) captures a precise pivot moment in ITV's mid-summer schedule: published just four days after Sapphire & Steel made its television debut on 10 July 1979, the issue carried an early promotional feature on the new series, signalling to young readers that the magazine was already treating the show as a flagship property. At the same time it continued the 'Bionic Action' crossover strip — the only ongoing British comic series to team Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers as a duo following the cancellation of their respective American shows — alongside the Dick Turpin strip tied to Richard O'Sullivan's ITV period adventure. Together these strips make the issue a vivid cross-section of the ITV children's entertainment landscape at a single mid-1979 moment, when the network was simultaneously retiring old American imports and launching wholly new homegrown science-fantasy.
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Look-In was launched in January 1971 by Independent Television Publications as a 'Junior TV Times', conceived partly as a successor to TV21 and partly as a children's companion to TV Times. Alan Fennell edited it at launch and established Angus Allan as the primary strip writer; Colin Shelbourn took over as editor in 1975 and steered it through the late-1970s period represented by this issue. By 1979 the magazine was operating under considerable real-world pressure: industrial disputes and paper shortages had already forced several double-issues and one skipped number earlier that year, making each published issue of the 1979 run a minor production achievement in itself.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Dated 14 July 1979, making it Look-In's issue No. 29 of that year; published by Independent Television Publications (ITV Publications), subtitled 'The Junior TV Times'.
- Carries an early Sapphire & Steel feature/article tied directly to the show's ITV television premiere on 10 July 1979 — just four days before cover date — produced by ATV at Elstree; the full recurring comic strip did not begin until Look-In No. 33 (11 August 1979).
- The Sapphire & Steel comic strip, when it launched weeks later, was written by Angus Allan and drawn by Arthur Ranson, running for 76 two-page instalments across 1979–1981 and forming 14 original stories; the material has never been reprinted or collected in trade form.
- Contains the ongoing 'Bionic Action' strip, a crossover adventure pairing Steve Austin (The Six Million Dollar Man) and Jaime Sommers (The Bionic Woman) — the strip ran May to November 1979 and was written by Angus Allan; one source attributes the artwork to Ian Gibson.
- The 'Bionic Action' crossover was created specifically because both American TV series had been cancelled; it was the first ongoing British comic strip to feature the two bionic characters as a permanent team.
- Also contains the Dick Turpin strip, written by Angus Allan and drawn by Martin Asbury, which ran in Look-In from March to October 1979 and was based on the concurrent ITV series starring Richard O'Sullivan.
- The 1979 production year was disrupted by UK industrial action and paper shortages, resulting in skipped issues and double-numbers earlier in the year; by issue 29 in July, regular weekly publication had resumed.
- Look-In's 1970s covers, including those surrounding this issue, were acrylic paintings by Italian artist Arnaldo Putzu, who had previously designed cinema posters including work on the Carry On films; the issue's cover features Sapphire & Steel imagery.