John Newland's Invitation to Take 'One Step Beyond'

A great thing about fiction is how even escapist fantasy can help the daydreamer adjust their real-world lens. For the sci-fi devotee, the adventure addict, even the comedy lover, there is a little of the impossible hidden all around them. And 60s TV is a ripe field for such possibilities, with shows like ‘One Step Beyond’ (1959 – 1961). Unlike ‘The Twilight Zone’ (which came out about a year later), this series attributed its strange stories to historical anecdotes rather than fantasies of social psyche. In many ways, its presenter and director John Newland, was also a mirror opposite to the darkly intriguing, compelling Rod Serling: distinguished and handsome, amiably smiling, with a very friendly, gentle voice – seemingly as mystified as you about these stories, but delighted to be your guide. ‘Explain it? We cannot. Disprove it? We cannot. We are simply inviting audiences to explore the unknown…’  – John Newland.

(Yes, my designs may be a little double tribute to the Madness album haha) Some episodes have the chill or terror of ‘Twilight Zone’ or ‘Outer Limits,’ but most of its finest teleplays just transport the viewer to a world of imagination, and one could believably credit the series with inspiring series like ‘The X-Files.’ For some reason, most of my favourites take place during World War II (a little fantasy in a terrible time?) like “The Haunted U-Boat” with Werner Klemperer, “The Dream” of a couple during the Blitz, the “Brainwave” that miraculously saves a wounded ship’s captain, and the very wistfully uncanny “Signal Received.” I also love “Navigator” (Flying Dutchman type story), “Twelve Hours to Live” (where it pays to listen to a woman’s life-saving intuition) and a more romantic one, “The Return of Mitchell Campion” with Patrick O’Neal on a Mediterranean island. Finely directed, produced, and performed, each piece makes you an intelligently participatory creator simply by inviting you to ask questions – and even though you may not believe a whit of it, it invites you to wonder a little. And that’s a fine thing to do Xo