Time travel has always captivated audiences. Whether it be films like Back to the Future or even the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Timecop (a classic), we’ve always been interested in going back and looking at times gone by. The same can be said for television, and to celebrate the release of Outlander: Season Three, which arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on 5th March, we look at five of the best TV series to feature time travel.
The third season of Outlander, based upon ‘Voyager’, the third of eight books in Diana Gabaldon’s international best-selling series, revolves around a British WWII nurse who is mysteriously swept back in time to Scotland in 1743. The hugely successful third run sees Claire (Caitriona Balfe in her Golden Globe® nominated role) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) attempting to make a life apart from one another but the fates have other plans as they find their way back to each other and set sail for new lands.
Here are some other timeless, time-travelling classics from the small screen from times gone by.
Doctor Who (1963-present)
We’ll start off with the obvious, shall we? The hit BBC series Doctor Who is currently undergoing a bit of a transition with a new showrunner and a new doctor (in the form of Jodie Whittaker) about to take centre stage at the end of the year. The first episode hit screens all of the ways back in 1963, and is still going strong with Saturday night audiences to this very day. The show, if you need reminding, follows an eccentric yet compassionate extraterrestrial Time Lord zips through time and space to solve problems and battle injustice across the universe, all via his/ her TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space), which is cunningly disguised as a police phone box.
Life On Mars (2006-2007)
Now over ten years old, this ground-breaking BBC series, its title taken from the David Bowie hit, ran for two series and starred Doctor Who alumni John Simm and TV veteran Philip Glenister. Simm played the role of Detective Sam Tyler, a policeman who is transported back in time to the year 1973. There, he finds himself climbing the ranks, constantly butting heads with Glenister’s Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt, hoping that he will be transported back to the present day. He finds himself running into a new female recruit, who, as Sam well knows, will grow into the chief inspector who mentors him back in his future life. This very well-liked series spawned a sequel series, Ashes To Ashes, which also ran for two years from 2008-2010.
12 Monkeys (2015-present)
We all remember the 1995 Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt-led Terry Gilliam-directed movie 12 Monkeys, but a TV spin-off was launched for the SyFy network back in 2015. The story follows a time-traveller from a post-apocalyptic future who is sent back in time to the present day to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that has the potential to destroy the human race. Still running, after four successful seasons, the series continues to play well to audiences around the world.
11.22.63 (2016)
Based on the Stephen King story of the same name, 11.22.63 was produced for the Hulu network Stateside and follows lead character Jake Epping, played by James Franco, who is given the chance to travel back in time to 1960s Dallas, and the opportunity to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Co-executive produced by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Star Wars), and also starring Chris Cooper and Sarah Gadon, the show gained critical praise and even bagged itself a Primetime Emmy award for its brilliant special effects. Shame it only lasted for just the eight episodes.
Quantum Leap (1989-1993)
Not only one of the best time travel series ever, but one of the best television shows of all time; it’s hard to believe that Quantum Leap only ran for just five seasons. Quantum Leap followed the weekly exploits of Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) who, each week, was stuck inside the body of someone else who lived during his lifetime. Beckett finds himself ‘leaping from life to life, putting things right that once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.’ Accompanying the lost Doctor on his journey is the hologram Al (Dean Stockwell), his friend as well as guide. The show mixed hard-hitting drama with tons of comedy and teased the viewer each and every week with what was to come in the following episode. Oh boy, it was good.
Outlander: Season Three is out on Blu-ray™, DVD March 5th, 2018.
The third season of Outlander picks up right after Claire travels through the stones to return to her life in 1948. Now pregnant, she struggles with the fallout of her sudden reappearance and its effect on her marriage to her first husband, Frank. Meanwhile, in the 18th century, Jamie suffers from the aftermath of his doomed last stand at the historic battle of Culloden, as well as the loss of Claire. As the years pass, Jamie and Claire attempt to make lives apart from one another, each haunted by the memory of their lost love. Separated by continents and centuries, Claire and Jamie must find their way back to each other. As always, adversity, mystery, and adventure await them, and the question remains: When they find each other, will they be the same people who parted at the standing stones, all those years ago?
