The New Zealand-based writer, whose other credits include Doctor Who, has also teamed up with Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky on a paranormal series for HBO.

Speaking to the Nerdist Writers’ Panel podcast, Cross said that a UK broadcaster was very close to commissioning a remake of Sapphire & Steel.

Sapphire & Steel starred Lumley and David McCallum as a pair of interdimensional crime fighters sent to Earth to investigate strange events.

Created by Peter J Hammond, whose later credits range from Midsomer Murders to Torchwood, the Associated Television production ran on ITV for 34 episodes between 1979 and 1982,

“I’m planning to – it looks like I’m going to – relaunch Sapphire & Steel, a late ‘70s science fiction horror show that was incredibly low budget, where the enemy is time itself,” Cross said. “There’s ghost stories and monster stories and time is the villain.”

He added that the Sapphire & Steel characters were a “proto” version of The X Files’ Mulder and Scully.

Separately, Cross revealed that he was partnering with Aronofsky on River View, a series for US premium cable network HBO. The show, which is set in New York City, is thought to focus on a family who move into a flat brimming with paranormal activity.

The series has been in development for a number of years, both at HBO and at Breaking Bad broadcaster AMC, but Cross said that HBO was now making an Aronofsky-directed pilot.

Cross is currently writing two hour-long episodes of Luther for BBC1 and has teamed up with Downton Abbey indie Carnival Films to develop cop show Bay of Plenty for the BBC.