The Big Pull (1962)

The Big Pull begins quietly, as all good SF does, with a great scientific triumph of men in space being successfully returned home. Soon, however, things go wrong with the astronauts disappearing. They disappear in pairs, but then one comes back with aspects of both himself and the pair. In time more go through this process and it is realized that each time it happens the number of victims doubles what the amount of time between events halves. Eventually the original victim(s) give an explanations as to what is happening. It is part of a great cosmic battle between two factions called Joutous(?) and Eurotous(?), the process being preparation for the Earth to be adsorbed into one of the cosmic factions. The last thing to be seen are our hero's dead and panic setting in across the world. This was produced at the time of the cold war so the analogy between the USSR and USA is obvious - at least it is now. This is one of the great "Lost Gems" of television science fiction. It has managed to stay in my mind since it was first broadcast in the early 1960s.