UK, 22 December 1958-16 January 1959
1 series, 6 episodes, average 33m each
broadcast live, black and white, 4:3
mono, English
A British science fiction television serial written by Nigel Kneale.
Plot Summary
Work on a new London underground line is halted when a skeleton and what appears to be World War II missile are uncovered. But the ‘missile’ turns out to be an alien spacecraft and Professor Bernard Quatermass is called in to investigate. He determines that the locust like aliens entombed in the ship are not as dead as they seem and that millions of years before they had had arrived on Earth from Mars to tamper with the brains of primitive ape creatures. The opening of the ship unleashes the ancient forces of evil that have lain dormant in humanity for millennia.
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: Rudolph Cartier *
BBC
Producer: Rudolph Cartier
Script: Nigel Kneale
Camera: A.A. Englander
Film Editor: Ian Gallaway
Telerecording Editor: Sheila Tomlinson
Music: Trevor Duncan (repeats only)
Sound Effects: BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Make Up Supervisor: Christine Hillcoat
Wardrobe Supervisor: Pamela Glanville
Special Effects: Jack Kine, Bernard Wilkie Film
Designer: Clifford Hatts
Military Adviser: Lt.-Col. P.J. Hands
Cast
Alexander Moyes (narrator)
Andre Morell (Professor Quatermass)
Cec Linder (Dr Matthew Roney)
Anthony Bushell (Colonel Breen)
John Stratton (Captain Potter)
Van Boolen (truck driver)
Michael Raghan (grab operator)
Lionel Ngakane (workman)
George Dudley (old workman)
John Rae (foreman)
Malcolm Watson (museum official)
Stanley Vine (first journalist)
Mark Eden (second journalist)
Patrick Maynard (third journalist)
Christine Finn (Barbara Judd)
Arthur Hewlett (Baines)
Michael Bird (Armitage)
Janet Burnell (interviewer)
Tony Lyon (Teddy boy)
Anne Bushill (Teddy girl)
Janet Joyce (stout woman)
Richard Dare (private secretary to the minister)
Robert Perceval (the minister)
Nan Braunton (Miss Dobson)
Ian Ainsley (police inspector)
Michael Ripper (Sergeant)
Harold Goodwin (Corporal Gibson)
John Walker (Private West)
Victor Platt (PC Ellis)
Kenneth Warren (young constable)
Hilda Barry (Mrs Chilcot)
Peter Grisewood
John Barrett
Charles Maunsell
Lee Richardson
Clifford Cox (1st private)
Brian Gilmar (2nd private)
Edward Malin
Howell Davies (Mr Chilcot)
Madge Brindley (Miss Groome)
Tony Quinn (news editor)
Keith Banks (Nuttall)
Frank Crane (George)
Brian Worth (James Fullalove)
Richard Shaw (Sladden)
Patrick Connor (policeman)
Donald McCollum (elderly librarian)
Fletcher Lightfoot (Abbey librarian)
Kenneth Seeger (Dr Klein)
Bernard Spear (news vendor/customer)
Allan McClelland (1st journalist)
Bill Shine (2nd journalist)
Ian Wilson (3rd journalist)
Noel Howlett (vicar)
Clifford Cox (1st sapper)
Brian Gilmar (2nd sapper)
Harold Siddons (electrician)
Edward Burnham (official)
John Scott Martin (technician)
Anne Blake (woman journalist)
Anthony Pendrell (TV interviewer)
Louise Gainsborough (blonde)
Arthur Brander (man in the blazer)
Sydney Bromley (tattered man)
Stuart Nichol (newscaster)
Budd Knapp (American pilot)
Richard Shaw
Episodes
Episode 1 The Halfmen (22 December 1958)
Episode 2 The Ghosts (29 December 1958)
Episode 3 Imps and Demons (5 January 1959)
Episode 4 The Enchanted (12 January 1959)
Episode 5 The Wild Hunt (19 January 1959)
Episode 6 Hob (26 January 1959)
Links
Sequel to
The Quatermass Experiment (1953)
Quatermass II (1955)
Remake
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
See also
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
Quatermass 2 (1957)
Quatermass (1979)
The Quatermass Experiment (2005)
References
Periodicals
- Cult TV vol.1 no.3 p.66 – illustrated article (The Absolute Pits by Bernard Wilkie)
- Epi-Log no.16 p.38 – episode guide, credits
- Journal of Popular Film and Television vol.30 no.3 (Autumn 2002) pp.158-165 – illustrated bibliography, article (“Bring something back” – The strange career of Professor Quatermass by Dave Robinson and Nick Cooper)
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.56 no.662 (March 1989) pp.93-94 – credits, synopsis, review
- Starburst no.58 (June 1983) p.40 – illustrated article with Nigel Kneale (TV Zone by Richard Hollis)
- Starburst no.217 (September 1996) p.26 – illustrated soundtrack review (by Richard Sayer)
- Starburst Special No.62 (February 2004) p.10 – illustrated article (Life on Mars by Simon J. Gerard)
- Time Screen no.7 (revised) p.23 – note
- TV Zone no.110 (January 1999) pp.36-41 – illustrated article
- TV Zone Special no.25 p.10 – note
Books
- The Complete Directory to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Television Series by Alan Morton p.635 – episode guide, credits
- Elliot’s Guide to Films on Video p.632 – UK video data
- The Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction (3rd edition) pp.352, 355-256 – episode guide, credits, short article
- Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale by Andy Murray pp.67-72
- Sci-fi Chronicles by Guy Haley (ed.) p.158
- Serials on British Television 1950-1994 by Ellen Baskin p.35
- We Are the Martians: The Legacy of Nigel Kneale by Neil Snowdon (ed.) pp.177-186 – illustrated essay (The Quatermass legacy by David Pirie)
