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Quatermass
Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the British Experimental Rocket Group. He continually finds himself confronting sinister alien forces that threaten to destroy humanity. The role of Quatermass was featured in three influential BBC science fiction serials of the 1950s, and again in a final serial for Thames Television in 1979. A remake of the first serial appeared on BBC Four in 2005. The character also appeared in films, on the radio and in print over a fifty-year period. Kneale picked the character's unusual surname from a London telephone directory, while the first name was in honour of the astronomer Bernard Lovell. The character of Quatermass has been described by BBC News Online as Britain's first television hero, and by ''The Independent'' newspaper as "A brilliantly conc ...
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Quatermass II
''Quatermass II'' is a British science fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the ''Quatermass Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the Brit ...'' series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the oldest of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives. The serial sees Bernard Quatermass, Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group being asked to examine strange meteorite showers. His investigations lead to his uncovering a conspiracy involving Extraterrestrial life, alien infiltration at the highest levels of the British government. As even some of Quatermass's closest colleagues fall victim to the alien influence, he is forced to use his own unsafe rocket prototype, which recently caused ...
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Quatermass (TV Serial And Film)
''Quatermass'' (also known as ''Quatermass IV'', or ''The Quatermass Conclusion'' for its intended international theatrical release) is a 1979 British television science fiction serial. Produced by Euston Films for Thames Television, it was broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. Like its three predecessors, ''Quatermass'' was written by Nigel Kneale. It is the fourth and final television serial to feature the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass. In this story, the character is played by John Mills. Influenced by the social and geopolitical situation of the early 1970s and the hippie youth movement of the late 1960s, ''Quatermass'' is set in a near future in which large numbers of young people are joining a cult known as the Planet People who gather at prehistoric sites, believing they will be transported to a better life on another planet. The series begins with Professor Quatermass arriving in London to look for his granddaughter, Hettie Carlson, and w ...
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The Quatermass Xperiment
''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (a.k.a. ''The Creeping Unknown'' in the United States) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial ''The Quatermass Experiment'' written by Nigel Kneale. The film was produced by Anthony Hinds, directed by Val Guest, and stars Brian Donlevy as the eponymous Professor Bernard Quatermass and Richard Wordsworth as the tormented Carroon. Jack Warner, David King-Wood, and Margia Dean appear in co-starring roles. The film concerns three astronauts who have been launched into space aboard a single-stage-to-orbit rocket designed by Professor Quatermass. It crashlands with only one of its original crew, Victor Carroon (Richard Wordsworth), still aboard. He begins mutating into an alien organism, which, if it spawns, will engulf the Earth and destroy humanity. After Carroon escapes from custody Quatermass and Inspector Lomax (Jack Warner) of Scotland Yard have just hours to track him/i ...
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Quatermass And The Pit
''Quatermass and the Pit'' is a British television science-fiction serial transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's ''Quatermass'' serials, although the chief character, Professor Bernard Quatermass, reappeared in a 1979 ITV production called ''Quatermass''. Like its predecessors, ''Quatermass and the Pit'' was written by Nigel Kneale. The serial continues the loose chronology of the Quatermass adventures. Workmen excavating a site in Knightsbridge, London, discover a strange skull and what at first appears to be an unexploded bomb. Quatermass and his newly appointed military superior at the British Rocket Group, Colonel Breen, become involved in the investigation when it becomes apparent that the object is an alien spacecraft. The ship and its contents have a powerful and malignant influence over many of those who come in contact with it, including Quatermass. It becomes obvious to him that the aliens, probab ...
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Quatermass And The Pit (film)
''Quatermass and the Pit'' (US title: ''Five Million Years to Earth'') is a 1967 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, a sequel to the earlier Hammer films ''The Quatermass Xperiment'' and ''Quatermass 2''. Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television serial, in this case ''Quatermass and the Pit'', written by Nigel Kneale. It was directed by Roy Ward Baker and stars Andrew Keir in the title role as Professor Bernard Quatermass, replacing Brian Donlevy, who played the role in the two earlier films. James Donald, Barbara Shelley and Julian Glover appear in co-starring roles. The storyline, which is largely faithful to the original television production, centres on the discovery of a mysterious object buried at the site of an extension to the London Underground. Also uncovered nearby are the remains of early human ancestors more than five million years old. Realising that the object is in fact an ancient Martian spacecraft, Quatermass deduces ...
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The Quatermass Experiment
''The Quatermass Experiment'' is a British science fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television during the summer of 1953 and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells the story of the first crewed flight into space, supervised by Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group. When the spaceship that carries the first successful crew returns to Earth, two of the three astronauts are missing, and the third – Victor Carroon – is behaving strangely. It becomes apparent that an alien presence entered the rocket during its flight, and Quatermass and his associates must prevent the alien from destroying the world. Originally comprising six half-hour episodes, it was the first science fiction production to be written especially for a British adult television audience. Previous written-for-television efforts such as ''Stranger from Space'' (1951–52) were aimed at children, whereas ...
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Quatermass 2
''Quatermass 2'' (retitled ''Enemy From Space'' in the United States and Canada) is a 1957 black-and-white British science fiction horror film drama from Hammer Film Productions. It was originally released in the UK as ''Quatermass II'' and was produced by Anthony Hinds, directed by Val Guest, and stars Brian Donlevy with co-stars John Longden, Sidney James, Bryan Forbes, Vera Day, and William Franklyn. ''Quatermass 2'' is a sequel to Hammer's earlier film ''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (1955). Like its predecessor, it is based on the BBC Television serial ''Quatermass II'' written by Nigel Kneale. Brian Donlevy reprises his role as the eponymous Professor Bernard Quatermass, making him the only actor to play the character twice in a film. It is considered as the first film sequel to use the ‘2’ / ‘II’ suffix within the title. The film's story concerns Quatermass's investigation of reports of hundreds of meteorites landing only in the Winnerden Flats area of the UK. His i ...
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Nigel Kneale
Thomas Nigel Kneale (28 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay. Predominantly a writer of thrillers that used science-fiction and horror elements, he was best known for the creation of the character Professor Bernard Quatermass. Quatermass was an heroic scientist who appeared in various television, film and radio productions written by Kneale for the BBC, Hammer Film Productions and Thames Television between 1953 and 1996. Kneale wrote original scripts and successfully adapted works by writers such as George Orwell, John Osborne, H. G. Wells and Susan Hill. He was most active in television, joining BBC Television in 1951; his final script was transmitted on ITV in 1997. Kneale wrote well-received television dramas such as ''The Year of the Sex Olympics'' (1968) and ''The Stone Tape'' ( ...
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The Quatermass Memoirs
''The Quatermass Memoirs'' is a British radio drama-documentary, originally broadcast in 5 episodes on BBC Radio 3 in March 1996. Written by Nigel Kneale, it was born out of his ''Quatermass'' series of films and television serials, which had first been broadcast in the 1950s. The idea for the show appeared as BBC radio intended to create a season of programming looking back at the 1950s, and it was the final piece of writing Kneale completed relating to the character. The show is centered on the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass who, albeit older than in the previous series, is "the same very concerned scientist" but worried about his previous decisions. Andrew Keir, who had played Quatermass in the 1967 film '' Quatermass and the Pit'', was chosen to voice the character. Later, Nigel Kneale himself became dismissive of the serial, but critics gave the production relatively positive reviews. Overview The series mixes three different strands: a new monologue by Kneale ...
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The Quatermass Experiment (2005)
''The Quatermass Experiment'' is a 2005 live television film remake of the 1953 television series of the same title by Nigel Kneale. Casting Jason Flemyng was cast as Quatermass, with long-time Kneale admirer Mark Gatiss as Paterson, Andrew Tiernan as Carroon, Indira Varma as his wife Judith, David Tennant as Briscoe, Adrian Bower as Fullalove and Adrian Dunbar as Lomax—as a Ministry of Defence official rather than a policeman. Isla Blair was cast as Home Secretary Margaret Blaker, a combination of parts of Lomax's character and two officials from the original serial, and she brought to rehearsals a photograph of her husband Julian Glover on the set of the 1967 film version of '' Quatermass and the Pit''. Blair stated that she was delighted to be joining "the Quatermass club". Original 1953 cast member Moray Watson, who had played Marsh, one of Quatermass's colleagues, visited the set during rehearsals. The 76-year-old was invited to make a cameo appearance in the live broa ...
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Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir (né Buggy, 3 April 19265 October 1997) was a Scottish actor who appeared in a number of films made by Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and especially in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s. He starred as Professor Bernard Quatermass in Hammer's film version of '' Quatermass and the Pit'' (1967). He also appeared in the big screen version of the ''Doctor Who'' story ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'', ''Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.'' (1966). He originated the role of Thomas Cromwell in Robert Bolt's play '' A Man for All Seasons'' (1960). His obituary in ''The Times'' described him as possessing "considerable range and undeniable distinction." Early life and career Keir was born in Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was the son of a coal miner, and had five brothers and one sister. At 14, he left school to work down the coal mine alongside his father. He started acting by chance, whe ...
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Reginald Tate
Reginald Tate (13 December 1896 – 23 August 1955) was an English actor, veteran of many roles on stage, in films and on television. He is remembered best as the first actor to play the television science-fiction character Professor Bernard Quatermass, in the 1953 BBC Television serial ''The Quatermass Experiment''. Early life Reginald Tate was born in Garforth, near Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and went to school in York. During the First World War he served with the Northamptonshire Regiment and later with the Royal Flying Corps.Pixley, p. 6. He left the armed forces after the end of the war and studied acting at Leeds College of Music and Drama. He made his first professional acting appearance at Leeds Art Theatre in 1922, and for the next four years was a resident performer both there and at the city's Little Theatre. In 1926, he moved to London, with his first major role being in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' at the Strand Theatre. He had particul ...
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