1953 THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT (TV)
The name was everything. Commissioned to write a new Saturday night serial, Nigel Kneale nearly christened his hero Professor Charlton - but that was too mundane for the unsettling tale he had in mind. Scouring the London telephone directory the BBC staff writer pounced on Quatermass.
The surname belonged to an East End fruit seller, but it held a distinct magic: three syllables that suggested units of scientific measurement (quarter, mass) but in combination had a queasy, unknowable power, hinting at unearthly biologies. Fitting for a rational hero confronting alien forces - and perfect for a TV drama set to bring a shudder of the uncanny to post-war Britain. With one curious, inexplicable word, Quatermass defined itself.
The world was still four years away from the launch of Sputnik, the triumph of the Soviet space program, but Kneale's story was already electrified by the paranoia around mankind's next frontier. "It was... something that was just beginning to be talked about in sensible, serious newspapers," he recalled. In fact The Quatermass Experiment would be the first original science fiction production expressly written for an adult audience in Britain.
The six-part serial sees Professor Bernard Quatermass investigate the fate of the first manned rocket into space. The craft crashes back to London, its sole survivor mutating into a monstrous extraterrestrial lifeform. Reginald Tate was cast as the pioneering boffin, head of the British Experimental Rocket Group, and defined the character as a principled moral force. "He was troubled and bothered and anxious and very energetic at the same time," Kneale remembered. "Absolutely super."
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
PURE AND SIMPLE
IN THE FINAL PART OF OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, SHOWRUNNER RUSSELL T DAVIES TALKS RELAUNCHING DOCTOR WHO
TO CAP IT ALL OFF
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE BBC SERIES THE TRIPODS
FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE WALKING DEAD SPIN-OFF SHOWRUNNER DAVID ZABEL ON BEING GIVEN THE TOUGH TASK OF REUNITING DARYL AND CAROL IN FRANCE
SILENT KILLERS
THE DIRECTOR OF HOLLYWOOD'S SPEAK NO EVIL REMAKE ON HORROR, COMEDY AND JAMES MCAVOY
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THE GHOST WITH THE MOST RETURNS FINALLY - IN BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
TEENAGE DREAM
JOE LOCKE HITS THE ROAD RUNNING
MOB RULE THE PENGUIN
GOTHAM'S UP FOR GRABS IN BRUISING NEW CRIME SAGA BUT WHERE IS THE BATMAN?
SEASON OF THE WITCH
AS MARVEL TELEVISION CARVES OUT A NEW PATH FOR ITSELF, WE SPEAK TO CREATOR JAC SCHAEFFER, PLUS A CAST OF STARS LED BY KATHRYN HAHN AND JOE LOCKE, ABOUT THE MAGIC OF WANDAVISION'S SPIN-OFF AGATHA ALL ALONG
Ghouls Allowed
Even silence can't save you at this year's Halloween Horror Nights
Those '70s Shows
James Swallow takes a trip back in time with his new Space: 1999 and UFO novellas