The Quatermass Experiment

The Quatermass Experiment is a British television science-fiction serial, transmitted by BBC Television in the summer of 1953, and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Originally comprised of six half-hour episodes, it was the first science-fiction production to be written especially for an adult television audience. Previous written-for-television efforts such as Stranger from Space (1951–52) had been aimed at children, whereas adult sci-fi dramas had been adapted from literary sources, such as R.U.R. (1938 and again in 1948) and The Time Machine (1949). It was the first of four Quatermass serials to be screened on British television between 1953 and 1979.

Film, sequels and DVD

The popularity of The Quatermass Experiment did not go unnoticed in the film world, and Hammer Films quickly purchased the rights to make a feature film adaptation, which was released in 1955 and starred the American actor Brian Donlevy. It was directed by Val Guest, who also wrote the screenplay, and Nigel Kneale was very unhappy with the result—he had been unable to work on the project himself due to his BBC staff contract.

Related Topics:
Hammer Films - 1955 - American - Brian Donlevy - Val Guest - Nigel Kneale

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For the cinema, the film had been titled The Quatermass Xperiment, to play up the film's X-certificate status. In America, the film was re-titled The Creeping Unknown.

Related Topics:
The Quatermass Xperiment - X-certificate - America

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The BBC was also very pleased with the success of The Quatermass Experiment, and in 1955 a sequel, Quatermass II appeared. This was followed in 1958 by Quatermass and the Pit, and both of these also had feature film versions made by Hammer. The character returned to television in a 1979 serial, simply titled Quatermass, for Thames Television.

Related Topics:
1955 - Quatermass II - 1958 - Quatermass and the Pit - 1979 - Quatermass - Thames Television

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A script book of The Quatermass Experiment, containing several production stills from the missing episodes, was published by Penguin Books in 1959, and re-published in 1979 with a new introduction by Kneale.

Related Topics:
Penguin Books - 1959 - 1979

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In April 2005, BBC Worldwide released a boxed set of all their existing Quatermass material on DVD, containing digitally restored versions of the two existing episodes of The Quatermass Experiment as well as the two subsequent BBC serials and various extra material. This includes PDF files of photocopies of the original scripts for episodes three through six. However, they range in quality from illegible to (in an extreme case in episode six) unreadable.

Related Topics:
2005 - BBC Worldwide - DVD - PDF

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