Quatermass
One of the earliest TV Science Fiction shows,written by Nigel Kneale
and Produced by Rudolph Cartier,started on BBC TV in 1953 as The Quatermass
Experiment,and centred around rocket scientist,Bernard Quatermass.
The series spawned three later series,Quatermass 2(1955),Quatermass
and the Pit(1958/59),and Quatermass(1979),this last one being shown on
the ITV Network in the UK,with John Mills in the title role.
Each series was a self contained serial,and the later ones didn't
follow on from the previous one,only the character of Prof. Quatermass
was carried over into the next series.
The first three series were also remade as films by Hammer,and
were released with the following titles:
The Creeping Unknown(1956),Enemy From Space(1957)
and Quatermass and the Pit(aka '5 million years to Earth' in the
US)(1967)
.
Episodes and cast listings:
The Quatermass Experiment
(Six 30 minute episodes, b/w,transmitted 18th
July to 22nd August 1953)
Basic Programme Outline:
An Experimental spaceship with its 3 man crew is knocked off course
before eventually returning to Earth.the sloe survivor has been contaminated
with an alien life form that causes him to metamorphose into a one hundred
foot tall vegetable monster capable of infinate reproduction that wreaks
havboc on London before finally being destroyed just in time.the scientist
who tracks him down is the same man who sent him up,Bernard Quatermass.
Main Cast:
Professor Bernard Quatermass - REGINALD TATE
Judith Carroon - ISABEL DEAN
John Paterson - HUGH KELLY
James Fullalove - PAUL WHITSUN-JONES
Victor Carroon -DUNCAN LAMONT
Dr Gordon Briscoe - JOHN GLEN(from episode 2 on)
Chief Insp.Lomax - IAN COLIN(from episode 2 on)
Det Sgt. Best - FRANK HAWKINS(from episode 2 on)
1 Contact has Been Established
2 Persons reported missing
3 Very Special Knowledge
4 Believed to be Suffering
5 An Unidentified Species
6 State of Emergency
Quatermass 2
(Six 30 minute episodes,b/w,transmitted 22nd october
to 26th November 1955)
Main Cast:
Professor Bernard Quatermass - JOHN ROBINSON
Paula Quatermass - MONICA GREY
Dr Leo Pugh - HUGH GRIFFITHS
Capt. John Dillon - JOHN STONE(episodes 1,2,5,6)
Vincent Broadbent - RUPERT DAVIES(episodes 2 and
3)
1 The Bolts
2 The Mark
3 The Flood
4 The Coming
5 The Frenzy
6 The Destroyers
(Six 30 minute episodes,b/w,transmitted 22nd December
1958 to 26th January 1959,repeated as two 90 minute episodes 9th January
1960)
Basic programme Outline:
Set in London during rebuilding of the areas which
were blitzed in WW2,evidence is uncovered which proved that the Earth had
been visited aeons ago by Martians.
Main Cast :
Professor Bernard Quatermass - ANDRE MORELL
Barbara Judd - CHRISTINE FINN
Dr Matthew Roney - CEC LINDER
Col. Breen - ANTHONY BUSHELL
Capt. Potter - JOHN STRATTON
Sergeant - MICHAEL RIPPER
Cpl. Gibson - HAROLD GOODWIN
Private West - JOHN WALKER
Soldiers - CLIFFORD COX,BRIAN GILMAR
James Fullalove - BRIAN WORTH
Sladden - RICHARD SHAW
Minister - ROBERT PERCEVAL
Private Secretary - RICHARD DARE
1 The Halfmen
2 The Ghosts
3 Imps and Demons
4 The Enchanted
5 The Wild Hunt
6 Hob
.
Quatermass (ITV 1979)
(Four 50 minute episodes,made by Euston Films,shown
on ITV between 24th october and 14th November 1979)
Basic programme outline:
Petrol is running out,law and order has surrendered
to lawlessness,with violent street gangs,the Badders,battling it out behind
the barricades,while the superpowers squander resources on a uselss space
project.An older,world weary Quatermass has been living as a recluse in
Scotland,and now as he comes south to search for his missing granddaughter
Hettie,he teams up with a young astronomer,Joe Kapp,to defeat the alien
force which is harvesting the young of the planet,sweeping them up in beams
of light at ancient ritual sites,such as stone circles.
Main Cast:
Professor Quatermass - JOHN MILLS
Joe Kapp - SIMON MacCORKINDALE
Claire Kapp - BARBARA KELLERMAN(episodes 1 and 2)
Kickalong - RALPH ARTISS
Caraway - PAUL ROSEBURY
Bee - JANE BERTISH
Hettie - REBECCA SAIRE(episodes 1,2,4)
Sal - TOYAH WILCOX(episodes 2,3,4)
1 Ringstone Round
2 Lovely Lightning
3 What Lies Beneath
4 An Endangered Species
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