The Quatermass Experiment

The Quatermass Experiment is a British science fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television during the summer of 1953. Originally comprising six half-hour episodes, it was the first science fiction production to be written especially for a British adult television audience. It inspired much of the television science fiction that succeeded it, particularly in the United Kingdom.

About The Quatermass Experiment in brief

Summary The Quatermass ExperimentThe Quatermass Experiment is a British science fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television during the summer of 1953. Originally comprising six half-hour episodes, it was the first science fiction production to be written especially for a British adult television audience. It inspired much of the television science fiction that succeeded it, particularly in the United Kingdom, where it influenced successful series such as Doctor Who and Sapphire and Steel. It also influenced successful Hollywood films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien. It was transmitted live from the BBC’s original television studios at Alexandra Palace in London, one of the final productions before BBC television drama moved to west London. Following the success of the serial, Nigel Kneale became one of the best-regarded screenwriters in the history of British television. He manipulated the monster seen in Westminster Abbey at the climax of the climax, stuck through a photographic blow-up of the interior of the Abbey with his hands. The couple kept the gloves as a memento, and still owned them fifty years later when Knenene’s final episode was screened. The monster actually consisted of gloves covered in various plant and other materials, which were actually covered in mementos of the couple, including a pair of gloves that belonged to Kneane’s girlfriend Judith Kerr.

The serial was one of four Quater Masses to be screened on British television between 1953 and 1979. The other four were Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Stone Tape, The Time Machine and The QuaterMass Experiment. The series was re-staged by BBC Four in 2005 and is available on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time in more than 50 years. It is available to buy on Amazon.com for £3.99 with free UK p&p, or £4.99 without the offer. It has been released on DVD in the UK and the US for the past two years for a total of £7.99. It can be pre-ordered from Amazon.co.uk for £6.99 plus £1.99 in the U.S. and £2.99 on the UK iTunes store. The UK version of the show is available from Amazon for £5.99, with the option of a £10.99 add-on for £12.99 which includes a copy of the book, a DVD of the same name, and a CD of the film, as well as an autographed picture of the author. The book is available for £8.99 and the DVD is on sale from the same store for £10, with a further £1 in the US and the UK versions of the movie being on sale for £9.99 each. The film was released on the same day as the first British manned flight into space, and was also released in Europe and the Middle East. The first manned space flight has taken place in the 1950s and the second in the 1960s, but only two of the three crew members have survived.