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 series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the oldest of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives. Although sometimes compared unfavourably to the first and third quatermass serials, it was praised for its allegorical concerns of the damaging effects of industrialisation.
About Quatermass II in brief
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 series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the oldest of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives. Although sometimes compared unfavourably to the first and third quatermass serials, it was praised for its allegorical concerns of the damaging effects of industrialisation and the corruption of governments by big business. Four actors who each became well known for a particular role on British television had supporting parts in QuaterMass II. Rupert Davies who played MP Vincent Broadhead would go on to find fame as Sûreté detective Commissaire Jules Maigret. Roger Delgado, who found fame in the 1970s as the Master in Doctor Who, played a journalist who helps Quater Mass. Wilfrid Brambell, later star of the sitcom Steptoe and Son, appeared as a tramp. Melvyn Hayes, who played the small role of Frankie, later worked in several films with Cliff Richard. John Robinson was chosen to fill the part of Reginald Tate, who had collapsed and died on 23 August 1955, aged 58. He had difficulty in learning some of the technical dialogue he was required to deliver. Monica Grey played Paula Quater mass, who was chosen by BBC management rather than the production team, as she was the wife of the BBC’s head of radio drama, Val Gielgud. Hugh Griffith, who went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Sheikh Ilderim in Ben-Hur, played Dr Leo Pugh.
He also appeared in Lucky Jim and Oliver!. He played the voice heard over the factory loudspeaker system in episode five, and narrated the recaps at the beginning of episodes two, three, four and six. In 1956 Hammer Film Productions had intended to use the character of X the Unknown in a sequel to their version of The Quatersmass Experiment, until Kneal denied them the rights to use it. Knele credited the director Rudolph Cartier with bringing an expansive style to the screen that had not been seen in British television drama before. He continued directing for television until the1970s, and had a role in the third Quatermas serial, the Iron Cross, in which he directed Anna Cross and Karen Lee — Iron Cross and Lee — are played by Karen Lee. After a farmer finds one of the objects in a field, his fiancée decides to become directly involved, unofficially asking the father of his daughter to investigate. After the father’s father is killed by an assassin, Paula decides to ask the father to investigate the meteorite showers herself. The father of Paula’s father, Captain Johnny Dillon, is one of one of which is observed by an Army radar unit which is observing a meteorite shower over Northern England. He is forced to use his unsafe rocket prototype, which recently caused a nuclear disaster at an Australian testing range, to prevent the aliens from taking over mankind.
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