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Quatermass #1
The Quatermass Experiment
The first manned space-rocket plummets back to earth long overdue. Professor Quatermass and his team from the British Experimental Rocket Group wait anxiously for the crew to emerge. But only man is left aboard—a man too shocked to tell what happened to his colleagues.
It is the beginning of a reign of terror which will hold London in its merciless grip—and threaten the entire world!
It is the beginning of a reign of terror which will hold London in its merciless grip—and threaten the entire world!
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
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About the author
Nigel Kneale
46 books38 followersNigel Kneale was a British screenwriter. He is best known for being the creator of Professor Bernard Quatermass. Kneale wrote four Quatermass TV serials in total between 1953 and 1979 as well as BBC radio docudrama retrospective "The Quatermass Memoirs" that was first broadcast in 1995. Kneale also wrote such programs as The Year Of The Sex Olympics, The Stone Tape and the 1989 adaptation of Susan Hill's novel The Woman in Black.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 9, 2025
Back in 1979 author Nigel Kneale revised his script for the 1953 BBC series The Quatermass Experiment. He simplified the technical terms & stage directions , which resulted in this very readable screenplay.
Back in 1979, at the age of 15, I first encountered Professor Bernard Quatermass in the new television production starring John Mills. I've been a fan ever since & I love all the television & Hammer film versions of his adventures. In a world where television science fiction barely existed (this was even ten years before Doctor Who hit our screens) this was groundbreaking stuff. The dialogue is sharp & the story tense from beginning to end. This screenplay fills the gaps left after the BBC sadly wiped four out of the six episodes from their archives.
Quatermass is a legend & I hope, perhaps in vain, that one day he will return to our screens.
Back in 1979, at the age of 15, I first encountered Professor Bernard Quatermass in the new television production starring John Mills. I've been a fan ever since & I love all the television & Hammer film versions of his adventures. In a world where television science fiction barely existed (this was even ten years before Doctor Who hit our screens) this was groundbreaking stuff. The dialogue is sharp & the story tense from beginning to end. This screenplay fills the gaps left after the BBC sadly wiped four out of the six episodes from their archives.
Quatermass is a legend & I hope, perhaps in vain, that one day he will return to our screens.
February 21, 2013
“A BBC teleplay concerning the terrifying results of the first manned space flight. The first of four Quatermass television serials. The film version was titled The Creeping Unknown.”
-Karl Edward Wagner, 13 Best Science Fiction Horror Novels (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
I scored a major victory in my quest to complete the KEW list the other day when I walked into a local bookstore and discovered all three of the Quatermass teleplays published by Penguin from 1959 to 1960 on display. Among the rarest books on Wagner’s list, they fetch high prices on book auctions. I thank the saints of science fiction for putting all three of them at a reasonable price in my field of vision. I’ll be giving this awesome bookstore a plug in the future.
Publishing The Quatermass Experiment as a teleplay as opposed to its novelization was a great idea. You can sit down and watch the two surviving episodes of the 6 episode series (broadcast in 30 minute sequences in 1953) with the book. Or you can watch the 2005 BBC version and note how carefully it follows the teleplay. The book includes direction, type of music to be used, etc. There’s also stills from the serial in the center of the book, which is all that remains of the final episodes.
The first section, “Contact Has Been Established”, begins in the control room where Professor Bernard Quatermass is trying to establish contact with the occupants of the rocket his British Experimental Rocket Group has launched from Tarooma Station in Australia. The rocket was supposed to orbit the earth, make some observations, then return. But for reasons unknown, contact was lost with the three-man crew shortly after launch and there has been no communication with them for the past 57 hours. Suddenly, the team has re-establishes contact with the rocket, but none of the crew is responding. Complicating the situation is Judith, one of the scientists on the ground team is married to one of the rocket crew. The action then swerves to the countryside in England when Quatermass is able to bring the manned portion of the rocket down by remote.
In the second section, “Persons Reported Missing”, it is established only one of the three-man crew has emerged from the rocket. The other two crew members are nowhere to be found. Furthermore, the on-board instruments indicate the doors to the capsule have not been opened since the initial launch. The only survivor of the mission, Victor Carroon, cannot communicate and seems to have gone mad. The police suspect foul play and have him secretly fingerprinted. Meanwhile, Quatermass and his colleges have discovered a jelly like substance all through the interior of the capsule.
Moving on to “Special Knowledge”, we get a better look at Victor Carroon. He’s unable to converse much with the doctors who are studying his condition. All he can manage to say is “cold” when asked how he feels. But the team discovers he can speak German, a language he’s never spoken before. However, one of missing crew members, Dr. Ludwig Reichenheim, was German. Furthermore, Carroon has knowledge which only Reichenheim knew. Before any more can be found out about what really happened on board the rocket, Carroon is kidnapped by enemy agents and spirited away.
The fourth part, “Believed To Be Suffering”, intercuts between Quatermass’ attempts to find Carroon and Carroon’s own adventures outside the compound. Carroon escapes from his kidnappers (by draining the life out of one!) and takes shelter in a bombed-out building (this was only a few years after WW2). He’s discovered by a young boy who leads Carroon into a movie theater. In a truly bizarre scene, the boy is apprehended by a theater usherette who accuses him of sneaking into the theater without paying. She fails to notice Carroon, the subject of a massive manhunt. While the kid struggles with the usherette, a 3D movie about spacemen and dragons plays on the screen! Carroon manages to stagger out of the theater, already starting to change into something not quite human.
The fifth part, “An Unknown Species”, Carroon begins to turn into an amalgamated mass. By the time he reaches an isolated island in the Thames, he’s little more than a protoplasmic rug. By now, Quatermass’ Rocket Group has figured out what happened on the space voyage by analyzing the recordings and film taken from the rocket capsule. A new life form has taken over the body of Carroon. And it’s growing. The few samples they have to experiment on can be killed, but the alien mass will start to spore very soon.
The final episode “State Of Emergency” has Quatermass facing down the alien mass as it swarms over Westminister Abbey. The teleplay conclusion is far different from the “fry the monster” ending of the Creeping Unknown movie. The 2005 BBC version is much closer to what Kneale had in mind. It’s a bit anticlimactic; too bad we may never see the original BBC 1953 production, unless more footage turns up.
The script is an amazing bit of tight writing. Kneale understood his budget limitations and was able to write an excellent script around them.
-Karl Edward Wagner, 13 Best Science Fiction Horror Novels (Twilight Zone Magazine, 1983)
I scored a major victory in my quest to complete the KEW list the other day when I walked into a local bookstore and discovered all three of the Quatermass teleplays published by Penguin from 1959 to 1960 on display. Among the rarest books on Wagner’s list, they fetch high prices on book auctions. I thank the saints of science fiction for putting all three of them at a reasonable price in my field of vision. I’ll be giving this awesome bookstore a plug in the future.
Publishing The Quatermass Experiment as a teleplay as opposed to its novelization was a great idea. You can sit down and watch the two surviving episodes of the 6 episode series (broadcast in 30 minute sequences in 1953) with the book. Or you can watch the 2005 BBC version and note how carefully it follows the teleplay. The book includes direction, type of music to be used, etc. There’s also stills from the serial in the center of the book, which is all that remains of the final episodes.
The first section, “Contact Has Been Established”, begins in the control room where Professor Bernard Quatermass is trying to establish contact with the occupants of the rocket his British Experimental Rocket Group has launched from Tarooma Station in Australia. The rocket was supposed to orbit the earth, make some observations, then return. But for reasons unknown, contact was lost with the three-man crew shortly after launch and there has been no communication with them for the past 57 hours. Suddenly, the team has re-establishes contact with the rocket, but none of the crew is responding. Complicating the situation is Judith, one of the scientists on the ground team is married to one of the rocket crew. The action then swerves to the countryside in England when Quatermass is able to bring the manned portion of the rocket down by remote.
In the second section, “Persons Reported Missing”, it is established only one of the three-man crew has emerged from the rocket. The other two crew members are nowhere to be found. Furthermore, the on-board instruments indicate the doors to the capsule have not been opened since the initial launch. The only survivor of the mission, Victor Carroon, cannot communicate and seems to have gone mad. The police suspect foul play and have him secretly fingerprinted. Meanwhile, Quatermass and his colleges have discovered a jelly like substance all through the interior of the capsule.
Moving on to “Special Knowledge”, we get a better look at Victor Carroon. He’s unable to converse much with the doctors who are studying his condition. All he can manage to say is “cold” when asked how he feels. But the team discovers he can speak German, a language he’s never spoken before. However, one of missing crew members, Dr. Ludwig Reichenheim, was German. Furthermore, Carroon has knowledge which only Reichenheim knew. Before any more can be found out about what really happened on board the rocket, Carroon is kidnapped by enemy agents and spirited away.
The fourth part, “Believed To Be Suffering”, intercuts between Quatermass’ attempts to find Carroon and Carroon’s own adventures outside the compound. Carroon escapes from his kidnappers (by draining the life out of one!) and takes shelter in a bombed-out building (this was only a few years after WW2). He’s discovered by a young boy who leads Carroon into a movie theater. In a truly bizarre scene, the boy is apprehended by a theater usherette who accuses him of sneaking into the theater without paying. She fails to notice Carroon, the subject of a massive manhunt. While the kid struggles with the usherette, a 3D movie about spacemen and dragons plays on the screen! Carroon manages to stagger out of the theater, already starting to change into something not quite human.
The fifth part, “An Unknown Species”, Carroon begins to turn into an amalgamated mass. By the time he reaches an isolated island in the Thames, he’s little more than a protoplasmic rug. By now, Quatermass’ Rocket Group has figured out what happened on the space voyage by analyzing the recordings and film taken from the rocket capsule. A new life form has taken over the body of Carroon. And it’s growing. The few samples they have to experiment on can be killed, but the alien mass will start to spore very soon.
The final episode “State Of Emergency” has Quatermass facing down the alien mass as it swarms over Westminister Abbey. The teleplay conclusion is far different from the “fry the monster” ending of the Creeping Unknown movie. The 2005 BBC version is much closer to what Kneale had in mind. It’s a bit anticlimactic; too bad we may never see the original BBC 1953 production, unless more footage turns up.
The script is an amazing bit of tight writing. Kneale understood his budget limitations and was able to write an excellent script around them.
January 20, 2020
Bernard Quatermass is the hero of the story; or the protagonist at any rate; that is to say he gets the most screen time. If you break it down tho, he doesn't do a lot. Mostly he complains and yells and fusses over not getting his way. He's not a likeable person.
It's a very good book, screenplay really, and you can see where Kneale has been ripped-off left and right by other less talented hacks.
Anyhow the story is good right to the very end...
And there it falls apart. I couldn't buy the way Quatermass 'defeated' the thing. I found it absurd and unconvincing. The movie version where they shot it full of electricity was better. Maybe they didn't do it that way because it'd been done 2 years earlier in THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. Integrity in the movie business? What a concept. Still some may like the ending so don't let me discourage you.
It remains a very good book.
It's a very good book, screenplay really, and you can see where Kneale has been ripped-off left and right by other less talented hacks.
Anyhow the story is good right to the very end...
And there it falls apart. I couldn't buy the way Quatermass 'defeated' the thing. I found it absurd and unconvincing. The movie version where they shot it full of electricity was better. Maybe they didn't do it that way because it'd been done 2 years earlier in THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. Integrity in the movie business? What a concept. Still some may like the ending so don't let me discourage you.
It remains a very good book.
August 18, 2011
Like all the quatermass stuff, films and TV series included, it is so bad it has a peculiar attraction - partly humourous, partly affectionate, that makes me return to them - a bit like the occasional reading of Edgar Wallace. have to admit to having read his Indiarubber Men 6 times. Quite why I don't know.
August 31, 2013
Presentato in forma di sceneggiato TV in 6 parti, questa è la prima apparizione cronologica del Prof. Quatermass. Una lettura curiosa e certamente intrigante, più che SF è un horror di ambiente astronautico. Di certo è molto scorrevole, e mi è rimasta la curiosità di vedere lo sceneggiato degli anni '50.
June 2, 2020
Adapted screenplay of 1953 BBC TV serial about the first manned space rocket. As to the story, I can see why it greatly influenced British sci-fi and horror. As to the writing, it helped me see how how stock characters can be used to evoke the range of human responses and give immediate depth to the action, while drama is provided by moral choices and development of a few.
April 28, 2023
An ok story that just seemed overinflated for my taste
July 17, 2023
For the first time since at least 1980, I went back to revisit THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT, Nigel Kneale's teleplay published as a book by Penguin, then republished by Arrow.
Beyond, "It's brilliant," I have not much to say, but a few stray thoughts might be worth consideration.
I read this long before I saw the Hammer film, which struck me as less an adaptation than a desecration. The film tossed away the most disturbing and conceptually interesting of Kneale's ideas, and turned his biological threat against all forms of life on Earth into a typically-tentacled space blob. It also rejected Kneale's ultimate solution to the teleplay's problem, but more on that later.
The film in itself might not be at fault in this. To function at his best, Kneale required time and room to develop his ideas. In shorter forms (like the stories of TOMATO CAIN, or the teleplays of BEASTS), or even in film adaptations written by Kneale himself (especially in FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH), Kneale's best qualities vanished, but in THE YEAR OF THE SEX OLYMPICS, THE ROAD, and the longer Quatermass teleplays, his ideas and their implications were given space to grow, with a result of greater scope and greater tension.
For all that I admire Kneale's development of his ideas, the ending, here, has never quite convinced me. Yes, it is original and unexpected (even if it has been foreshadowed earlier in the play), but is it believable? Even after the passage of decades, I have no firm opinion. It is what it is.
In his introduction to this book, Kneale writes, "It has been pointed out that I don't really write science-fiction at all, but just use the forms of it. I suppose that's true." But is it true?
One thing is clear: Kneale has done his research. His multi-stage rocket and its re-entry process, his correct use of terms like braking ellipse, apogee, centrifugal force, show that he understands the language and basic principles of rocketry. He also understands how to go beyond ideas into their implications, which seems to me a fundamental component of any good science fiction, in print or on film. So yes, Kneale was indeed writing science fiction.
Excellent science fiction. I would call THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT the best alien invasion story since Wells, but Kneale would surpass EXPERIMENT six years later, with QUATERMASS AND THE PIT. That one is magnificent.
Beyond, "It's brilliant," I have not much to say, but a few stray thoughts might be worth consideration.
I read this long before I saw the Hammer film, which struck me as less an adaptation than a desecration. The film tossed away the most disturbing and conceptually interesting of Kneale's ideas, and turned his biological threat against all forms of life on Earth into a typically-tentacled space blob. It also rejected Kneale's ultimate solution to the teleplay's problem, but more on that later.
The film in itself might not be at fault in this. To function at his best, Kneale required time and room to develop his ideas. In shorter forms (like the stories of TOMATO CAIN, or the teleplays of BEASTS), or even in film adaptations written by Kneale himself (especially in FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH), Kneale's best qualities vanished, but in THE YEAR OF THE SEX OLYMPICS, THE ROAD, and the longer Quatermass teleplays, his ideas and their implications were given space to grow, with a result of greater scope and greater tension.
For all that I admire Kneale's development of his ideas, the ending, here, has never quite convinced me. Yes, it is original and unexpected (even if it has been foreshadowed earlier in the play), but is it believable? Even after the passage of decades, I have no firm opinion. It is what it is.
In his introduction to this book, Kneale writes, "It has been pointed out that I don't really write science-fiction at all, but just use the forms of it. I suppose that's true." But is it true?
One thing is clear: Kneale has done his research. His multi-stage rocket and its re-entry process, his correct use of terms like braking ellipse, apogee, centrifugal force, show that he understands the language and basic principles of rocketry. He also understands how to go beyond ideas into their implications, which seems to me a fundamental component of any good science fiction, in print or on film. So yes, Kneale was indeed writing science fiction.
Excellent science fiction. I would call THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT the best alien invasion story since Wells, but Kneale would surpass EXPERIMENT six years later, with QUATERMASS AND THE PIT. That one is magnificent.
September 27, 2024
There are several Quatermass TV serials (as well as movie remakes of those). This one is a novelisation of the first serial. I say novelisation, but it's actually a script in book form, modified somewhat from its original to suit readers. I thought that was a strange halfway measure. Why not modify it into a proper novelisation? Well, as this was written before the novelisation boom of the 1970s and 80s, I can understand why that might not have occurred to the author. I also have books 2, 3 and 4. The fourth is the only one written as proper prose. In any case, book 1 is extremely dialogue-heavy, so it works okay in script form. It's split into six chapters, each on corresponding to an episode of the serial.
Thematically, this is an interesting story because it's about the first manned space-flight, written before we had successfully done it in real life. When the rocket returns, two of the three crew members are missing - which is impossible - and the survivor is almost catatonic. From that point, things become increasingly Lovecraftian.
What I didn't realise while reading was that "The Quatermass Experiment" no longer exists in visual form! The BBC deleted episodes 3 to 6 from their archives (1 and 2 survive, and can be watched on YouTube). The BBC would repeat this act of stupidity with "Doctor Who" some years later.
There is a much shorter movie remake of this, called "The Quatermass Xperiment", but it skips a lot of the story and opts for a simpler, and less satisfying, ending. That means this little novelisation is the only way to experience the very first Quatermass serial in it complete form. I'm glad we have it.
Thematically, this is an interesting story because it's about the first manned space-flight, written before we had successfully done it in real life. When the rocket returns, two of the three crew members are missing - which is impossible - and the survivor is almost catatonic. From that point, things become increasingly Lovecraftian.
What I didn't realise while reading was that "The Quatermass Experiment" no longer exists in visual form! The BBC deleted episodes 3 to 6 from their archives (1 and 2 survive, and can be watched on YouTube). The BBC would repeat this act of stupidity with "Doctor Who" some years later.
There is a much shorter movie remake of this, called "The Quatermass Xperiment", but it skips a lot of the story and opts for a simpler, and less satisfying, ending. That means this little novelisation is the only way to experience the very first Quatermass serial in it complete form. I'm glad we have it.
August 14, 2025
A crucial part of the archaeology of televised science fiction, this is the script of the first 6-part, b&w Quatermass, broadcast live in 1953 … and of uncountable historical and cultural value because only two of the broadcast episodes remain (they were not routinely recorded).
And, in case you didn’t immediately note the significance … these episodes were broadcast live, with actors and studio staff combining their talents to produce a relatively seamless drama. Fortunately, someone had the good sense to reproduce the drama in book/script form.
The book therefore straddles multiple dimensions – written fiction, live drama, scriptwriting … and a sense of how it appeared on the night with its directions to cut away or fade out with music, etc.
I wasn’t even four years old when this was originally broadcast – my devotion to Nigel Kneale and Quatermass stems from the six episodes of ‘Quatermass and the Pit’, broadcast over December 1958 and January 1959. It remains amongst the most vivid memories of my childhood – it remains also the most electrifying television drama I ever watched. I’ve thrilled to my cherished video copy time and time again – by 1958 the BBC had learned to record its drama. Kneale could tell a story.
Reading this “Quatermass Experiment” rekindles some of that childhood excitement. It’s not as good as “… the Pit”, but the quality of storytelling is there - it's only relatively 'not as good'. A simple premise, calmly delivered, tension building, scope even for a Shakespearean play within the play as we are led into a cinema to eavesdrop on … is it satirical or merely cruelly cynical … to eavesdrop on an excerpt from an American sci-fi movie.
Maybe there’s a flaw in its ending, an abrupt dependence on rationality and the triumph of human reason. There is a sense of ‘with one bound they were free’ abruptness to the conclusion. But … ? But … ? Maybe, in 1953, there was still optimism about human reason? Could Kneale really have anticipated Boris Johnson, Donald Trump … or the czar of space travel, Elon Brusque?
But, as archaeology goes, it’s still inspirational. You can feel the history in it … and it can be alarmingly tactile. A word of caution. If you get hold of an orange Penguin edition, beware – every time I turned a page another one fell out and I had to keep reshuffling them back into place. So, enjoy the tactile pleasures of reading while you savour a wonderfully constructed story from a less sophisticated era. A book to treasure.
And, in case you didn’t immediately note the significance … these episodes were broadcast live, with actors and studio staff combining their talents to produce a relatively seamless drama. Fortunately, someone had the good sense to reproduce the drama in book/script form.
The book therefore straddles multiple dimensions – written fiction, live drama, scriptwriting … and a sense of how it appeared on the night with its directions to cut away or fade out with music, etc.
I wasn’t even four years old when this was originally broadcast – my devotion to Nigel Kneale and Quatermass stems from the six episodes of ‘Quatermass and the Pit’, broadcast over December 1958 and January 1959. It remains amongst the most vivid memories of my childhood – it remains also the most electrifying television drama I ever watched. I’ve thrilled to my cherished video copy time and time again – by 1958 the BBC had learned to record its drama. Kneale could tell a story.
Reading this “Quatermass Experiment” rekindles some of that childhood excitement. It’s not as good as “… the Pit”, but the quality of storytelling is there - it's only relatively 'not as good'. A simple premise, calmly delivered, tension building, scope even for a Shakespearean play within the play as we are led into a cinema to eavesdrop on … is it satirical or merely cruelly cynical … to eavesdrop on an excerpt from an American sci-fi movie.
Maybe there’s a flaw in its ending, an abrupt dependence on rationality and the triumph of human reason. There is a sense of ‘with one bound they were free’ abruptness to the conclusion. But … ? But … ? Maybe, in 1953, there was still optimism about human reason? Could Kneale really have anticipated Boris Johnson, Donald Trump … or the czar of space travel, Elon Brusque?
But, as archaeology goes, it’s still inspirational. You can feel the history in it … and it can be alarmingly tactile. A word of caution. If you get hold of an orange Penguin edition, beware – every time I turned a page another one fell out and I had to keep reshuffling them back into place. So, enjoy the tactile pleasures of reading while you savour a wonderfully constructed story from a less sophisticated era. A book to treasure.
January 10, 2019
Much of the BBC's early TV productions are lost, but the one that hurts the most for me is 1953's The Quatermass Experiment, written by my favourite screenwriter of all time, Nigel Kneale. Performed and broadcast live, the show was intended to be recorded on film for overseas sales, but ultimately only episodes 1 and 2 were (poorly) telerecorded before the idea was abandoned. While the sequels, 1955's Quatermass II, 1958's Quatermass and the Pit and the belated 1979's Quatermass, do still exist, as well as the Hammer film adaptations of the first three serials, the loss of the original remains a massive blow.
Thankfully Kneale recognised this loss, and published the full script to the serial in the late 50s. An almost exact reproduction of the shooting script, albeit with some of the more technical direction stripped out, this is as close as you're going to get to experiencing this lost masterpiece in the present day.
As with much science fiction of the 50s, a good chunk of The Quatermass Experiment is given over to scientists talking in a lab, which works in the book's favour as it is very dialogue heavy, which I find always makes a script a more enjoyable reading experience than something more action focussed. Like much of Kneale's work the story is ahead of it's time, featuring very plausible scenes of manned space flight 6 years before the launch of Vostok 1.
The story is centred on an investigation into the disappearence of two of the three crew members of the first manned mission to space. Their capsule has returned, but only one of the crew is inside, and he's been driven quite mad. The hatch was not opened in flight, and the others were definitely aboard at lift of, so how have they disappeared? What I really love about this, and the Quatermass stories in general, is the character of Bernard Quatermass himself. He's not the infallible genius you find in a lot of science fiction. He's just a very talented engineer, but quite down to earth and lacking in the arrogance many similar leads have; Quatermass doesn't clash with the police or the press, he works with them to solve problems. It's refreshing to read sci-fi stories in which a good chunk of time isn't dedicated to the human characters bickering amongst themselves, and instead getting on with solving the problem at hand.
On the whole, I'd place it as the second best of the Quatermass stories, behind the masterpiece that is Quatermass and the Pit.
Thankfully Kneale recognised this loss, and published the full script to the serial in the late 50s. An almost exact reproduction of the shooting script, albeit with some of the more technical direction stripped out, this is as close as you're going to get to experiencing this lost masterpiece in the present day.
As with much science fiction of the 50s, a good chunk of The Quatermass Experiment is given over to scientists talking in a lab, which works in the book's favour as it is very dialogue heavy, which I find always makes a script a more enjoyable reading experience than something more action focussed. Like much of Kneale's work the story is ahead of it's time, featuring very plausible scenes of manned space flight 6 years before the launch of Vostok 1.
The story is centred on an investigation into the disappearence of two of the three crew members of the first manned mission to space. Their capsule has returned, but only one of the crew is inside, and he's been driven quite mad. The hatch was not opened in flight, and the others were definitely aboard at lift of, so how have they disappeared? What I really love about this, and the Quatermass stories in general, is the character of Bernard Quatermass himself. He's not the infallible genius you find in a lot of science fiction. He's just a very talented engineer, but quite down to earth and lacking in the arrogance many similar leads have; Quatermass doesn't clash with the police or the press, he works with them to solve problems. It's refreshing to read sci-fi stories in which a good chunk of time isn't dedicated to the human characters bickering amongst themselves, and instead getting on with solving the problem at hand.
On the whole, I'd place it as the second best of the Quatermass stories, behind the masterpiece that is Quatermass and the Pit.
November 29, 2023
A high three stars, and I admit a lot better than I was expecting.
This is the actual screen play of the 1953 TV series, which I wasn’t expecting when I brought the book. I did think I would struggle to read it as it was in this format but I found myself flying through it.
This was a rip roaring sci-fi 50’s thriller… although admittedly old fashioned, the story was interesting and the pace did get a tad heart racing towards the end. Thank heavens Westminster Abby survived, I for one was all for saving the building and letting humanity perish.
A interesting idea, could have done with a bit more of a scientific explanation to the alien monster, but this was made for TV, and people that watch TV are not famous for wanting anything to mentally taxing.
Also, as the alien had tentacles and it was picked up millions of miles from earth it was obviously an Great Old One right? Cthulhu’s long lost brother perhaps? Alas we shall never know.
This is the actual screen play of the 1953 TV series, which I wasn’t expecting when I brought the book. I did think I would struggle to read it as it was in this format but I found myself flying through it.
This was a rip roaring sci-fi 50’s thriller… although admittedly old fashioned, the story was interesting and the pace did get a tad heart racing towards the end. Thank heavens Westminster Abby survived, I for one was all for saving the building and letting humanity perish.
A interesting idea, could have done with a bit more of a scientific explanation to the alien monster, but this was made for TV, and people that watch TV are not famous for wanting anything to mentally taxing.
Also, as the alien had tentacles and it was picked up millions of miles from earth it was obviously an Great Old One right? Cthulhu’s long lost brother perhaps? Alas we shall never know.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2025
Book 318 - Nigel Kneale - The Quatermass Experiment
The 1979 novel of the brilliant 1953 TV production doesn’t quite live up to the magnificence of the TV serial or 1955 movie of the same name. Kneale was a pioneer in sci-fi television and I was so looking forward to the novel as I expected it to expand on the story I know so well.
Kneale was very protective of his Quatermass character and indeed there were only 4 serials ever made… a few remakes but nothing new since the mid 70s.
The novel unfortunately simply reads as a TV script and without the visuals it doesn’t quite hit home…a real shame.
A novelty item, written so long after the show was made but nothing new. So disappointing.
The 1979 novel of the brilliant 1953 TV production doesn’t quite live up to the magnificence of the TV serial or 1955 movie of the same name. Kneale was a pioneer in sci-fi television and I was so looking forward to the novel as I expected it to expand on the story I know so well.
Kneale was very protective of his Quatermass character and indeed there were only 4 serials ever made… a few remakes but nothing new since the mid 70s.
The novel unfortunately simply reads as a TV script and without the visuals it doesn’t quite hit home…a real shame.
A novelty item, written so long after the show was made but nothing new. So disappointing.
February 19, 2019
It's the first script I've read in years. Enjoyed it as a product of of its time. The writer was remarkably prophetic in predicting how early manned spaceflight would work.
It has a connection to "Who Goes There?"
It has a connection to "Who Goes There?"
January 10, 2022
Kneale is a genius. His scripts are tightly wound and evocative. Superb stuff.
June 24, 2024
One of the all-time classics of sci-fi horror television presented in script form, this tale of an astronaut who returns to Earth bearing something terrifying and alien is deservedly regarded as something of a template for so many similar tales - in literature, TV and film - that came afterwards. The character of Quatermass was very much a forerunner for The Doctor (Doctor Who), and indeed the latter show regularly took inspiration (or outright pinched) from the former. Nigel Kneale was a master of the SF/H subgenre, and his Quatermass scripts and novels are very much worth tracking down and reading.
July 25, 2023
I read this back in the 1970s when I bought my copy and had never seen the TV version. I really enjoyed it and visualised it all in my mind (as you do). Now, years after seeing the (Brian Donlevy) movie, I came across this on my shelves and thought I'd read it again.
I'm glad I did. There are passages here which do not appear in the movie version and seem much better thought through, adding more depth to the characters and the story. Now I know Nigel Kneale's work better I'm not surprised.
A great read.
I'm glad I did. There are passages here which do not appear in the movie version and seem much better thought through, adding more depth to the characters and the story. Now I know Nigel Kneale's work better I'm not surprised.
A great read.
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