Quatermass creator dies, aged 84

[Guest guest]

I watched all the Quatermass stories - and had nightmares for ages :-

)

 

Jo

 

The Quatermass serials paved the way for the likes of Doctor Who

Pioneering screenwriter Nigel Kneale, best known for the Quatermass

TV serials and films that began in the 1950s, has died at the age of

84.

He died in a London hospital after a period of ill health, his agent

said.

 

Kneale's The Quatermass Experiment in 1953 was the UK's first sci-fi

serial and created its first TV hero, the alien-battling Bernard

Quatermass.

 

The writer, from the Isle of Man, has been cited as an influence by

Stephen King and film-maker John Carpenter.

 

The Quatermass Experiment told the story of an alien monster brought

back to Earth by a British space rocket.

 

Robert Simpson, on Hammer Films' official website, said it was " event

television, emptying the streets and pubs for the six weeks of its

duration " .

 

Last year BBC Four broadcast a live remake starring David Tennant and

Jason Flemyng.

 

Channel controller Janice Hadlow described the original as " one of

the first 'must watch' TV experiences that inspired the water cooler

chat of its day " .

 

It was followed by two further serials in the 1950s, Quatermass II

and Quatermass and the Pit, with all three dramas later turned into

films. A fourth serial, Quatermass, was made in 1979.

 

Shocking

 

Kneale also scripted TV dramas including 1984, The Year of the Sex

Olympics and The Stone Tape, which are regarded as modern classics.

 

His 1954 adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 was so shocking that

questions were asked in the House of Commons about the suitability of

such material for television.

 

 

Quatermass and the Pit is thought by many the best of the series

The Year of the Sex Olympics, made in 1968, imagined a future in

which the public are subjugated by reality TV which places volunteers

in a remote house and monitors their every move.

 

Kneale earned two Bafta best screenplay nominations for his film

adaptations of John Osborne's plays Look Back in Anger and The

Entertainer.

 

He continued working until the late 1990s, writing Sharpe's Gold and

episodes of Kavanagh QC.

 

His wife Judith Kerr is the creator of the Mog children's books.

 

The couple had two children: Matthew Kneale, who won the Whitbread

Book of the Year award for his novel English Passengers, and Tacy

Kneale, a special effects designer who has worked on the Harry Potter

films.