"WE ARE THE MARTIANS!"
Workmen excavating a site in Knightsbridge discover an unusual
skull and what appears to be an unexploded bomb. Professor
Bernard Quatermass becomes
involved in the investigation when
it becomes apparent that the
object is actually an alien craft.
Known to have influenced John
Carpenter, Stephen King, Mark
Gatiss, and Doctor Who, the
third and final Quatermass serial
featured in the BFI's list of 100
Greatest Television Programmes,
which described it as "completely gripping". Each of the six episodes were broadcast live from Riverside's Studio 1 in Hammersmith - the
venue of a rare screening held today.
The legendary drama was preserved by BBC archives in 1958 for potential
repeat, and was shown again just a year later. BBC2 repeated the third episode, Imps and Demons, in November 1986 as part of their TV50
season. The programme also became available on BBC iPlayer in 2018.
The professor now portrayed by Andre Morell (first offered the lead in
1953) who replaced the original choice of Alec Clunes.
The scripts were informed by Nigel Kneale's concerns about racial tensions
in Britain, the Cold War, and the military's abuse of science and technology.
The writer again collaborated with director Rudolph Cartier, and the new
production was transmitted live from Riverside Studios, whilst filmed
inserts derived from Ealing Studios, and location filming shot in
Kensington. Hammer's version (with Andrew Keir in the title role)
was released in cinemas in 1967
In 1969, the new producer of Doctor Who, Derrick Sherwin acknowledged
that Kneale's works and this serial in particular, influenced the programme's
move towards realist, Earth-bound stories.
Although the BBC planned a fourth Quatermass drama in 1972, the project
was abandoned, and Kneale's scripts were eventually produced by Thames
TV in 1979.
The writer concluded the Professor's saga in The Quatermass Memoirs, first broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in March 1996 - Keir reprised his film role.
The sci-fi epic (described by BBC Online as "the finest thing the [Corporation] ever made") was shown on Monday nights in December 1958 and January 1959 - it featured Cec Linder (as Dr. Roney), Christine Finn (Barbara Judd), Anthony Bushell (Colonel Breen), and thirty-four Doctor Who cast and crew connections:
In 1969, the new producer of Doctor Who, Derrick Sherwin acknowledged
that Kneale's works and this serial in particular, influenced the programme's
move towards realist, Earth-bound stories.
Although the BBC planned a fourth Quatermass drama in 1972, the project
was abandoned, and Kneale's scripts were eventually produced by Thames
TV in 1979.
The writer concluded the Professor's saga in The Quatermass Memoirs, first broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in March 1996 - Keir reprised his film role.
The sci-fi epic (described by BBC Online as "the finest thing the [Corporation] ever made") was shown on Monday nights in December 1958 and January 1959 - it featured Cec Linder (as Dr. Roney), Christine Finn (Barbara Judd), Anthony Bushell (Colonel Breen), and thirty-four Doctor Who cast and crew connections:
- John [Wilson] Stratton (Potter) was Shockeye O' the Quawncing Grig in The Two Doctors
- Mark Eden [born Douglas John Malin] (Journalist) was the epony- mous explorer in Marco Polo
- Eric [Bennett] Elliott (Journalist) was Commander of The Ark
- John [Frederick] Flint (Journalist) was William de Preaux in The Crusade, and Captain Urquhart in (part 1 of) Time Flight
- Arthur [Reginald] Hewlett (Baines) was Kalmar in State of Decay, and Kimber in Terror of the Vervoids
- Clifford Cox and Brian Gilmar (Privates) were Sergeant in Spearhead from Space; and Extra in Terror of the Autons and Colony in Space
- Michael Guest (Constable/Journalist/Sightseer) was Mongol Bandit in Marco Polo (5), Saxon in The Time Meddler (1), and Interviewer in The Daleks' Master Plan (1)
- Bill Matthews (Sightseer/Man) was Davis in The Silurians, Prison Officer in The Mind of Evil, an uncredited Draconian in Frontier in Space, and Extra in Planet of the Spiders
- Walter Randall (Sightseer/Man) was Tonila in The Aztecs, El Akir in The Crusade, Hyksos in The Daleks' Master Plan, Patrolman in The Invasion, Harry Slocum in Inferno, and Guard Captain in Planet of the Spiders
- Rex [Alfred] Rashley (Sightseer /Man) was Extra in The Silurians, and an uncredited Coven Member in The Daemons
- Kenneth [Ernest] Seeger (Sightseer/Dr Klein/Man) was a Cyberman in The Tomb of the Cybermen
- Elaine Williams and Nancy [Osborne] Adams (Sightseers/Women) were Customer in City of Death; and Woman in Snakedance
- [Max] Richard Shaw (Sladden) was Lobos in The Daleks' Master Plan, Cross in Frontier in Space, and Lakh in Underworld
- Bernard Spear (Vendor) was Man in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150AD
- Richard Coe and John Dawson (Men) were TV Announcer in The Chase (1), and Time Lord in The Deadly Assassin
- Patrick Milner and James Duggan (Journalists/Men/Sightseers) were Guard in The Silurians, and UNIT Corporal in The Daemons; both were uncredited Soldiers in The War Games; and the latter was Trojan Guard in The Myth Makers
- Joan [Pamela] Harsant [born Gatcum] and Frank Seton [born Francis Wilfred Poupart] (Crowd) were Technician in The Silurians; and one of the titular The Sea Devils, and Scientist in The Time Warrior
- for John Herrington see Quatermass II
- John Scott Martin (Technician) appeared in seventy-six episodes (mainly as a Dalek operator) from The Web Planet to Remembrance of the Daleks
- [James Henry] Laurence Archer (Man) and Ronald [Warburton] Mayer (Dead Photographer/Journalist) were both seen in The Daemons as Coven Members/Villagers
- George Wilder (Civil Servant) was Kennedy in The War Machines
- Edward [Noel] Burnham (Official) would later play Professors Watkins and Kettlewell in The Invasion and Robot
- for Malcolm Watson, Jack Kine and Bernard Wilkie see The Quatermass Experiment
- Dick Mills (sound FX) of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop later provided special sound for 360 episodes of the classic run (from 100,000 BC to The Curse of Fenric), K9 & Company, Dimensions in Time, then 97 stories of the revived series (from Rose to The Name of the Doctor)
- SFX assistant (and Sladden's Hand) Peter Day later provided visual FX for fifty-one episodes (from The Evil of the Daleks to The Sun Makers) after making uncredited appearances as a Trojan in The Myth Makers (3), Tavern Customer in The Massacre (1), and Worker in The War Machines
- AA Englander was also film cameraman on The Ambassadors of Death and The Claws of Axos
