Doctor Who Vs. The Quatermass Xperiment

Image courtesy of Zeroroom

Professor Bernard Quatermass was

introduced to television audiences

in 1953, by Cumbrian screenwriter

Thomas Nigel Kneale, in The

Quatermass Experiment.

Quatermass II followed two years

later, and both serials were quickly

acquired by Hammer studios.

The subsequent productions,

The Quatermass Xperiment and

Quatermass 2, were released in

1955 and 1957, and starred Irish

born Hollywood actor Brian Donlevy

(1901-1972) as the eponymous

rocket scientist.

Kneale had always been critical of

Donlevy's interpretation of the lead

role and requested the part be recast

for the next sequel, Quatermass and

the Pit.

The first film remake (marketed in America as The Creeping Unknown) was screened on Talking Pictures TV last night - it featured these five future Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• [Ernest] Edward Dentith (Constable) was Major General Billy Rutlidge in The Invasion
• Michael Godfrey [born Collins] (Fireman) was Captain Samuel Pike in The Smugglers
• Paul [Alfred] Phillips (Bystander) was Guard/Prisoner in (episode 2 of) The War Games, and Miner in The Monster of Peladon (3)
• John Timberlake [born Murphy] (Reporter) was a Shelterer in The Enemy of the World, and Kaled Scientist in Genesis of the Daleks
• Jane Asher (Girl) voiced the titular companion for Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?, then was Andrea Yates in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Whatever  Happened to Sarah Jane?, and voiced Elaine Hartwell for Big Finish's 9 to 5 (2018), Pilot Dena for Chase the Night (2020), Bellatrix Vega for Run (2023), Myra for Birdsong (2024), and Mother Susan for The Council of Susan (2026)