Editing Bernard Quatermass

{{short description|Fictional scientist}}
{{redirect|Quatermass}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox character
| name               = Bernard Quatermass
| image              = File:Quatermass 2 (1957) trailer - Brian Donlevy.png
| caption            = [[Brian Donlevy]] as Bernard Quatermass in ''[[Quatermass 2]]'' (1957)
| first              = ''[[The Quatermass Experiment]]'' (1953)
| last               = [[The Quatermass Experiment (2005)|''The Quatermass Experiment'' (remake)]] (2005)
| creator            = [[Nigel Kneale]]
| portrayer          = {{hlist|[[Reginald Tate]] (TV [[The Quatermass Experiment|1953]])<br>[[Brian Donlevy]] (Film [[The Quatermass Xperiment|1955]], [[Quatermass 2|1957]])<br>[[John Robinson (English actor)|John Robinson]] (TV [[Quatermass II|1955]])<br>[[André Morell]] (TV [[Quatermass and the Pit|1958–1959]])<br>[[Andrew Keir]] (Film [[Quatermass and the Pit (film)|1967]], BBC Radio [[The Quatermass Memoirs|
1996]])<br>[[John Mills]] (TV [[Quatermass (TV serial and film)|1979]])<br>[[Jason Flemyng]] (TV [[The Quatermass Experiment (2005)|2005]])}}
| occupation         = [[Aerospace engineer]]
| gender             = Male
| title              = Professor
| children           = Paula Carlson
| relatives          = Hettie Carlson (granddaughter)
}}

Professor '''Bernard Quatermass''' is a fictional scientist originally created by writer [[Nigel Kneale]] for [[BBC One|BBC Television]]. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the [[British space programme]], heading the British Experimental Rocket Group. He continually finds himself confronting sinister alien forces that threaten to destroy humanity.

The role of Quatermass was featured in three influential BBC [[science fiction on television|science fiction serials]] of the 1950s, and again in a final serial for [[Thames Television]] in 1979. A remake of the first serial appeared on [[BBC Four]] in 2005. The character also appeared in films, on the radio and in print over a fifty-year period. Kneale picked the character's unusual surname from a London telephone directory, while the first name was in honour of the astronomer [[Bernard Lovell]].

The character of Quatermass has been described by [[BBC News Online]] as Britain's first television hero,<ref name="knealeobit">{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6105578.stm |title=Quatermass creator dies, aged 84 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=1 November 2006 |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref> and by ''[[The Independent]]'' newspaper as "a brilliantly conceived and finely crafted creation{{nbsp}}... [He] remained a modern '[[Pilgrim's Progress#Characters|Mr Standfast]]', the one fixed point in an increasingly dreadful and ever-shifting universe".<ref name="indyobit">{{cite news|title=Nigel Kneale |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article1948184.ece |first=Jack |last=Adrian |work=[[The Independent]] |date=2 November 2006 |access-date=8 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128012507/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article1948184.ece |archive-date=28 November 2006}}</ref> In 2005, an article in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' suggested that the character shares other elements from other British heroes such as [[Sherlock Holmes]]<ref name="boffins">{{Cite news |last=McKay |first=Sinclair |date=19 March 2005 |title=A tale of British boffins |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3638947/A-tale-of-British-boffins.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604051119/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3638947/A-tale-of-British-boffins.html |archive-date=4 June 2011 |access-date=8 May 2007 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref>

==Character==
Little is revealed of Quatermass's early life during the course of the films and television series in which he appears. In ''[[The Quatermass Experiment]]'', he at one point despairs that he should have stuck to his original career as a [[Surveying|surveyor]].<ref name="quatexp1">{{cite episode |title=Persons Reported Missing |series=The Quatermass Experiment |series-link=The Quatermass Experiment |credits=Writer – [[Nigel Kneale]]; Producer/director – [[Rudolph Cartier]] |network=[[BBC One|BBC]] |location=London |airdate=1953-07-18}}</ref>

In Nigel Kneale's 1996 radio serial ''[[The Quatermass Memoirs]]'', it is revealed that the Professor was first involved in rocketry experiments in the 1930s, and that his wife died young.<ref name="memoirs1">{{cite episode |title=Episode 1 |series=The Quatermass Memoirs |series-link=The Quatermass Memoirs |credits=Writer – Nigel Kneale; Producer – Paul Quinn |network=[[BBC Radio 3]] |location=London |airdate=1996-03-04}}</ref> The unmade [[prequel]] serial ''Quatermass in the Third Reich'', an idea conceived by Kneale in the late 1990s, would have shown Quatermass travelling to [[Nazi Germany]] during the [[1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Berlin Olympics]] and becoming involved with [[Wernher von Braun]] and the German rocket programme, before helping a young [[Jewish]] refugee to escape from the country.<ref name="murray188">Murray, p. 188.</ref> According to ''The Quatermass Memoirs'', during [[World War II]] Quatermass conducted top secret work for the [[Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II|British war effort]], which he subsequently refused ever to discuss.<ref name="memoirs1"/>

By 1953 (in ''The Quatermass Experiment''), Quatermass is the head of the British Experimental Rocket Group, which has a programme to launch a crewed rocket into space from a base in Tarooma, Australia. Although Quatermass succeeds in launching a three-man crew, the rocket vastly overshoots its projected orbit and returns to Earth much later than planned, crash-landing in London.<ref name="quatexp1"/> Only one of the crew, Victor Carroon, remains; it transpires that he has been taken over by an alien presence, eventually forcing Quatermass to destroy him and the other two crewmembers who have been absorbed into him in a climax set in [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref name="quatexp6">{{cite episode |title=State of Emergency |series=The Quatermass Experiment |series-link=The Quatermass Experiment |credits=Writer – Nigel Kneale; Producer/director – Rudolph Cartier |network=BBC |location=London |airdate=1953-08-22}}</ref>

Despite this trauma, Quatermass continues with his space programme, now called the British Rocket Group, and by ''[[Quatermass II]]'' (1955) is actively planning the establishment of [[Colonization of the Moon|Moon bases]].<ref name="quatII1">{{cite episode|title=The Bolts|series=Quatermass II|series-link=Quatermass II|credits=Writer – Nigel Kneale; Producer/director – Rudolph Cartier |network=BBC |location=London |airdate=1955-10-22}}</ref> In this serial, his daughter, Paula Quatermass, works as an assistant at the Rocket Group, but there is no sign of a wife or other children. In the fourth episode of the serial he mentions that he never reached his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, tying in with ''The Quatermass Memoirs'' later assertion of his wife's early death.<ref name="quatII4">{{cite episode |title=The Coming |series=Quatermass II |series-link=Quatermass II |credits=Writer – Nigel Kneale; Producer/director – Rudolph Cartier |network=BBC |location=London |airdate=1955-11-12}}</ref>

At the beginning of the third serial, ''[[Quatermass and the Pit]]'' (1958–59), Quatermass's funding is being cut and the Rocket Group is being handed over to military control, much to his disgust.<ref name="quatpit1">{{cite episode |title=The Halfmen |series=Quatermass and the Pit |series-link=Quatermass and the Pit |credits=Writer – Nigel Kneale; Producer/director – Rudolph Cartier |network=BBC |location=London |airdate=1958-12-22}}</ref> Command is to be handed over to Colonel Breen, and Quatermass senses that he is being forced out: however, after the events of the serial, Breen is dead, Quatermass has helped to save the world and London is recovering from chaos.<ref name="quatpit6">{{cite episode |title=Hob |series=Quatermass and the Pit |series-link=Quatermass and the Pit |credits=Writer – Nigel Kneale; Producer/director – Rudolph Cartier |network=BBC |location=London |airdate=1959-01-26}}</ref>

It is not clear what happens to the Rocket Group immediately after this: the next time Quatermass is seen on screen (''[[Quatermass (TV serial and film)|Quatermass]]'', also released internationally as ''[[The Quatermass Conclusion]]'' and ''[[Quatermass IV]]'', 1979) he has long been retired, living in retreat in the [[Scottish Highlands]]. He has recently become the guardian of his teenaged granddaughter Hettie after her parents were killed in a road accident in Germany.<ref name="quat41">{{cite episode |title=Ringstone Round |series=Quatermass |series-link=Quatermass (TV serial and film) |credits=Writer – Nigel Kneale; Producer – [[Ted Childs]]; Director – [[Piers Haggard]] |network=[[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] |location=London |airdate=1979-10-24}}</ref> After Hettie runs away from home, he travels to London in search of her and finds a [[dystopia]]n world there. Quatermass and the scientist Joe Kapp establish that an alien probe is causing the collapse of society by feeding on the world's youth, and Quatermass forms a plan to drive the intruder away by the detonation of a nuclear bomb. He presses the button to detonate it himself, with Hettie's help, and they are killed in the blast as the planet is saved.<ref name="quat44">{{cite episode |title=An Endangered Species |series=Quatermass |series-link=Quatermass (TV serial and film) |credits=Writer – Nigel Kneale; Producer – Ted Childs; Director – Piers Haggard |network=ITV |location=London |airdate=1979-11-14}}</ref>

==Appearances==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Television
! scope="col" |Title
! scope="col" |Year
! scope="col" |Played by
! scope="col" |Notes
|-
| ''[[The Quatermass Experiment]]''
| 1953
| [[Reginald Tate]]
| Only two episodes of six exist
|-
| ''[[Quatermass II]]''
| 1955
| [[John Robinson (English actor)|John Robinson]]
| All six episodes exist
|-
| ''[[Quatermass and the Pit]]''
| 1958–59
| [[André Morell]]
| All six episodes exist
|-
| ''[[Quatermass (TV serial and film)|Quatermass]]''
| 1979
| [[John Mills]]
|Four-part TV series<br>
AKA ''Quatermass IV''<br>
recut into film ''The Quatermass Conclusion''
|-
| ''[[The Quatermass Experiment (2005)|The Quatermass Experiment]]''
| 2005
| [[Jason Flemyng]]
| TV film
Remake of the 1953 TV series, broadcast live
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Film
{{screen reader-only|! scope="col" {{!}}Title}}
{{screen reader-only|! scope="col" {{!}}Year}}
{{screen reader-only|! scope="col" {{!}}Played by}}
{{screen reader-only|! scope="col" {{!}}Notes}}
|-
| ''[[The Quatermass Xperiment]]''
| 1955
|rowspan="2"| [[Brian Donlevy]]
| Remake of the 1953 TV series
AKA ''The Creeping Unknown'' (USA)
|-
| ''[[Quatermass 2]]''
|1957
| Remake of the 1955 TV series
AKA ''Enemy From Space'' (USA)
|-
| ''[[Quatermass and the Pit (film)|Quatermass and the Pit]]''
| 1967
| [[Andrew Keir]]
| Remake of the 1958–59 TV series
AKA ''Five Million Years to Earth'' (USA)
|-
| ''[[Quatermass (TV serial and film)|The Quatermass Conclusion]]''
| 1979
| [[John Mills]]
| Recut of the 1979 TV series into a film
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Radio
{{screen reader-only|! scope="col" {{!}}Title}}
{{screen reader-only|! scope="col" {{!}}Year}}
{{screen reader-only|! scope="col" {{!}}Played by}}
{{screen reader-only|! scope="col" {{!}}Notes}}
|-
| ''[[The Quatermass Memoirs]]''
| 1996
| Andrew Keir
| Broadcast on BBC Radio 3
|}

==History==
Nigel Kneale conceived the character of Quatermass in 1953, when he was assigned in his capacity as a BBC television staff drama writer to create a new six-part serial to run on Saturday nights in July and August.<ref name="pixley3">Pixley, p. 3.</ref> Kneale initially named his leading character Professor Charlton,<ref name="murray28">Murray, p. 28.</ref> but during the writing process decided he wanted something more striking and memorable.<ref name="pixley5">Pixley, p. 5.</ref>

A native of the [[Isle of Man]], Kneale was inspired by the fact that surnames beginning with "Qu" were common on the island.<ref name="pixley6">Pixley, p. 6.</ref> The eventual name was picked from a London [[telephone directory]]; there was a family by that name who traded as [[Greengrocer|fruiterers]] in the city's [[East End of London|East End]].<ref name="pixley5"/> The surname has its origins as a measurement of land assigned in the division of England by the [[Normans]] following their conquest of the country under [[William I of England|William the Conqueror]] in 1066.<ref name="murray28"/> The Professor's first name, Bernard, was in honour of the astronomer [[Bernard Lovell]], founder of the [[Jodrell Bank Observatory]] in [[Cheshire]], England.<ref name="pixley6"/>

===On television (1950s)===
{{main|The Quatermass Experiment|Quatermass II|Quatermass and the Pit}}
The director assigned to the serial, which was eventually named ''The Quatermass Experiment'', was [[Rudolph Cartier]]. A few months beforehand he had directed a play entitled ''It Is Midnight, Dr. Schweitzer'' for the BBC, and he offered the role of Quatermass to one of the stars of that play, [[André Morell]].<ref name="murray28"/> Morell considered the offer but declined the part, which Cartier then offered to [[Reginald Tate]], another actor who had appeared in the play, who accepted.<ref name="murray28"/>

The serial was a success, with the [[British Film Institute]] later describing it as "one of the most influential series of the 1950s".<ref name="bfi">{{cite web |last=Collinson |first=Gavin |title=Quatermass Experiment, The (1953) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/471469/index.html |publisher=[[Screenonline]] |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref> The following year the BBC's Controller of Programmes, [[Cecil McGivern]]—who had initially feared that viewers would not accept such an unusual name for the leading character<ref name="pixley6"/>—noted in reference to the impending launch of the rival [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] network that: "Had competitive television been in existence then, we would have killed it every Saturday night while [''The Quatermass Experiment''] lasted. We are going to need ''many'' more 'Quatermass Experiment' programmes".<ref name="johnson21">Johnson, p. 21.</ref>

A sequel, ''[[Quatermass II]]'', was accordingly commissioned in 1955, but Reginald Tate died of a heart attack only a month before production was due to begin.<ref name="pixley1718">Pixley, pp. 17–18.</ref> With very little time to find a replacement, [[John Robinson (English actor)|John Robinson]] was picked as the only suitable actor available.<ref name="pixley1718"/> Robinson was uncomfortable about taking over from Tate and with some of the technical dialogue he was required to deliver, and his performance has been criticised as "robotic",<ref name="2book6">Hearn & Rigby, p. 6.</ref> although others such as Andrew Pixley in ''Time Screen Magazine'' have praised Robinson for doing compelling work after the initial episode of the serial.

By the summer of 1957, Kneale was working on the scripts for a third and final BBC serial.<ref name="pixley27">Pixley, p. 27.</ref> Titled ''Quatermass and the Pit'' and again produced and directed by Cartier, this was eventually broadcast in December 1958 and January 1959.<ref name="pixley47">Pixley, p. 47.</ref> John Robinson was no longer available to play Quatermass, so the role was offered instead to [[Alec Clunes]].<ref name="murray67">Murray, p. 67.</ref> Clunes turned down the part, and it was offered once more to André Morell, who this time accepted.<ref name="murray67"/> Morell has been praised by several reviewers as having given the definitive portrayal of Quatermass.<ref name="murray67"/><ref name="heaven">{{cite book |last=Sangster |first=Jim |author2=Paul Condon |chapter=The Quatermass series |title=TV Heaven |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |location=London |year=2005 |pages=596–601 |isbn=0-00-719099-9}}</ref> The serial itself has been praised by the [[bbc.co.uk|BBC's own website]] as "simply the first finest thing the BBC ever made. It justifies [[Television licence|licence fees]] to this day".<ref name="bbcdvd">{{cite web |title=Quatermass DVD |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/cult/2005/03/31/18177.shtml |publisher=[[bbc.co.uk]] |date=31 March 2005 |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref> Despite this success, Kneale was unsure about whether the character would ever return, later telling an interviewer: "I didn't want to go on repeating because Professor Quatermass had already saved the world from ultimate destruction three times, and that seemed to me to be quite enough".<ref name="pixley36">Pixley, p. 36.</ref>

Of the TV serials, ''Quatermass II'' and ''Quatermass and the Pit'' have been preserved in full. Only the first two episodes of ''The Quatermass Experiment'' now exist.

===In films===
{{main|The Quatermass Xperiment|Quatermass 2|Quatermass and the Pit (film)}}
[[File:Brian Donlevy 1955.jpg|thumb|upright|American actor [[Brian Donlevy]] portrays the titular character in the film adaptations ''[[The Quatermass Xperiment]]'' (1955) and ''[[Quatermass 2]]'' (1957).]]
At roughly the same time as ''Quatermass II'' was being transmitted by the BBC, [[Hammer Film Productions]] released its film adaptation of the first serial in British cinemas.<ref name="pixley21">Pixley, p. 21.</ref> Directed by [[Val Guest]], it was retitled ''[[The Quatermass Xperiment]]'' to capitalise on the British "X" classification<ref>{{cite web |title=The 1950s |url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/education-resources/student-guide/bbfc-history/1950s|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130111050858/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/education-resources/student-guide/bbfc-history/1950s|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 January 2013}}</ref> and starred American actor [[Brian Donlevy]] as part of a deal to help the film find US distribution.<ref name="murray45">Murray, p. 45.</ref> Kneale, who had little involvement with the film, was unimpressed with this casting: "I may have picked Quatermass's surname out of a phone book, but his first name was carefully chosen: Bernard, after Bernard Lovell, the creator of Jodrell Bank. Pioneer, ultimate questing man. Donlevy played him as a mechanic, a creature with a completely closed mind".<ref name="2book7">Hearn & Rigby, p. 7.</ref> Val Guest has praised Donlevy's performance, saying that "he gave it absolute reality".<ref name="kinsey35">Kinsey, p. 35.</ref>

Despite Kneale's reservations about the casting, ''The Quatermass Xperiment'' was the highest-grossing film Hammer had made up to that point in its history,<ref name="2book6"/> and has since been described by one academic as "the key British science fiction film of the 1950s".<ref name="hunter8">Hunter, p. 8.</ref> Hammer was keen to make an immediate follow-up, and wanted to use Quatermass in its 1956 film ''[[X the Unknown]]'', but Kneale refused Hammer the rights, and the company created its own substitute character, Doctor Adam Royston.<ref name="kinsey41">Kinsey, p. 41.</ref> Hammer did release an adaptation of ''Quatermass II'' in 1957, called ''[[Quatermass 2]]'' and this time with Kneale's involvement in the script.<ref name="kinsey50">Kinsey, p. 50.</ref> To the writer's displeasure, Donlevy returned as Quatermass.<ref name="kinsey50"/>

Hammer also purchased the film rights to ''[[Quatermass and the Pit (film)|Quatermass and the Pit]]'' (released in the US as ''Five Million Years to Earth''), as it had done with the previous two TV serials, although it did not release [[Quatermass and the Pit (film)|its version]] until 1967.<ref name="pixley39">Pixley, p. 39.</ref> This time the film was directed by [[Roy Ward Baker]] and starred Scottish actor [[Andrew Keir]], after Morell had been offered and declined the chance to play the part again.<ref name="murray95">Murray, p. 95.</ref> Keir's performance was well-received, particularly in contrast to Donlevy's portrayal. ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper wrote in 1997 that: "Keir also made many films{{nbsp}}... most gratifyingly, perhaps, the movie version of ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1967), when he finally replaced the absurdly miscast Brian Donlevy".<ref name="keirguard">{{cite news |last=Purser |first=Philip |title=Obituary: Formidable regular on the small screen: Andrew Keir |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=7 October 1997 |page=14}}</ref>

Soon after the release of the ''Quatermass and the Pit'' film, Kneale was approached by Hammer about writing a fourth Quatermass story directly for them, but the idea came to nothing.<ref name="pixley39"/>

Possible remakes of one or more of the Hammer film adaptations were also mooted at various points during the 1990s, with [[Dan O'Bannon]] scripting a potential new version of ''The Quatermass Experiment'' in 1993, but again nothing was eventually filmed.<ref name="murray183185">Murray, pp. 183–185.</ref> In February 2012 [[Simon Oakes (executive)|Simon Oakes]], president of the revived [[Hammer Films]], announced a new Quatermass film,<ref>{{cite web |last=Franklin |first=Garth |title=Hammer Films Reboot "Quartermass", Dracula? |url=http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/23051/hammer-films-reboot-quartermass-dracula |url-status=dead |publisher=[[Dark Horizons]] |date=12 February 2012 |access-date=15 February 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130121124848/http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/23051/hammer-films-reboot-quartermass-dracula |archive-date=21 January 2013}}</ref> but nothing came of the project after his announcement.

===On television (1970s onwards)===
{{main|Quatermass (TV serial and film)|The Quatermass Experiment (2005)}}
By the early 1970s Kneale was once again regularly writing for the BBC, which announced plans to produce a fourth ''Quatermass'' serial in 1972.<ref name="bbc4">{{cite news |last=Dunkley |first=Chris |title=Quatermass and Quixote in BBC drama plans |work=[[The Times]] |date=15 November 1972 |page=19}}</ref> This ultimately was not made by the BBC, but Kneale's scripts were produced in 1979 as a four-part serial for [[Thames Television]], titled ''[[Quatermass (TV serial and film)|Quatermass]]''.<ref name="q79">{{cite web |last=Duguid |first=Mark |title=Quatermass (1979) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/442672/index.html |publisher=[[Screenonline]] |access-date=31 January 2007}}</ref> This time [[John Mills]] played Quatermass in an expensive and high-profile production, which was screened on the ITV network.<ref name="murray140">Murray, p. 140.</ref> The production company [[Euston Films]] also released a 100-minute film version titled ''[[The Quatermass Conclusion]]'' or ''[[Quatermass IV]]'', for distribution abroad. There was, however, little interest among film distributors, and it received only a limited theatrical release.

Kneale was not keen to return to the character following this, telling one interviewer: "I blew him up{{nbsp}}... and I don't feel inclined to invent a 'Son of Quatermass' either".<ref name="pixley40">Pixley, p. 40.</ref> However, in the late 1990s he conceived an idea for a prequel serial, entitled ''Quatermass in the Third Reich'', set in Germany in the 1930s. The idea was submitted to the BBC, which turned it down.<ref name="murray188">Murray, p. 188.</ref>

[[File:Jason Flemyng MCM Primeval Panel DSC 1502 (8980775116) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jason Flemying]] portrays the titular character in the 2005 remake of ''The Quatermass Experiment''.]]
In 2005, the [[digital television]] channel [[BBC Four]] produced a new version of ''The Quatermass Experiment'', transmitted [[live television|live]] as the original had been.<ref name="remake">{{cite web |title=BBC FOUR to produce a live broadcast of the sci-fi classic, The Quatermass Experiment |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/03_march/03/quatermass.shtml |publisher=[[bbc.co.uk|BBC Press Office]] |date=3 March 2005 |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref> [[Jason Flemyng]] starred as Quatermass.<ref>{{cite web |title=In Pictures – The Quatermass Experiment |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/photogallery/quatermass_photogallery1.shtml |publisher=[[bbc.co.uk]] |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref> ''[[The Times]]''{{'}}s television reviewer, [[Sarah Vine]], commented of this production: "Jason Flemyng as Quatermass made a surprisingly good fist of things{{nbsp}}... the live performance lent the drama an edge that might have been lost in re-takes".<ref name="2005times">{{cite news |last=Vine |first=Sarah |author-link=Sarah Vine |title=A better class of property porn; Last night's TV |url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/film/article2426924.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106234410/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/film/article2426924.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 November 2014 |work=[[The Times]] |date=7 April 2005 |access-date=24 May 2007 |page=27}}</ref>

==In other media==
In addition to the character's various television and film appearances, Quatermass was also seen in a variety of other media between the 1950s and the 1990s. In 1955 Kneale was invited by the publishers of the ''[[Daily Express]]'' to write a new [[prose]] Quatermass story for serialisation in their newspaper; as he was unable to think of a new storyline, they suggested he simply adapt ''Quatermass II'', which he agreed to do.<ref name="pixley24">Pixley, p. 24.</ref> The serialisation ran in the ''Daily Express'' from 5 to 20 December 1955, although Kneale was forced to draw it to a rapid conclusion when the paper lost interest in the project and instructed him to complete the story as soon as possible.<ref name="pixley26">Pixley, p. 26.</ref>

A script book for ''The Quatermass Experiment'', including some photographs from the production, was released by [[Penguin Books]] in 1959.<ref name="pixley38">Pixley, p. 38.</ref> This was followed by similar releases of ''Quatermass II'' and ''Quatermass and the Pit'', both published in 1960.<ref name="pixley38"/> All three of these releases were reprinted by Arrow Books in 1979 with new introductions by Kneale, to tie-in with the television transmission of the fourth and final serial.<ref name="pixley39"/>

Arrow Books also released a [[novelisation]] of the 1979 ''Quatermass'' serial, written by Kneale.<ref name="murray138">Murray, p. 138.</ref> This was written during production, and contained many additional scenes and extra background detail not included in the original scripts. Kneale offered many of these new scenes to the producers of the television version, but by this stage it was too late for them to be incorporated.<ref name="murray138"/>

In 1995, [[BBC Radio]] producer Paul Quinn approached Kneale with the idea of making a new radio series about Quatermass, and the resulting project was produced and aired as the five-part serial ''[[The Quatermass Memoirs]]'' on [[BBC Radio 3]] in the spring of 1996.<ref name="cdnotes">{{cite book |last=Pixley |first=Andrew |title=The Quatermass Memoirs – sleeve notes |publisher=[[BBC Worldwide]] |location=London |year=2006 |isbn=1-84607-105-4}}</ref> The serial had three strands: a [[monologue]] from Kneale recounting the historical environment in which he created and wrote the original 1950s serials; archive material from the original productions and contemporary news broadcasts; and a dramatised strand set shortly before the 1979 serial, with Quatermass being visited in retreat in Scotland by a reporter eager to write his life story.<ref name="cdnotes"/> Of the actors who had previously played Quatermass, only Keir and Mills were still alive; Keir took the role, his final professional performance before his death the following year.<ref name="murray177">Murray, p. 177.</ref> ''The Quatermass Memoirs'' was repeated several times on [[digital radio]] station [[BBC7]] from 2003, and the serial was released on [[CD]] in 2006.<ref name="cdnotes"/>

A live [[theatre|theatrical]] production of ''Quatermass and the Pit'' was staged, with the permission of Kneale, outdoors in a [[quarry]] at the village of [[Cropwell Bishop]] in [[Nottinghamshire]] in August 1997. The adaptation was written by Peter Thornhill and mounted by Creation Productions, with David Longford starring as Quatermass.<ref name="pixley40"/>

All the various film and surviving television productions featuring Quatermass have been released on [[DVD]].<ref name="bbcdvd"/><ref name="moviedvds">{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Geoff |title=New videos |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article865133.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616023343/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article865133.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 June 2011 |work=[[The Times]] |location=London |date=23 April 2003 |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref>

==Themes==
Nigel Kneale explained in a 1990s interview the background that had led him to formulate Quatermass and the other characters of the original serial in 1953: "I wanted to write some strong characters, but I didn't want them to be like those horrible people in those awful American science fiction films, chewing gum and stating the obvious. Not that I wanted to do something terribly 'British', but I didn't like all the flag-waving you got in those films. I tried to get real human interest in the stories, and some good humour".<ref name="hunter50">Hunter, p. 50.</ref>

Writing in 2005, the television history lecturer Dr Catherine Johnson felt that in the original three 1950s serials, Quatermass as a character represented the championing of science and rationality over the supernatural and the fantastic: "As a leading scientific innovator, Quatermass is invested with scientific and [[moral authority]]. Over the three serials, this authority is tested and undermined{{nbsp}}... Despite this, the narrative structure of all three serials works to reinforce the authority invested in Quatermass and in science. Although scientific enterprise is responsible for disastrous consequences in the first two ''Quatermass'' serials, it is only through science that the alien invasions are overcome{{nbsp}}... He is invested with the narrative authority to understand and ''explain'' the fantastic events depicted".<ref name="johnson29">Johnson, p. 29.</ref>

The writer and critic [[Kim Newman]] went further, explaining in a 2003 television documentary on Nigel Kneale's career that he believed Quatermass to be not only a representation of science but of humanity itself. Referring to the conclusion of ''The Quatermass Experiment'', he commented: "It almost boils down to an editorial speech by Quatermass representing humanity, or the humane aspects of humanity. He talks to the monster, and so the monster is defeated by an intellectual argument or an emotional appeal".<ref name="tapes">{{cite episode |title=The Kneale Tapes |series=Timsehift |credits=Producer – Tom Ware; Executive Producer – Michael Poole |network=[[BBC Four]] |airdate=2003-10-15}}</ref> Like Kneale, he contrasted this to American science-fiction productions, where the alien adversary would be defeated by "it being blown up or electrocuted, or having the entire firepower of the army turned against it".<ref name="tapes"/> Hammer had altered their film version of the story so that the creature is in fact killed by being electrocuted.<ref name="kinsey32">Kinsey, p. 32.</ref>

In contrast to Newman's idea of Quatermass as the embodiment of humanity, writer and lecturer Peter Hutchings in his essay "We are the Martians" sees Quatermass as an isolated character: "In the 1950s Quatermass stories, Quatermass himself is someone who, while working to protect the nation, remains a curiously isolated figure, bereft of anything resembling a meaningful relationship. In the 1979 ''Quatermass'', he has acquired a granddaughter; possibly connected with this is the fact that here he seems a much weaker figure who can only defeat the aliens through the sacrifice of the lives of both himself and his granddaughter".<ref name="hunter39">Hunter, p. 39.</ref> Hutchings also compared this to American productions of the era: "The standard, if not clichéd, figures of the clean-cut square-jawed hero and his girl, which are present in some form or other in most US sf films of this period{{nbsp}}... are absent".<ref name="hunter39"/>

==Outside references==
===''Doctor Who''===
The BBC science-fiction series ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has often been heavily influenced by the various Quatermass serials,<ref name="sixties">{{cite book |last=Howe |first=David J. |author-link=David J. Howe |author2=Stammers, Mark |author3-link=Stephen James Walker |author3=Walker, Stephen James|title=Doctor Who: The Sixties |year=1992 |publisher=[[Virgin Publishing]] |edition=paperback |location=London |page=156 |isbn=0-86369-707-0 |author2-link=Mark Stammers}}</ref><ref name="ahistory">{{cite book|title=A History – An Unauthorised History of the Doctor Who Universe|first=Lance|last=Parkin|author-link=Lance Parkin|author2=Lars Pearson |location=[[Des Moines]]|year=2006|publisher=Mad Norwegian Press|page=93|isbn=0-9725959-9-6|author2-link=Lars Pearson}}</ref> and despite Kneale's dislike of it ("It sounded a terrible idea and I still think it was", he commented in 1986<ref name="door">{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/8504/kneal.htm|title=Nigel Kneale – Behind the Dark Door|publisher=The Quatermass Home Page|first=Andrew|last=Pixley|author2=Nigel Kneale |year=1986|access-date=9 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050817034159/http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/8504/kneal.htm|archive-date=17 August 2005}}</ref>) and his refusal to write for it,<ref name="stageobit">{{cite news|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/feature.php/15538/nigel-kneale|title=Nigel Kneale|first=Patrick|last=Newley|publisher=[[The Stage]]|date=5 January 2007|access-date=8 February 2007}}</ref> unofficial references to Quatermass have appeared in the programme and its spin-offs.

Serials directly influenced include ''[[The Web of Fear]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/weboffear/ | title= The Web of Fear}}</ref> ''[[The Invasion (Doctor Who)|The Invasion]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/invasion/ | title= The Invasion}}</ref> ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/spearheadfromspace/ | title= Spearhead from Space}}</ref> ''[[The Ambassadors of Death]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/ambassadorsofdeath/ | title= The Ambassadors of Death}}</ref> ''[[Inferno (Doctor Who)|Inferno]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/inferno/ | title= Inferno}}</ref> ''[[The Daemons]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/daemons/ | title= The Daemons}}</ref> ''[[The Seeds of Doom]]''<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/seedsofdoom/ | title= The Seeds of Doom}}</ref> and ''[[Image of the Fendahl]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/imageoffendahl/ | title= Image of the Fendahl}}</ref> as well as the 2007 "[[The Lazarus Experiment]]", which echoes the first serial's climax in Westminster Abbey, with the use of Southwark Cathedral. Former ''Doctor Who'' script editor and producer [[Derrick Sherwin]] admitted on a DVD documentary that the idea of setting more serials on contemporary Earth in the early 1970s was to recall a Quatermass feel. [[Neil Cross]], the writer of the 2013 ''Doctor Who'' episode "[[Hide (Doctor Who)|Hide]]", has stated in interviews that when he was working on his initial ideas for the episode, he took inspiration from the Quatermass serials, and even intended for the character of Bernard Quatermass to appear in the story.<ref name="SFX Cross">{{cite web|first=Stephen|last=Jewell|url=https://www.gamesradar.com/doctor-who-hide-writer-neil-cross-interviewed/|title=Doctor Who "Hide" Writer Neil Cross Interviewed|work=[[SFX (magazine)|SFX]]|date=16 April 2013|access-date=17 September 2013}}</ref> However, it was not possible to gain copyright clearance to use the character.<ref name="SFX Cross"/>

In episode three of the 1988 serial ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks]]'', which is set in 1963, military scientific advisor Alison Williams remarks to her colleague Dr Rachel Jensen, "I wish Bernard was here". Rachel replies, "British Rocket Group's got its own problems".<ref>{{cite episode | title = Remembrance of the Daleks – Part Three | episode-link = Remembrance of the Daleks | series = Doctor Who | series-link = Doctor Who | credits = Writer – [[Ben Aaronovitch]]; Director – Andrew Morgan; Producer – [[John Nathan-Turner]] | network = [[BBC One]] | location = [[London]] | airdate = 19 October 1988}}</ref> The 2005 ''Doctor Who'' episode "[[The Christmas Invasion]]" also featured a British Rocket Group, although the organisation was identifiable only by a logo not clearly seen on screen and never referred to in dialogue. It was, however, heavily referenced in a tie-in website for the episode created by the [[bbc.co.uk]] ''Doctor Who'' webteam.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Christmas Special: The Christmas Invasion|first=Andrew|last=Pixley|journal=Doctor Who Magazine – Series Two Companion|date=6 November 2006|pages= 12–21|issue=Special Edition 14}}</ref> In 2009 television episode "[[Planet of the Dead]]", "Bernard" is used as the name for a unit of measurement, and it is explained that this is in reference to Quatermass—whether as a fictional or a real person is not stated.

The 1994 ''Doctor Who'' novel ''[[Nightshade (Gatiss novel)|Nightshade]]'' is about an actor who starred in a thinly disguised version of Quatermass,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/nightshade/chapter1.shtml |title=Nightshade – Chapter One |first=Mark |last=Gatiss |author-link=Mark Gatiss |publisher=[[bbc.co.uk]] |access-date=12 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309221124/http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/nightshade/chapter1.shtml |archive-date=9 March 2008}}</ref> discovering that the events of the serials are becoming reality. The fictional Professor Nightshade was also mentioned in subsequent novels. Author [[Mark Gatiss]] described the ''Nightshade'' serial in his notes accompanying the e-book release as "a TV series that isn't quite ''Quatermass'' and isn't quite ''Doctor Who''", adding "I was utterly obsessed by Quatermass at that time".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/nightshade/notes.shtml|title=Nightshade – Notes|first=Mark|last=Gatiss|author-link=Mark Gatiss|publisher=[[bbc.co.uk]]|access-date=12 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080123045721/http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/nightshade/notes.shtml|archive-date=23 January 2008}}</ref>

The 1997 ''Doctor Who'' novel ''[[The Dying Days]]'', set in its year of release, features in one chapter an elderly character introduced halfway through a sentence as "-ermass", and subsequently referred to as "Professor" and "Bernard" during his brief appearance.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/Doctor_Who_-_The_Eight_061_-_The_Dying_Days/Doctor%20Who%20-%20The%20Eight%20061%20-%20The%20Dying%20Days#page/n17/mode/2up|title=The Dying Days – Chapter Two – Page 19|first=Lance|last=Parkin|author-link=Lance Parkin|publisher=[[bbc.co.uk]]|access-date=6 November 2015}}</ref> Author [[Lance Parkin]] confirmed in his notes accompanying the later [[e-book]] release that this was a deliberate cameo from Quatermass, specifically the John Mills version from the final serial.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/Doctor_Who_-_The_Eight_061_-_The_Dying_Days/Doctor%20Who%20-%20The%20Eight%20061%20-%20The%20Dying%20Days#page/n123/mode/2up|title=The Dying Days – Author Notes – Chapter Two – Page 126|first=Lance|last=Parkin|author-link=Lance Parkin|publisher=[[bbc.co.uk]]|access-date=6 November 2015}}</ref> In the 2008 ''Doctor Who'' novel ''[[Beautiful Chaos (Russell novel)|Beautiful Chaos]]'', the Doctor briefly mentions being invited to the Royal Planetary Society by "Bernard and Paula".

===Parodies and homages===
The 1956 British science fiction horror film, ''[[X the Unknown]]'', made by [[Hammer Film Productions]], was originally intended to be sequel to ''[[The Quatermass Xperiment]]'', but when Kneale refused permission for Quatermass to be used in the film, the character was changed to Atomic Energy scientist, Dr. Adam Royston ([[Dean Jagger]]).<ref name="quatermass">{{cite book|title=The Quatermass Collection&nbsp;– Viewing Notes|last=Pixley|first=Andrew|year=2005|publisher=[[BBC Worldwide]]|id= BBCDVD1478|page=18}}</ref>

In February 1959 the BBC radio comedy series ''[[The Goon Show]]'' broadcast a parody of ''Quatermass and the Pit'', entitled "The Scarlet Capsule". [[Harry Secombe]] played his regular character in ''The Goon Show'', [[Neddie Seagoon]], in turn playing "Professor Ned Cratermess, [[Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|OBE]]".<ref name="pixley37">Pixley, p. 37.</ref> This was followed later in the same year by a spoof on another BBC radio comedy show, ''That Man Chester'', which launched a regular strand entitled "The Quite-a-Mess Three Saga", with [[Deryck Guyler]] as "Professor Quite-a-Mess".<ref name="pixley37"/> However, the "Quite-a-Mess" name and references were dropped after only three of the episodes under pressure from Kneale, who felt a 13-week spoof would be to the detriment of the original character.<ref name="pixley38"/>

In the early 1970s, a British [[progressive rock]] group named both [[Quatermass (band)|themselves]] and [[Quatermass (album)|their first album]] "Quatermass".<ref>{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p20020|pure_url=yes}}|title=Quatermass|first=Andy|last=Kellman|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref>

A television spoof appeared in a 1986 episode of the BBC [[sketch show]] ''[[The Two Ronnies]]'', which featured a sketch entitled "It Came From Outer Hendon", written by [[David Renwick]]. This spoof starred [[Ronnie Corbett]] as "Professor Martin Cratermouse".<ref name="pixley40"/>

Quatermass also appears in a short segment of the 2007 graphic novel ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier]]'', in which he takes his niece and nephew to visit an interplanetary zoo. Here he is identified as Uncle Bernard.<ref>[http://www.enjolrasworld.com/Jess%20Nevins/Black%20Dossier/dossier.html The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier Annotations], ''[[Jess Nevins]]''</ref>

[[Andrew Marshall (screenwriter)|Andrew Marshall]] and [[Rob Grant]], produced, directed, and wrote the 2018→2020 [[BBC Radio 4]] twelve-episode series "[[The Quanderhorn Xperimentations]]"<ref>[[BBC Radio 4]]: Quanderhorn, episode guide [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b8cx2z/episodes/guide]</ref> starring [[James Fleet]] as Prof. Darius Quanderhorn — a brilliant, but ruthless scientist keeping the world locked in the year 1952 for 65 years, with almost no-one noticing — in an absurdist parody of and homage to the ''Quatermass'' films and television series.<ref>[https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/the_quanderhorn_xperimentations/interview/rob_grant_and_andrew_marshall/ The Quanderhorn Xperimentations: Andrew Marshall and Rob Grant Interview]</ref> Also, they created a novel of the same name released by [[Victor Gollancz Ltd|Gollancz Publishers]].<ref>[https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/rob-grant/quanderhorn-xperimentations.htm The Quanderhorn Xperimentations: FantasticFiction.com]</ref>

[[Woody Allen]]'s spoof of the [[science fiction]] genre exemplified by the Quatermass works, ''The Kugelmass Episode'', features as protagonist a "Professor Kugelmass".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Allen |first1=Woody |title=The Kugelmass Episode |url=https://docs.google.com/document/preview?hgd=1&id=1NqB7hfxWrJeA_OjNUP0HTRyRacd2GpS-Mm9YLKrifP8 |access-date=13 January 2022}}</ref>

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Hearn|first=Marcus|author2=Rigby, Jonathan |year=2003|type=paperback|title=Quatermass 2 – Viewing Notes|location=North Harrow, London |publisher=DD Video|id=DD06155|pages=24 pages}}
* {{cite book|title=British Science Fiction Cinema|editor-first=I. Q.|editor-last=Hunter|year=1999|type=paperback|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/britishsciencefi0000unse/page/218 218 pages]|isbn=0-415-16868-6|url=https://archive.org/details/britishsciencefi0000unse/page/218}}
* {{cite book|title=Telefantasy|url=https://archive.org/details/telefantasy0000john/page/182|url-access=registration|first=Catherine|last=Johnson|year=2005|type=paperback|location=London|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/telefantasy0000john/page/182 182 pages]|isbn=1-84457-076-2}}
* {{cite book|title=Hammer Films – The Bray Studios Years|first=Wayne|last=Kinsey|year=2002|type=paperback|publisher=Reynolds & Hearn Ltd|location=Richmond, London |isbn=1-903111-11-0|pages=368 pages}}
* {{cite book | last=Murray | first=Andy | title=Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale | year=2006 | type=paperback | location=London | publisher=Headpress | isbn=1-900486-50-4 | pages=192 pages}}
* {{cite book|title=The Quatermass Collection – Viewing Notes|last=Pixley|first=Andrew|year=2005|type=paperback|location=London|publisher=[[BBC Worldwide]]|id= BBCDVD1478|pages=48 pages}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/quatermass.shtml ''The Quatermass Experiment''] at [[bbc.co.uk]].
* [http://www.quatermass.org.uk Quatermass.org.uk – Nigel Kneale & Quatermass Appreciation Site]
* [http://www.geocities.ws/linwood//cine/Cinema%20Britain1/quatermass.html The Quatermass Trilogy – A Controlled Paranoia]
{{Quatermass}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quatermass, Bernard}}
[[Category:Television characters introduced in 1953]]
[[Category:Quatermass]]
[[Category:Fictional aerospace engineers]]
[[Category:Science fiction characters]]
[[Category:Fictional British people]]