View source for Quatermass II

{{Short description|1955 British TV science-fiction serial}}
{{About|the original TV series|the Hammer film remake|Quatermass 2}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox television
| image              = Quat201.JPG
| caption            = Title card for ''Quatermass II''
| camera             = [[Multiple-camera setup|Multi-camera]]
| runtime            = Approx. 30 minutes per episode
| creator            = [[Nigel Kneale]]
| producer           = [[Rudolph Cartier]]
| developer          =
| executive_producer = 
| starring           = [[John Robinson (English actor)|John Robinson]]<br />Monica Grey<br />[[Hugh Griffith]]<br />[[John Stone (actor)|John Stone]]
| narrated           = 
| opentheme          = "[[The Planets|Mars, Bringer of War]]" by [[Gustav Holst]]
| endtheme           = 
| country            = United Kingdom
| network            = [[BBC One|BBC]]
| first_aired        = {{start date|1955|10|22|df=y}}
| last_aired         = {{end date|1955|11|26|df=y}}
| num_episodes       = 6
| related            = {{Plainlist|
* ''[[The Quatermass Experiment]]''
* ''[[Quatermass and the Pit]]'' 
}} 
}}
'''''Quatermass II''''' is a British [[Science fiction on television|science fiction]] [[Serial (radio and television)|serial]], originally broadcast by [[BBC One|BBC Television]] in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the ''[[The Quatermass Experiment|Quatermass]]'' series by writer [[Nigel Kneale]], and the oldest of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives.

The serial sees [[Bernard Quatermass|Professor Bernard Quatermass]] of the British Experimental Rocket Group being asked to examine strange [[meteorite]] showers. His investigations lead to his uncovering a conspiracy involving [[Extraterrestrial life|alien]] infiltration at the highest levels of the British government. As even some of Quatermass's closest colleagues fall victim to the alien influence, he is forced to use his own unsafe rocket prototype, which recently caused a nuclear disaster at an Australian testing range, to prevent the aliens from taking over mankind.

Although sometimes compared unfavourably to the first and third ''Quatermass'' serials,<ref name="bbcdvd">{{cite web |url=http://bbc.adactio.com/cult/news/cult/2005/03/31/18177.shtml |title=Quatermass DVD |publisher=[[bbc.co.uk]] |date=2005-03-31 |access-date=2007-02-04}}</ref> ''Quatermass II'' was praised for its allegorical concerns of the damaging effects of [[industrialisation]] and the corruption of governments by [[big business]].<ref name="heaven">{{cite book |title=TV Heaven |first1=Jim |last1=Sangster |last2=Condon |first2=Paul |year=2005 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |location=London |chapter=The Quatermass series |pages=596–601 |isbn=978-0-00-719099-7}}</ref> It is described on the [[British Film Institute]]'s [[Screenonline]] website as "compulsive viewing".<ref name="screenonline">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/441212/index.html |title=Quatermass II |first=Mark |last=Duguid |publisher=[[Screenonline]] |access-date=2007-02-04}}</ref>

== Casting and crew ==
[[Reginald Tate]], who had played the title role in ''The Quatermass Experiment'', collapsed and died on 23 August 1955, aged 58.<ref name="tate">{{cite news |title=Mr. Reginald Tate – Versatile Actor |work=[[The Times]] |date=1955-08-25 |page=13}}</ref> This was less than a month before the shooting of the location filming for ''Quatermass II'' began, and necessitated the casting of a replacement lead actor at short notice; [[John Robinson (English actor)|John Robinson]] was chosen to fill the part.<ref name="dvdnotes18">Pixley, p. 18.</ref> Robinson was an experienced actor from a range of different films and television programmes since the 1930s,<ref name="imdb1">{{IMDb name|0732754|John Robinson (I)}}</ref> but was uncomfortable about taking over from Tate, and had difficulty in learning some of the technical dialogue he was required to deliver.<ref name="dvdnotes21"/> Robinson's delivery of his lines has been criticised by some later reviewers.<ref name="heaven"/>

Appearing as Quatermass's chief assistant Dr Leo Pugh was Welsh actor [[Hugh Griffith]], who had been an actor on stage and screen since the 1930s,<ref name="hugh1">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/halloffame/showbiz/hughgriffith.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031016195400/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/halloffame/showbiz/hughgriffith.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 October 2003 |title=Hugh Griffith |publisher=[[BBC Wales]] |access-date=2007-02-04}}</ref> but gained his highest profile roles after ''Quatermass II''; he went on to win the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]] as Sheikh Ilderim in ''[[Ben-Hur (1959 film)|Ben-Hur]]'' (1959).<ref name="hugh2">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/497454/index.html |title=Griffith, Hugh (1912–1980) |first=Brian |last=McFarlane |publisher=[[Screenonline]] |access-date=2007-02-04}}</ref> He also appeared in ''[[Lucky Jim (1957 film)|Lucky Jim]]'' (1957) and ''[[Oliver! (film)|Oliver!]]'' (1968).<ref name="hugh2"/>

Monica Grey played Paula Quatermass;<ref name="imdb2">{{IMDb name|0340642|Monica Grey}}</ref> she was chosen by BBC management rather than the production team, as she was the wife of the BBC's head of [[radio drama]], [[Val Gielgud]].<ref name="dvdnotes18"/> As Hugh Griffith also had problems with some of his technical dialogue, Grey learned his lines as well as her own, in case she needed to step in and assist him during the live performance.<ref name="murray50">Murray, p. 50.</ref> Dillon was played by [[John Stone (actor)|John Stone]]; Stone too had a long career as a supporting actor in a range of British television series, and in 1956 had a small role in the film ''[[X the Unknown]]'',<ref name="imdb3">{{IMDb name|0831959|John Stone}}</ref> which [[Hammer Film Productions]] had intended as a sequel to [[The Quatermass Xperiment|their version of]] ''The Quatermass Experiment'', until Kneale denied them the rights to use the character.<ref name="murray53">Murray, p. 53.</ref>

Four actors who each became well known for a particular role on British television had supporting parts in ''Quatermass II''. [[Rupert Davies]] who played MP Vincent Broadhead would go on to find fame as Sûreté detective Commissaire Jules [[Maigret]], the title character of 1960s TV series ''[[Maigret (1960 TV series)|Maigret]]'', based on [[Georges Simenon]]'s novels. [[Roger Delgado]], who originated the role of [[Master (Doctor Who)|the Master]] in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' (1971–73), played a journalist who helps Quatermass before falling victim to "the mark" in episode four.<ref name="screenonline"/> [[Wilfrid Brambell]], later star of the [[sitcom]] ''[[Steptoe and Son]]'' (1962–74), appeared as a [[Vagrancy (people)|tramp]].<ref name="imdb4">{{IMDb name|0104183|Wilfrid Brambell}}</ref> and [[Melvyn Hayes]], who played the small role of Frankie, later worked in several films with [[Cliff Richard]] and starred in the BBC sitcom "[[It Ain't Half Hot Mum]]".<ref name="imdb5">{{IMDb name|0371156|Melvyn Hayes}}</ref>

Nigel Kneale not only wrote the serial but, previously an actor, had two speaking parts. He played the voice heard over the factory [[loudspeaker]] system in episode five, and [[narrator|narrated]] the [[:wikt:recapitulation|recaps]] at the beginning of episodes two, three, four and six.<ref name="dvdnotes23"/> Kneale went on to write [[feature film]] screenplays such as ''[[Look Back in Anger (1959 film)|Look Back in Anger]]'' (1958) and ''[[First Men in the Moon (1964 film)|First Men in the Moon]]'' (1964), as well as continuing to write for television, including two further ''Quatermass'' serials, until 1997.<ref name="knealescreen">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/458926/index.html |title=Kneale, Nigel (1922–2006) |first=Sergio |last=Angelini |publisher=[[Screenonline]] |access-date=2007-02-04}}</ref>

Kneale credited the director Rudolph Cartier with bringing to the screen in ''Quatermass II'', with its ambitious location filming, an expansive style that had not been seen in British television drama beforehand.<ref name="conv"/> Cartier worked with Kneale again on the third ''Quatermass'' serial, ''[[Quatermass and the Pit]]'', in 1958, and had subsequent successes with plays such as ''[[Anna Karenina]]'' (1961), ''Cross of Iron'' (1961) and ''Lee Oswald – Assassin'' (1966).<ref name="cartscreen">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/1181098/index.html |title=Cartier, Rudolph (1904–94) |first=Oliver |last=Wake |publisher=[[Screenonline]] |access-date=2007-02-04}}</ref> He continued directing for television until the 1970s.<ref name="cartscreen"/>

== Episodes ==
{{Episode table |background=#812f09 |overall= |title= |director= |writer= |airdate= |prodcode= |viewers= |country=U.K. |episodes=
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber   = 1
| Title           = The Bolts
| DirectedBy      = Rudolph Cartier
| WrittenBy       = Nigel Kneale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1955|10|22|df=y}}
| ProdCode        = T/2041
| Viewers         = 7.9m
| ShortSummary    = [[Meteorite]]s are falling over [[Northern England]], one of which is observed by an Army [[radar]] unit. After a farmer finds one of the objects in a field, the soldiers become directly involved, and Captain Johnny Dillon decides to unofficially ask the father of his fiancée, Paula, to investigate. Paula's father is Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group – "the rocket man!", as one of Dillon's troops puts it. Quatermass and the Rocket Group, now including Paula and mathematical genius Dr. Leo Pugh, are recovering from the news that one of the two [[nuclear thermal rocket|nuclear]] Quatermass II [[rocket]]s has exploded during a ground test in Australia, killing hundreds of staff and ending their project to build permanent bases on the Moon.

Quatermass agrees to accompany Dillon on an investigation and the pair visit the farmer, who refuses to talk and sends them away. At a pub, they find out that the nearby village of Winnerden Flats has been leveled to build an enormous industrial plant protected by armed guards, which is identical to Quatermass' moonbase design. Upon investigating a newly fallen meteorite, Dillon is sprayed with [[ammonia]] gas from it, and a distinctive mark appears on his face.
| LineColor       = #812f09
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber   = 2
| Title           = The Mark
| DirectedBy      = Rudolph Cartier
| WrittenBy       = Nigel Kneale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1955|10|29|df=y}}
| ProdCode        = T/2043
| Viewers         = 7.9m
| ShortSummary    = Similarly 'marked' armed guards arrive from the plant and take Dillon away. Whilst being taken Dillon threateningly tells Quatermass not to follow. After the guards' departure Quatermass speaks with a tramp, who explains that there used to be a small government research unit consisting of a few huts by Winnerden Flats, and that a year ago they expanded and bulldozed the village, and built the plant and a [[prefabricated home|prefab]] town for the construction workers. At the prefab town, Quatermass sees that 'the mark' and strange behaviour are associated with those who find the fallen meteorites, but before he can find out more the community police order him away.

Quatermass returns to the Rocket Group, where Leo has reconstructed the meteorite, which can carry ammonia and other gases and travel through the [[Atmosphere of Earth|atmosphere]] to the ground in one piece. In London, the [[Metropolitan Police]] claim they have no jurisdiction over the matter, so he goes to his contact Fowler at the ministry, who reveals that the plant is a top secret project to make synthetic food, but Vincent Broadhead [[Member of Parliament|MP]], who is conducting an inquiry into the project, reveals that there are identical plants in [[Brazil]] and [[Siberia]]. Upon gaining entry to the inquiry, Quatermass notices that one of the [[civil servant]]s has 'the mark'.
| LineColor       = #812f09
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber   = 3
| Title           = The Food
| DirectedBy      = Rudolph Cartier
| WrittenBy       = Nigel Kneale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1955|11|5|df=y}}
| ProdCode        = T/2044
| Viewers         = 7.9m
| ShortSummary    = As he tries to investigate further, Quatermass finds that other figures in high levels of government have gained 'the mark' after coming across meteorites. Quatermass leaves the inquiry, then returns with Fowler to find that Broadhead has been 'marked' and now claims there is no problem with the project. Fowler takes Quatermass to meet with civil servant Rupert Ward, who has the authority to inspect the plant. Back at the Rocket Group, Leo and Paula deduce and discover with a radio telescope that an [[asteroid]] is orbiting the Earth invisibly and discharging the meteorites when it reaches the near point, 400 000 miles over Southern England every 14 hours.

Ward helps Quatermass and Fowler gain entry to the plant and they find that Dillon has been discharged from the infirmary and has left. They then look around and discover that gases are pumped to the giant pressure domes from the pilot plant: ammonia, [[hydrogen]], [[nitrogen]] and [[methane]], as opposed to [[oxygen]] as in Quatermass' moonbase pressure dome idea. Meanwhile, the guards intimidate and then murder a family who were having a picnic nearby. Back at the plant, Ward slips away to look inside a dome, and Quatermass and Fowler find him stumbling out of it dying and covered in black slime, which before his death Ward reveals was inside the dome instead of food. Fowler and Quatermass escape back to the Rocket Group and analyse Ward's tie with Leo and Paula, finding that the slime is a [[corrosive]], poisonous substance, fatal to all forms of life on Earth. Meanwhile, the asteroid is approaching its near point.
| LineColor       = #812f09
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber   = 4
| Title           = The Coming
| DirectedBy      = Rudolph Cartier
| WrittenBy       = Nigel Kneale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1955|11|12|df=y}}
| ProdCode        = T/2045
| Viewers         = 8.3m
| ShortSummary    = Quatermass deduces that an alien life-form which comes from [[Titan (moon)|one of the moons]] of [[Saturn]], which lives on ammonia, hydrogen and methane, but to which oxygen is a deadly poison, travels to earth in the meteorites, and in the few seconds they spend out of their shells before dying they possess human minds, and transmit knowledge to each other in a [[collective consciousness]]. From this, they assume that it was the population of Winnderden Flats itself who demolished the village and built the plant. Quatermass decides that they can use the remaining Quatermass II rocket like a nuclear bomb and destroy the asteroid, much to Leo's protest at the rocket being unsafe to fly. Fowler tries to steal information about the other plants from the ministry, but is overcome and possessed by a makeshift meteorite hidden inside a filing cabinet.

That night Quatermass travels with journalist Hugh Conrad to the prefab town where they meet with construction workers who say that work has been suspended for all except the 'zombies' ('marked' people). They claim that the meteorites are only over-shots from the plant after one of them lands in a pub. These recent meteorites are falling in hundreds and being collected by special guard teams then returned to the plant. Quatermass steals a guard's uniform from a lorry to gain entry to the plant. As he does this Conrad returns to the pub to telephone his newspaper and reveal everything about the secret alien invasion, but he becomes 'marked' before he can finish. The construction workers, however, hear what he says and decide to take action. Meanwhile, Quatermass is inside a pressure dome, where he sees guards putting meteorites into the tanks of poisonous slime that killed Ward, where together, in the recreated atmosphere of a distant world, they combine and grow into the first of the enormous [[ammonia|ammonid]] alien creatures.
| LineColor       = #812f09
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber   = 5
| Title           = The Frenzy
| DirectedBy      = Rudolph Cartier
| WrittenBy       = Nigel Kneale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1955|11|19|df=y}}
| ProdCode        = T/2046
| Viewers         = 8.3m
| ShortSummary    = Quatermass is narrowly saved from discovery by the rioting construction workers, who storm the plant and along with him are [[siege|besieged]] inside the gas distribution centre, where they pump oxygen into the completed pressure dome to poison the ammonids, however some of the workers succumb to propaganda from the plant controllers, who offer them the chance to see inside the dome. The guards kill them by blocking the pipe with their bodies. In anger, the remaining workers fire on the dome with a [[bazooka]], igniting the hydrogen and subsequently destroying the entire plant, killing the ammonids and releasing ammonia gas into the surrounding area.

Quatermass escapes the plant in a [[gas mask]] and meets up with Leo, whom he finds unconscious in his car nearby. With little time left to prevent more ammonids returning in meteorites, he and Leo are forced to use the Quatermass II to attempt to destroy the asteroid, despite the known flaws in the rocket's design and its liability to explode. They return to the Rocket Group, but [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|British Paratroopers]] led by Johnny Dillon take control of the firing base.
| LineColor       = #812f09
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber   = 6
| Title           = The Destroyers
| DirectedBy      = Rudolph Cartier
| WrittenBy       = Nigel Kneale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1955|11|26|df=y}}
| ProdCode        = T/2047
| Viewers         = 9.0m
| ShortSummary    = The team invite Dillon up to the control room, where they see he has written orders from [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|the very top]], showing that the ammonids have long been in control of the government. They appeal to his human side to allow them to continue, which he does so after Leo tells him the rocket must launch. Despite both being old and unfit, Quatermass and Leo are the only two who have the scientific knowledge to make such a flight. They fly to the asteroid and land on it, but en route Quatermass finds out that the night the plant exploded Leo was possessed by the ammonids.

Leo intends to kill Quatermass to prevent the destruction of the asteroid, and also to allow the ammonids to travel back to Earth en masse in the Quatermass II. He tries to kill Quatermass with a gun, but the [[recoil]] sends him floating helplessly off into space. Quatermass returns to the rocket and jettisons the nuclear motor, then flies the rocket back to Earth as the motor blows up the asteroid, killing the remaining ammonids and relinquishing control over Dillon and all the 'marked' humans, returning mankind to its former freedom.
| LineColor       = #812f09
}}
}}

== Production ==
On 22 September 1955 the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] network was launched in the UK, bringing [[Commercial broadcasting|commercial television]] to Britain for the first time and ending the [[BBC]]'s broadcasting [[monopoly]] in the country.<ref name="onthisday">{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/22/newsid_3131000/3131477.stm |title=1955: New TV channel ends BBC monopoly |publisher=[[BBC News Online]] |access-date=2007-02-04 | date=1955-09-22}}</ref> The new network's creation had been established by the [[Television Act 1954]],<ref name="tvact">{{cite web |url=http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/Oftel/publications/news/on61/5min0903.htm |title=Oftel's five-minute guide to the history of telecommunications regulation in the UK |first=Peter |last=Walker |publisher=[[Ofcom]] |access-date=2007-02-04 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930024136/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/Oftel/publications/news/on61/5min0903.htm |archive-date = 30 September 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and the BBC had known in advance that it would need programmes to combat the new rival for television audiences. Referring to the 1953 science-fiction serial ''[[The Quatermass Experiment]]'' in a memo written in 1954, BBC Television's Controller of Programmes, [[Cecil McGivern]], noted 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="mcgivern">Quoted in {{cite book |title=Telefantasy |url=https://archive.org/details/telefantasy0000john |url-access=registration |first=Catherine |last=Johnson |year=2005 |location=London |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/telefantasy0000john/page/21 21] |isbn=978-1-84457-076-8}}</ref>

Having recently signed a two-year extension to his BBC staff writer's contract,<ref name="dvdnotes16">Pixley, p. 16.</ref> Nigel Kneale was specifically commissioned to write a sequel to ''The Quatermass Experiment'' in early 1955 to challenge the new ITV network.<ref name="dvdnotes16"/><ref name="mobc">{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/Q/htmlQ/quartermass/quartermass.htm |title=Quatermass |first=Robert |last=Dickinson |publisher=[[Museum of Broadcast Communications]] |access-date=2007-02-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302221228/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/Q/htmlQ/quartermass/quartermass.htm |archive-date=2 March 2007}}</ref> Kneale was inspired by contemporary fears over secret [[UK Ministry of Defence]] research establishments such as [[Porton Down]], and also by being required, as a BBC staff member, to sign the [[Official Secrets Act]].<ref name="dvdnotes16"/> As with ''The Quatermass Experiment'', ''Quatermass II'' was produced and directed by [[Rudolph Cartier]]; he and Kneale particularly enjoyed working together.<ref name="conv">{{cite video |people=[[Nigel Kneale]] |date=2005 |title=Cartier & Kneale in Conversation |postscript= Documentary using archive interview material. Extra feature on ''The Quatermass Collection'' set |medium=[[DVD]] |publisher=[[BBC Worldwide]]}}</ref> Since the first ''Quatermass'' serial, the two men had collaborated on the literary adaptations ''[[Wuthering Heights (1953 film)|Wuthering Heights]]'' (1953) and ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four (UK TV programme)|Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' (1954), and on Kneale's [[Yeti|abominable snowman]] play ''The Creature'' (1955).<ref name="cartiercreds">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/1181098/credits.html |title=Cartier, Rudolph (1904–94) – Film & TV credits |publisher=[[Screenonline]] |access-date=2007-02-04}}</ref>

''Quatermass II'' comprised six half-hour episodes, transmitted [[live television|live]] from Studio G at the BBC's [[Lime Grove Studios]] in London.<ref name="dvdnotes22">Pixley, p. 22.</ref> The episodes – individually subtitled "The Bolts", "The Mark", "The Food", "The Coming", "The Frenzy" and "The Destroyers" – were shown every Saturday night at 8 p.m. from 22 October to 26 November 1955; because of the live nature of the performances, most of the episodes overran their allotted half-hour slots slightly.<ref name="dvdnotes23">Pixley, p. 23.</ref> Each episode was [[rehearsal|rehearsed]] on the Monday to Friday before transmission at Mansergh Woodall Boys Club in [[St John's Wood]], London, and then camera rehearsed in studio for most of the day on the Saturday.<ref name="dvdnotes21">Pixley, p. 21.</ref>

Not every scene was performed live; because of the increased budget – £7,552 was spent on the serial,<ref name="money">£131,555.84 in 2007 figures, according to the [[The National Archives (UK)|National Archives]] [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/ currency converter tool]. In comparison, the BBC's [https://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/network/genres/drama_detail.shtml drama commissioning notes for independent producers] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210015959/http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/network/genres/drama_detail.shtml |date=10 February 2008}}, as of 2007, specify a budget of £450,000 – £700,000 per hour for a Saturday evening drama series, at least three and a half times more than the amount spent on the whole of ''Quatermass II''.</ref> nearly double the amount spent on ''The Quatermass Experiment'' – Cartier was able to include a larger proportion of pre-filmed inserts on [[35mm movie film|35&nbsp;mm film]], which were included during the live transmissions of each episode.<ref name="dvdnotes1920">Pixley, pp. 19–20.</ref> Most of the pre-filmed material was shot [[Filming location|on location]] at the [[Shell Haven]] [[oil refinery]] in [[Stanford-le-Hope]], doubling for the factory where the alien creature is being grown on Earth.<ref name="dvdnotes1920"/> Filming also took place in rural [[Essex]] for material showing the meteorites being discovered in fields, and in the boiler rooms of the under-construction [[BBC Television Centre]] in London for scenes set inside the factory.<ref name="dvdnotes1920"/> The location film sequences were the most ambitious that had then been attempted in British television drama, which was usually predominantly studio-bound.<ref name="dvdnotes1920"/>

Each episode of ''Quatermass II'' was [[Telerecording|telerecorded]] onto 35&nbsp;mm film during its live transmission, for a scheduled repeat the following Monday night at 10:15&nbsp;p.m.<ref name="dvdnotes23"/> All six episodes survive intact in the BBC's archives, although the telerecording copies in some cases suffer from poor quality sound and vision.<ref name="restoration">{{cite web|url=http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/quatermass-article.htm |first=Steve |last=Roberts |title=Quatermass |date=January 2005 |access-date=2007-02-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070806171559/http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/quatermass-article.htm |archive-date=6 August 2007}}</ref> Owing to either technical or artistic problems, Cartier had some scenes re-performed by the cast immediately following the live performance on the Saturday evening, and these were telerecorded and used to replace the live versions in the Monday night repeats.<ref name="dvdnotes23"/> ''Quatermass II'' was one of the first BBC drama productions to be repeated from a telerecording, rather than having the production re-performed live for any second showing as had been the norm in the past.<ref name="dvdnotes23"/>

Episode three, "The Food", was repeated in a slightly edited form on [[BBC Two|BBC 2]] on 26 August 1991 as part of ''The Lime Grove Story''. This was a day of programming to commemorate the closure of the studios after 40 years of use by the BBC.<ref name="dvdnotes40">Pixley, p. 40.</ref>

== Reception and influence ==
The available British television audience had doubled since ''The Quatermass Experiment'' had been shown in 1953,<ref name="johnson">{{cite book |title=Telefantasy |url=https://archive.org/details/telefantasy0000john |url-access=registration |first=Catherine |last=Johnson |chapter=1: Spectacle and Intimacy – The ''Quatermass'' serials and British television in the 1950s |pages=[https://archive.org/details/telefantasy0000john/page/19 19–41] |location=London |year=2005 |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |isbn=978-1-84457-076-8}}</ref> and the viewing figures for ''Quatermass II'' were accordingly higher. The serial gained an audience of 7.9 million viewers for its first three episodes, rising to 8.3 million for the fourth and fifth and concluding with 9 million.<ref name="dvdnotes45">Pixley, p. 45.</ref> A BBC audience research report commissioned after ''Quatermass II'' had finished found that 90% of those questioned in the sample had watched at least five episodes of the production.<ref name="johnson"/>

''Quatermass II'' received positive newspaper reviews in the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' and the ''[[Daily Express]]'', although the BBC's ''[[Radio Times]]'' [[listings magazine]] published letters of both praise and criticism for the serial.<ref name="dvdnotes24">Pixley, p. 24.</ref> The serial was also criticised internally at the BBC by [[Cecil McGivern]], who felt it to be not as good as the original.<ref name="johnson"/> One letter received by the production team before the transmission of episode five came from a woman in [[Haverfordwest]] who was concerned that she would never find out what happened in the end as the week before the final episode's transmission she was due to move to Ireland to spend the rest of her life in a [[convent]]; she wondered if the BBC could possibly write to her and let her know how the story resolved. After some debate as to whether the letter was a journalistic trick to uncover advance story details, Kneale eventually decided that it was genuine, and allowed Cartier to send a reply outlining the storyline's conclusion.<ref name="dvdnotes25">Pixley, p. 25.</ref> Following episode six, some viewers wrote in to the BBC concerned at Quatermass's survival, as he had not been seen to definitely return to Earth in the experimental rocket ship.<ref name="johnson"/>

The BBC's own website regarded ''Quatermass II'' unfavourably when reviewing its [[DVD]] release in 2005: "The script is too often let down by the production's rougher edges. Your heart will break halfway through episode six as it all falls apart. And then there's Monica Gray [sic] – less an actress than a [[finishing school]] on legs".<ref name="bbcdvd"/> Writing in ''[[The Times]]'' in 2006, Morgan Falconer claimed to find racist undertones in the serial: "Quatermass, for instance, often seemed to have an unhealthy preoccupation with blackness, a barely veiled commentary on racial change in Britain. In one scene in ''Quatermass II'', the Professor stands outside a pub and watches the sky fill with dark asteroids. 'They're coming in their thousands', he says, 'this is it'".<ref name="falconer">{{cite news |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14929-2441343,00.html |title=Aliens in our midst |first=Morgan |last=Falconer |work=[[The Times]] |date=2006-11-11 |access-date=2007-02-05 |page=34 | location=London}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> However, this interpretation of the serial is not widespread, and is undermined in episode five where an Irish immigrant helps Quatermass sabotage the aliens' food supply system. In any case, it is in direct contrast with Kneale's deliberate attack on racial intolerance in ''Quatermass and the Pit''.<ref name="allegory">{{cite episode |title=The Kneale Tapes |series=Timeshift |credits=Producer – Tom Ware; Executive Producer – Michael Poole |network=[[BBC Four]] |airdate=2003-10-15}}</ref>

Speaking in a 2003 [[television documentary]] about Nigel Kneale's career, the writer and critic [[Kim Newman]] praised the underlying themes of ''Quatermass II'', and their particular relevance to the British way of life: "''Quatermass II'' is the British ''Invasion of the Bodysnatchers'', but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing... What ''Quatermass II'' does is take that metaphor and apply it to the specific conditions of Britain in the 1950s; not just the [[Cold War]] paranoia, but the traditional British grumbling resentment of bureaucracy as represented by [[Local government in the United Kingdom|the council]], or in this case big business".<ref name="tapes">[[Kim Newman|Newman, Kim]] in {{cite episode |title=The Kneale Tapes |series=Timeshift |credits=Producer – Tom Ware; Executive Producer – Michael Poole |network=[[BBC Four]] |airdate=2003-10-15}}</ref> The British Film Institute's "[[Screenonline]]" website also offers praise in its analysis of the serial:<blockquote>"With its tale of an invasion by an invisible enemy indistinguishable from ourselves, Kneale's story tapped into contemporary fears about the 'red' (i.e. [[communist]]) threat, although in a less direct way than the American science fiction films of the 1950s, including ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers''. At the same time, it reflected the widespread anxiety of the nuclear age – the story begins with a failed test of a nuclear-powered rocket in Australia (at a time when the country was in reality a site for a series of British nuclear weapons tests). In short, ''Quatermass II'' was the perfect cold-war drama".<ref name="screenonline"/></blockquote>

Some [[science fiction fandom|science fiction fans]] have speculated that the Quatermass serials in general, and ''Quatermass II'' in particular – with its elements including a conspiracy of silence in the government concerning extraterrestrial life, secret government facilities for alien use, and the silencing of any critic who opposes the government's plans – influenced the successful American series ''[[The X-Files]]'' (1993–2002).<ref name="11th hour">{{cite web |url=http://www.the11thhour.com/archives/091999/features/muldermass1.html |title=Muldermass and the Pit |work=The 11th Hour Web Magazine |date=September 1999 |access-date=2007-02-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061112215810/http://www.the11thhour.com/archives/091999/features/muldermass1.html |archive-date=12 November 2006}}</ref> Kneale was invited to write for ''The X-Files'' during the 1990s, but declined the offer.<ref name="timesobit">{{cite news | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2432768.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20070211131713/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2432768.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=11 February 2007 | title=Nigel Kneale | work=[[The Times]] | date=2006-11-02 | access-date=2007-02-05 | location=London}}</ref>

Other genre productions that have been compared with the serial include the 1970 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''[[Spearhead from Space]]''.<ref name="screenonline"/> This serial features an alien entity falling to Earth in a meteorite shower; a factory taken over for the growth of the alien creature, and governmental institutions being infiltrated by servants of the aliens.<ref name="spearhead">{{cite episode |title=Spearhead from Space |episode-link=Spearhead from Space |series=Doctor Who |series-link=Doctor Who |credits=Writer [[Robert Holmes (scriptwriter)|Robert Holmes]], Director [[Derek Martinus]], Producer [[Derrick Sherwin]] |date=3–24 January 1970 |network = [[BBC]] |station = [[BBC One]] |location = London}}</ref>

== Other media ==
As with ''The Quatermass Experiment'', the film rights to the serial were purchased by [[Hammer Film Productions]] – in this case after they had only read the scripts, before the serial was even made.<ref name="dvdnotes18"/> Titled ''[[Quatermass 2]]'', the film was released in 1957 and once again directed by [[Val Guest]], with [[Brian Donlevy]] starring; unlike the first film, Kneale wrote the [[screenplay]] himself.<ref name="quat2">{{IMDb title|0050873|Quatermass 2 (1957)}}</ref> In the United States, the film was released under the title ''Enemy from Space''.<ref name="quat2"/>

Shortly after ''Quatermass II'' finished its run, comedian [[Bob Monkhouse]] included a spoof of the serial in an episode of his own BBC television series, which featured Monica Grey reprising her role as Paula Quatermass. Cartier and Kneale were greatly displeased with this and complained to their superiors at the BBC about it.<ref name="murray52">Murray, p. 52.</ref>

Quatermass returned to the BBC in 1958 when Kneale's third serial, ''[[Quatermass and the Pit]]'', began transmission.<ref name="screen">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/438573/index.html |title=Quatermass and the Pit (1958–59) |first=Mark |last=Duguid |publisher=[[Screenonline]] |access-date=2007-02-05}}</ref> That was the last television appearance of the character for 20 years, until Kneale brought Quatermass back for a final time in the 1979 serial ''[[Quatermass (TV serial)|Quatermass]]'', this time produced for [[Thames Television]].<ref name="q79">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/442672/index.html |title=Quatermass (1979) |first=Mark |last=Duguid |publisher=[[Screenonline]] |access-date=2007-02-05}}</ref>

A serialised [[novelisation]] of ''Quatermass II'', written by Kneale, ran in the ''Daily Express'' newspaper in the UK from 5 to 20 December 1955, although Kneale was forced to draw the storyline to a premature conclusion as the paper lost interest in the project.<ref name="dvdnotes26">Pixley, p. 26.</ref> The television scripts were released by [[Penguin Books]] in 1960, with a selection of stills from the production also included.<ref name="dvdnotes38">Pixley, p. 38.</ref> The book was re-released in 1979, with a new introduction by Kneale, to coincide with the transmission of the Thames Television serial.<ref name="dvdnotes39">Pixley, p. 39.</ref>

In April 2005 [[BBC Worldwide]] released a DVD [[box set]] of all its existing ''Quatermass'' material.<ref name="bbcdvd"/> This included [[Remaster|digitally restored]] versions of all six episodes of ''Quatermass II'',<ref name="restoration"/> with the sound and vision of the telerecording copies cleaned up as far as possible, and some of the existing [[special effect]]s inserts that survived on their original film elements being re-inserted into the episodes.<ref name="restoration"/>

In 2016 BBC Store released ''Quatermass II'' and ''Quatermass and the Pit''.

== Footnotes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
{{refbegin}}

* {{cite book |last=Murray |first=Andy |title=Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale |year=2006 |location=London |publisher=Headpress |isbn=978-1-900486-50-7 |pages=192 pages}}
* {{cite book |title=The Quatermass Collection – Viewing Notes |last=Pixley |first=Andrew |year=2005 |location=London |publisher=BBC Worldwide |id= BBCDVD1478 |pages=48 pages}}

{{refend}}

== External links ==
* {{BBC programme}}
* {{IMDb title|id=0047766|title=Quatermass II}}
* [https://archive.today/20130114010757/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/tv/quatermass/ BBC site – I Love Quatermass]
* [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}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110715134914/http://www.quatermass2.com/ Quatermass 2: The Cult Hammer Film & The Classic BBC Television Serial]

{{Quatermass}}
{{featured article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quatermass Ii}}
[[Category:1955 British television series debuts]]
[[Category:1955 British television series endings]]
[[Category:1950s British drama television series]]
[[Category:BBC television dramas]]
[[Category:Quatermass]]
[[Category:1950s British science fiction television series]]
[[Category:British fantasy drama television series]]
[[Category:Films directed by Rudolph Cartier]]