Quatermass and the Pit

Oh boy, do I remember this one ! I can only agree with all the reviewers' comments so far. I was 10 at the time, and our TV had broken down, so I went to watch it a couple of streets away. This was the episode that ended with Sladdon running to the churchyard and the gravel path starts rippling . . . . I have never run so fast as I ran home that evening ! Wonderful plot - it can still make the hairs on my neck stand up just recalling it all.

Long before watching this, I had seen the Hammer film version and had enjoyed it a great deal as I found it to be quite thoughtful and intelligent while also being creepy and a bit unnerving. Sitting to complete the DVD box-set by watching the third series over a few nights, I was surprised to find just how strong it was and how very well it has stood up to the effects of time. The main reason for this is the plotting and the delivery thereof. The story sees the gradual discovery of something in the earth below London – at first the missing link, then an unexploded bomb and then something much odder indeed. Within a few hours this story has taken us from a group of builders unearthing a skull, through to the brink of man's destruction – a journey that manages to be convincing, engaging and thrilling, even though it is a 1950's BBC TV drama driven mostly by people talking in front of a big plastic pipe sticking out of the ground. I don't mean to sound like a heretic in front of sci-fi fans, but this is sort of what this series is. But yet it works incredibly well.

The story builds excellently. The dialogue isn't clunky and actually draws you in with its precision and thoughtful discussions of what is going on – an approach that makes the dramatic moments all the more dramatic by virtue of contrast. What really drives it though are the ideas and it is here that I almost wish I had the ability to see it as someone watching on television when it was first broadcast. Thanks to the mainstream success of sci-fi horror films down the years and shows like X-files, the idea of an alien presence being on Earth before humans and shaping and guiding life is not shockingly new – nor does any religious group get particularly offended when a sci-fi suggests a plot of that nature, however this Quatermass and the Pit was made in the late 50's and it was a very different world then.

I particularly wonder how the effects went down because watching with my cynical "seen it all" eye from the comfort of 2012, I was still genuinely unnerved by the excellent sense of foreboding creeping across the film and a little scared by the images and events of the final few episodes (the wild hunt sticking in my mind the most). When older fans speak about their memories of hiding behind the sofa, I can believe it because this is pretty strong stuff in regards the ideas. OK, we don't see a lot of what we "know" is happening, but because the story, place and characters have all been build so well by dialogue and atmosphere, the viewer is bought into it and it is a small ask to do the work that the cameras cannot. That said I was still impressed by the effects – indeed so impressed that I yet again had to turn to Google just to confirm that this show was mostly broadcast live. The standard of acting and seamless transitions between scenes is impressive enough in this regard but the more dramatic action towards the end is all the more impressive for being done once in front of cameras.

The cast are very good throughout. It took me a minute to get used to yet another actor playing Quatermass (and playing him as a different type of character again) but within one episode I was loving Morell. He doesn't cling too much to the scientific professor and he allows his love of the unknown to show, thus allowing other emotions to come later on. Linder is not quite as good but still works – I think him having an American accent put me off a little but otherwise he was OK. Bushell is good with his one-note character but Finn impressed me the most. In Quatermass II we had a supporting actress who looked like she was in a finishing school parade, but here Finn really lets herself go and her terror and her reactions later are unnerving for just how real she makes they seem. Some very small roles are a bit wooden here, but otherwise everyone is very good – and again, remember this was all done live for the camera.

Quatermass and the Pit was hyped to me, fellow reviewer Theo Robertson would frequently comment on any sci-fi I said was good with "ah yes but you've not seen Quatermass and the Pit", so I did have it in my mind that I should expect something good. Although this preconception normally hurts the reality, here it did no such thing as even though I expected it to be good, I was still surprised by how good it was. A strong script delivers a story brimming with influential ideas and commentary in a technically impressive live delivery. I said I had planned to watch this series over a couple of nights? Never made it – too compulsive to stop, it was gone in one evening.

I first watched this when it was first broadcast during the autumn/winter 1958/1959 and it had me on the edge of my seat throughout. I bought the video a few years ago and even though the editing spoiled the end of episode cliffhangers it is still worth seeing. This was BBC Drama at its best. Made on a low-budget, it was wonderfully produced and acted. Who could ever forget those special moments: The Corporal who saw a ghost walk through the wall; the opening of the missile revealing three long dead Martians; and the drill operator running through the streets of London as if was being pursued by real Martians; and the final scenes of the Devil hovering above a ruined London. A classic indeed.

Quatermass and the Pit is a truly remarkable piece of television. An excellent script, brilliant atmospheric direction and great performances from the cast. Anthony Bushell's Colonel Breen is an utterly unlikable character without being a clichéd hissable villain figure. The guy is so uptight you can almost feel his buttocks clenching! Cec Linder is a very likable character and his friendship with Quatermass is totally believable. As for Quatermass himself... whilst Brian Donlevy played a totally different character (let's be honest the character in the first two Hammer movies is Quatermass in name only, or should that be'Quittermuss'?) John Robinon was really good in the role, Reginald Tate, Andrew Keir and John Mills were all excellent but Andre Morell makes the role his own and completely outshines all the other very fine actors who played this part. He's a charismatic figure full of charm, authority and compassion (if I was a scientist I'd like to be this guy!). Morell is totally convincing in all aspects of the role, whether arguing with pompous ministers or fighting the Martian influence he carries the whole thing along with considerable style. Rudolph Cartier creates a truly chilling atmosphere, complimented by the sinister incidental music. The design is also magnificent. The Martians were an inspired design and Hammer's version of the creatures ten years later are very poor in comparison. A brilliant piece of television science fiction, rarely (if at all) equalled in nearly fifty years!

I had always considered the third - and most ambitious - Quatermass film (made in 1967) as a masterpiece; if anything, the original serial is even better as the accumulation of detail (Kneale's decidedly cerebral script taking in an archaeological expedition overrun by the military, paranormal manifestations going hand in hand with a secret alien invasion, a startling revelation concerning Homo Sapiens, riots provoked by the sudden appearance of an energy-consuming demon, and ending with a plea for tolerance!) is more smoothly distributed - and, consequently, better digested - over the period of 3½ hours rather than a film little more than 90 minutes in length!!

Casting is very strong and about the best of all three serials, with Andre' Morell (standing in for the recently deceased John Robinson) emerging as the finest Quatermass ever; Michael Ripper - the actor with more Hammer Films credits to his name (though not, curiously enough, their version of this serial!) - is featured in a supporting role. The film - among the top two or three ever turned out by Hammer - obviously substituted color for black-and-white (arriving 10 years after the last Quatermass picture with a new director and lead actor); an inspired touch, however, was its resetting the excavation site where the alien spacecraft is discovered to a branch of the London Underground and, besides, this time around they could afford to show the demon and its subsequent destruction!

Of course, having watched the Hammer films numerous times prior to going through the serials themselves, the narratives hold no real surprises - but, then, because Kneale's concepts are so fascinating and even persuasive, they keep one riveted (and, despite their considerable length, don't make one restless to get to the 'goodies', so to speak). Again, the opening credits and the score set the tone wonderfully for what's to come - and, contrary to the monster of "The Quatermass Experiment" (which the BBC hated so much that the final episode of that first serial was deleted immediately!), some care was evidently allowed here to the preparation of the Martian creatures so vital to the program!!

Unfortunately, I experienced freezing around the 147-minute mark during playback of this particular disc - but, by fast-forwarding and rewinding a bit, I managed to make it through the effected part regardless...