There is a saying I am rather fond of about going out at your best. Over six weeks in late 1958 and early 1959 the BBC brought its involvement in the Quatermass stories to a close. In doing so they lived up to that saying by producing what remains one of the most imaginative and brilliantly crafted pieces of science fiction to ever be put on a screen either big or small.
For starters there is of course the excellent cast. As the third actor to play the role of Professor Bernard Quatermass for the BBC (and the fourth if you count Brian Donlevy in the first two Hammer Quatermass films made prior to this being aired) André Morell gives what might very well be the definitive Quatermass. From the moment he appears Morell takes on the role and makes it his own with his excellent line delivery and very human reactions to the situations around him. Morell's Quatermass is more convincing then his predecessor as both scientist and as a man frightened by what he finds and is all the better for it. Yet Morell's Quatermass is just the first of what can be termed a trio of leading characters.
The other two characters in that trio are Cec Linder as Dr. Matthew Roney and Anthony Bushell as Colonel James Breen. Linder plays Roney as a man fascinated by his discoveries and willing to the consequences of them no matter the cost. Linder and Moreell also have some fantastic chemistry together that makes the friendship between Quatermass and Roney seem even more realistic. Bushell as Breen on the other hand is just the opposite: a man almost primitive in his thinking to the point of ignoring the facts. If Roney is Quatermass's friend then Breen is his enemy and the man most responsible for the serial's shocking finale. Bushell gives a fine, if not over the top at times, performance as the army officer forced into a sequence of events he can not understand nor wants to.
The rest of the cast is fine as well. From John Stratton as the leader of the bomb disposal squad to Christine Finn as Roney's assistant to Brian Worth as journalist James Fullalove to Richard Shaw as Sladden and Robert Perceval as the Minsiter of Defense amongst many there isn't a role miscast in the entire six episode production. The production proves that it isn't just the leading roles that count but the small ones as well.
For all the excellent members of the cast it is as much the aspects of the serial behind the camera that make Quatermass And The Pit as imaginative and brilliantly crafted as it is. Despite being a live TV production Quatermass And The Pit as the feel of being a feature film of the time. This is especially true of both the music and especially of the special effects. The haunting score of Trevor Duncan remains a fantastic example of how a simple score can be made highly effective. The special effects done by Bernard Wilkie and Jack Kine remain as impressive to this viewer today as they must have been for audiences fifty years ago including the sequence at the end of part four and of course the insect like Martians.
Then there is the script at the heart of it all. A decade or so before Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke brought it to the mainstream in 2001: A Space Odessy, writer Nigel Kneale asked the fascinating (and to some terrifying) question "what if what makes us human isn't human at all?" and terrifyingly answered it. Kneale looks at human nature and in particular racism and the occult in a science fiction context and shows us the consequences of racism in a way that is too realistic to be ignored. Kneale uses the limitations of live TV (i.e. a story driven by dialog mainly) to create a script full of fine dialouge and debates on everything from the nature of racism to the military takeover of otherwise peaceful scientific research. In particular there are two speeches by Quatermass (one at the Ministry in episode four and the other at the end of episode six) that stand out as amongst the best pieces of science fiction writing ever.
In short Quatermass And The Pit is television science fiction at its best. It is a production full of fine performances, good effects, fine music and a brilliant script. It might be fifty years old, in black and white and rather filled with dialouge but you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way for that makes Quatermass And The Pit brilliant fifty years on.
For starters there is of course the excellent cast. As the third actor to play the role of Professor Bernard Quatermass for the BBC (and the fourth if you count Brian Donlevy in the first two Hammer Quatermass films made prior to this being aired) André Morell gives what might very well be the definitive Quatermass. From the moment he appears Morell takes on the role and makes it his own with his excellent line delivery and very human reactions to the situations around him. Morell's Quatermass is more convincing then his predecessor as both scientist and as a man frightened by what he finds and is all the better for it. Yet Morell's Quatermass is just the first of what can be termed a trio of leading characters.
The other two characters in that trio are Cec Linder as Dr. Matthew Roney and Anthony Bushell as Colonel James Breen. Linder plays Roney as a man fascinated by his discoveries and willing to the consequences of them no matter the cost. Linder and Moreell also have some fantastic chemistry together that makes the friendship between Quatermass and Roney seem even more realistic. Bushell as Breen on the other hand is just the opposite: a man almost primitive in his thinking to the point of ignoring the facts. If Roney is Quatermass's friend then Breen is his enemy and the man most responsible for the serial's shocking finale. Bushell gives a fine, if not over the top at times, performance as the army officer forced into a sequence of events he can not understand nor wants to.
The rest of the cast is fine as well. From John Stratton as the leader of the bomb disposal squad to Christine Finn as Roney's assistant to Brian Worth as journalist James Fullalove to Richard Shaw as Sladden and Robert Perceval as the Minsiter of Defense amongst many there isn't a role miscast in the entire six episode production. The production proves that it isn't just the leading roles that count but the small ones as well.
For all the excellent members of the cast it is as much the aspects of the serial behind the camera that make Quatermass And The Pit as imaginative and brilliantly crafted as it is. Despite being a live TV production Quatermass And The Pit as the feel of being a feature film of the time. This is especially true of both the music and especially of the special effects. The haunting score of Trevor Duncan remains a fantastic example of how a simple score can be made highly effective. The special effects done by Bernard Wilkie and Jack Kine remain as impressive to this viewer today as they must have been for audiences fifty years ago including the sequence at the end of part four and of course the insect like Martians.
Then there is the script at the heart of it all. A decade or so before Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke brought it to the mainstream in 2001: A Space Odessy, writer Nigel Kneale asked the fascinating (and to some terrifying) question "what if what makes us human isn't human at all?" and terrifyingly answered it. Kneale looks at human nature and in particular racism and the occult in a science fiction context and shows us the consequences of racism in a way that is too realistic to be ignored. Kneale uses the limitations of live TV (i.e. a story driven by dialog mainly) to create a script full of fine dialouge and debates on everything from the nature of racism to the military takeover of otherwise peaceful scientific research. In particular there are two speeches by Quatermass (one at the Ministry in episode four and the other at the end of episode six) that stand out as amongst the best pieces of science fiction writing ever.
In short Quatermass And The Pit is television science fiction at its best. It is a production full of fine performances, good effects, fine music and a brilliant script. It might be fifty years old, in black and white and rather filled with dialouge but you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way for that makes Quatermass And The Pit brilliant fifty years on.