Nigel Kneale's Quartermass

Set some time in the not so distant future, Nigel Kneale’s fourth entry in the Quatermass saga was to be his last. It is somewhat off kilter as we are now well past that time (set around 2002), nonetheless, John Mills and Simon MacCorkindale in the lead make for some thrilling viewing.

Professor Quatermass (J. Mills) has been living in virtual seclusion on the west coast of Scotland and has been invited down to London to appear on a TV-show. Law and order has pretty much collapsed and the streets of London now look like an urban wasteland. Quatermass’ taxi driver refuses to drive him to the TV studio which is situated at the end of a very dodgy area, leaving Quatermass no option than to leg it. Sure enough he is mugged within seconds by some well-spoken and idiotically dressed villains. Fortunately, a brave van driver intercepts and saves him from a severe beating. Some coincidence this, as the driver in question, Joe Kapp (Simon MacCorkindale) just happens to be a fellow scientist who is on his way to the same TV studio to appear on the same program! The broadcast in question concerns a space satellite which has been launched in unison by the American and the Russians in order to show that they are now, well… shall we say getting along amicably? However, Quatermass takes the opportunity to show a photograph of his missing granddaughter Hettie while on air, much to the chagrin of the host. After Quatermass exposes what he thinks this charade represents – oh horror or horror the satellite suddenly implodes and killing the astronauts. Now what exactly has caused this disaster?

Kindred spirit Kapp invited Quatermass back to his converted isolated lab and living quarters where he lives with his family and some lab assistants. Pretty soon after we encounter the Planet People, a cult lead by the psychotic Kickalong (Ralph Arliss). Kneale’s vision of the Planet People initially could appear to be a reactionary parable aimed at the hippie generation. This in fact is not quite the case! Nevertheless these idealistic youngsters (a young Toyah Wilcox amongst them) are not exactly into love and peace and are being mislead into thinking that an extra-terrestrial intelligence, generating light beams, will transport them to a much better planet. All this is supposed to happen at a place called Ringstone Round, a parable for Stonehenge. Unfortunately for the worshippers, they have been totally fooled – resulting not in revelation but their untimely deaths. They are in fact being harvested with their life force extracted in order to make this alien intelligence all the stronger. Quite why this is happening and where the alien force is coming from cannot be explained.

At his wits end, Quatermass realises that the human race is in danger of extinction, with more and more youngsters joining the cult of the Planet People cult. It is only by default that Quatermass realises the ‘cure’ and ultimate salvation of the human race lies with the old people…

The budget for this was somewhere in the region of a million Pounds which was a considerable amount for 1978 (which is when this 4-part TV series was made). No complaints about the special effects, the photography nor Piers Haggard’s direction which keeps us on our toes throughout. As for John Mills… this peer of the realm and national treasure won’t let you down in the part of the stoic and stubborn Quatermass! Barbara Kellerman in the part of Kapp’s devoted wife Clare is reduced to a rather irritating ‘Earth Mutha’ role who, utterly selfless, is forever concerned about right and wrong and the wellbeing of others. Dream on! It’s hard to sympathise when she gets ‘vaporized’ – pity about the kids and the dog.

Gloriously restored, the Blu-ray edition contains DISC 1 which features the 4-part miniseries, and DISC 2 which contains a condensed version (104min approx.) of the adventure, plus various other bonus material such as booklet, image gallery, textless titles, episode recaps, and music-only tracks.