Page "Quatermass (TV serial)" Paragraph 29

Reflecting on the serial, Nigel Kneale said, “ Frankly, I was never happy with the whole idea in the first place.

The central idea was too ordinary ”.

Although Kneale was pleased with the high production values, he was dissatisfied with the casting, believing that John Mills “ didn't have the authority for Quatermass ”.

He was similarly unimpressed with Simon MacCorkindale noting that, “ We had him in Beasts playing an idiot and he was very good at that ”.

Kneale was also disappointed with the Planet People, feeling that they should have been portrayed not as hippies but as angry punks.

Producer Ted Childs thinks that “ the primary problems with it were ( a ) it was perhaps too depressing a story for a popular television audience and ( b ) the punters were used to a fairly high standard of technical presentation from American television ... And we just couldn't afford that ”.

Executive producer Verity Lambert's opinion is that it “ didn't have the staying power of the originals, but then that's almost inevitable when you try to bring something back in a slightly different form ”.