In the critically acclaimed and influential 1950s TV series created by Nigel Kneale, Quatermass and the Pit, depictions of supernatural horned entities, with specific reference to prehistoric cave-art and shamanistic horned head-dress are revealed to be a " race-memory " of psychic Martian grasshoppers, manifested at the climax of the film by a fiery horned god.

Their significant early output included creating effects for the popular science-fiction serial Quatermass and the Pit and memorable comedy sounds for The Goon Show.

* The object discovered in Quatermass and the Pit was made of a material of extreme hardness, such that diamond-tipped drills and acetylene torches would not damage it.

Quatermass and the Pit, a 1958 TV sequel to The Quatermass Experiment by Nigel Kneale, postulates that ancient Martians inspired the supernatural, demonic Wild Hunt as a form of genetic purging.

The BBC also used the studio facilities at Ealing for filmed inserts where the electronic studio could not be used, such as for the excavation site in Quatermass and the Pit ( 1958 – 59 ), The White Rabbit ( TV mini-series, 1967 ), Colditz ( 1972 – 74 ) and the communal sequences in Porridge ( 1974 – 77 ).

The writer and critic Kim Newman has cited another influence on the novel, saying that in it King had " more or less rewritten Quatermass and the Pit ," a 1950s BBC television science-fiction serial involving the excavation of a long-buried alien spacecraft, and the growing influence of the dormant machine on surrounding human beings.

# REDIRECT Quatermass and the Pit

At the beginning of the third serial, Quatermass and the Pit ( 1958 – 59 ), Quatermass's funding is being cut back and the Rocket Group is being handed over to military control, much to his disgust.

André Morell, the third actor to play the role on television, in Quatermass and the Pit ( 1958 – 59 ).

Titled Quatermass and the Pit and again produced and directed by Cartier, this was eventually broadcast in December 1958 and January 1959.

Of the TV serials, Quatermass II and Quatermass and the Pit have been preserved in full.

Andrew Keir as Quatermass in the Quatermass and the Pit ( film ) | Quatermass and the Pit ( 1967 ) film.

Hammer also purchased the film rights to Quatermass and the Pit ( released in the USA as Five Million Years to Earth ), as it had done with the previous two TV serials, although they did not release their version until 1967.

The Guardian newspaper wrote in 1997 that: " Keir also made many films ... most gratifyingly, perhaps, the movie version of Quatermass and the Pit ( 1967 ), when he finally replaced the absurdly miscast Brian Donlevy.

Soon after the release of the Quatermass and the Pit film, Kneale was approached by Hammer about writing a fourth Quatermass story directly for them, but the idea came to nothing.

This was followed by similar releases of Quatermass II and Quatermass and the Pit, both published in 1960.

Shortly thereafter Ngakane went into exile in the United Kingdom, where he appeared in Quatermass and the Pit ( 1958 ) and in the television spy series Danger Man ( Deadline, 1962 ) with Patrick McGoohan.

* Quatermass and the Pit ( BBC Television, 1958 – 59 )

Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959.

Before Quatermass and the Pit he had most recently been seen as Arthur Rostron in the film version of A Night to Remember ( 1958 ).

This was followed in 1958 by Quatermass and the Pit, and both serials also had feature film versions made by Hammer.

Kneale went on to write feature film screenplays such as Look Back in Anger ( 1958 ) and The First Men in the Moon ( 1964 ), as well as continuing to write for television, including two further Quatermass serials, until 1997.

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 ).

Quatermass returned to the BBC in 1958 when Kneale's third serial, Quatermass and the Pit, began transmission.

Robinson was not available to reprise the part for the third serial, Quatermass and the Pit, in 1958, and André Morell took over the role.

For this reason, although Nigel Kneale had written a new Quatermass serial for the BBC, Quatermass and the Pit ( broadcast December 1958 to January 1959 ), Hammer did not acquire the rights until 1961 and the film version did not appear until 1967.

Kneale went on to write a third Quatermass serial – Quatermass and the Pit – for the BBC, which was broadcast in December 1958 and January 1959.

His best known screen roles were as Professor Bernard Quatermass in the BBC Television serial Quatermass and the Pit ( 1958 – 59 ), and as Doctor Watson in the Hammer Film Productions version of The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1959 ).

Its success led to two sequels, Quatermass II ( 1955 ) and Quatermass and the Pit ( 1958 ).

In 1979 she transferred to Euston full-time as the company's Chief Executive, overseeing productions such as Quatermass ( 1979 ), Minder ( 1979 – 94 ) and Widows ( 1983 ).

He appeared in the 1955 BBC Television serial Quatermass II, had a role in the Powell and Pressburger wartime drama Battle of the River Plate ( 1956 ), and came to wide popular attention in Britain when he played the duplicitous Spanish envoy Mendoza in the ITC Entertainment series Sir Francis Drake ( 1961 – 62 ), after which he was much in demand ; an ' in-joke ' in the 1971 Doctor Who story Colony in Space refers to that role: the Brigadier tells the Doctor not to worry — the suspected sighting of the Master was only the Spanish Ambassador!

These included The Sweeney ( 1975 – 78 ), Minder ( 1979 – 94 ) and Quatermass ( 1979 ).

* John Robinson ( actor ) ( 1908 – 1979 ), British actor, best known for his role in Quatermass II

* Quatermass and the Pit ( 1967 ) – Col. Breen

* The Quatermass Home Page – Fan Site

* Quatermass. org. uk – Nigel Kneale & Quatermass Appreciation Site

* BBC site – I Love Quatermass

Roger Delgado, who found fame in the 1970s as the Master in Doctor Who ( 1971 – 73 ), played a journalist who helps Quatermass before falling victim to " the mark " in episode four.

Some 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 ).

Like its predecessor, it is based on a BBC Television serial – Quatermass II – written by Nigel Kneale.

Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television serial – Quatermass and the Pit – written by Nigel Kneale.