The Quatermass Memoirs
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The Quatermass Memoirs is a British radio drama documentary broadcast in five parts on BBC Radio 3 in the spring of 1996. Written by Nigel Kneale, it was borne out of his famous Quatermass series of films and television serials, based around the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass.
The series mixes three different strands - a new interview with Kneale in which he discusses the genesis and development of the Quatermass serials and their main character; archive material from the productions and the times in which they were made; and the dramatised strand, featuring the Professor looking forward to a peaceful retirement following the events of the third serial, Quatermass and the Pit (1958-59) and before those of the fourth and final serial, Quatermass (1979). The final episode reveals that the social collapse foreshadowing the events of the final story has already begun.
The five episodes, varying between seventeen and thirty minutes in length, were stripped across one week from March 4 to March 8 1996. Episode one was transmitted in a 10.35-10.52pm timeslot; episode two 9.30-9.50pm, episode three 9.00-9.20pm, episode four 10.15-10.45pm and episode five 9.40-10.00pm. The production was made and transmitted in stereo.
Quatermass was played by Andrew Keir, who had previously played the role in Hammer Films' 1967 movie adaptation of Quatermass and the Pit. As such, he became only the second man to portray the character twice: the first having been American actor Brian Donlevy, who had starred in Hammer's The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and Quatermass 2 (1957). Also appearing were Emma Gregory as Mandy and Zulema Dene as Maire. The producer was Paul Quinn.
The series was rerun in weekly instalments on BBC 7 in 2004, reversing the station's normal trend of stripping series originally broadcast weekly across weekdays.
External links
- The Quatermass Home Page - Fan Site (http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/8504/qhome.htm)