Nigel kneale dies

Marksie

Nigel Kneale has died, his scripts for Quatermass were the forerunner for many of the current science fiction series.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6105578.stm

If you look at his obit, he wrote The Year of the S*x Olympics.
The Year of the Sex Olympics, made in 1968, imagined a future in which the public are subjugated by reality TV which places volunteers in a remote house and monitors their every move

popebenny16

A sad day for British and indeed all Sci-fi.

Quatermass and the Pit was a really scary show (And film)

Quatermass the Conclusion was eually as scary and forsaw a future that was almost comtempoary in the late 1970's. His own novilization of it is another frightening read, it puts the TV show (Lavish in its time) to shame.

Small references to him can be seen in Doctor Who, even today: there were refernces to the British Rocket Group in The Chrismas Invasion last year, and if you look at the British rocket Group Website, you get a teaser for Torchwood, the currently running Who spin off. indeed, The Doctor once said "I wish Bernard was here" a reference to Quatermass.

What made Quatermass so good was that the stories never treated their readers or viewers as morons. The creatures in the Pit had survived a horrific racial war - apt for the time it aired in the UK - the breakdown of society and the harvesting of humanity by the entrapment of the minds of the young, and the worls being saved by old men in "the conclusion" was also a commentary on sheep mentality, rebellion out of controll and also, the abondonment of moral and ethical restraint by society itself.

"Quatermass" (the original) was about a monster running around London, but I'm sure there was a message there as well.

I never saw "the Sex Olympics" but the ideas behind it sounds scarily relevent to todays TV.

Strainge that for a man who actually wrote not that much that he left a fine legacy behind but that's always the best way, isnt it?

RIP.

Marksie

yes i would agree with that.

I think that the original quatermass and the pit can be bought on dvd and it still has the ability to intruige and the ideas have been taken and used in many films. For example the idea that the martian ship buried in london is in fact alive and is responsible for visions of the devil may have been incorporated into Event Horizon. and john carpenter was a huge fan
Given that television at this time was live it is a remarkable show.

I have only seen the film version of the first two series but when they were originally shown the pubs were empty for that time (as my mother puts it..she had one of the first tv sets and it was standing room only).

I will post a wikipaedia reference to bernard quatermass.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Quatermass

I thoroughly enjoyed the 1979 version (watch out for a young brenda fricker in it). John Mills made a fine quatermass. It, like many good sci-fi has relevance today in its depiction of a society collapsing.
But the basic premise that the young are being harvested for their scent by an alien intelligence which gathers them in one place, then strikes with an energy beam spilling the remains into the atmosphere (in much the same way as perfumiers will use glands and throw away the carcass) reached its zenith when wembly stadium was struck.
For some reason the ending i found very poignant but i wouldnt want to ruin it for anyone.

As you said,pb16, he didnt do much, but it was high quality. I believe he also scrpited the woman in black which was a frightening ghost story. I suppose that it is a fitting testament to his ability that nearly 30 years after being introduced to Nigel kneale's scripts they are still memorable

mike65

BBC4 screened Sex Olympics last year, but I did'nt see it (or tape it).

Neale was the small screen Arthur C Clarke in many ways, the sad thing is that there is no-one doing what he did now and there is no one willing to fund the kind of material he wrote (though the revival of Dr Who and a couple of ITV series in the last fews years which touched on paranormal and similair themes suggests that there may be hope).

Here's hoping for re-runs of Stone Tape, Sex Olympics, Quatermass and the Pit (the movie) and Quatermass IV.

Mike.