Nigel Kneale has died at the age of 84.

Kneale was one of the great British SF screenwriters, creator of the wonderful Quatermass series from the days of live TV (the greatest instalment of which was Quatermass and the Pit - get the beautifully restored original TV version on DVD, far superior to the Hammer movie remake of the late 1960s). Kneale also did a startlingly good adaptation of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four for the BBC in the 1950s, and some remarkable, prescient single plays through the '60s and 70s.

Kneale's influence was enormous, and to a large extent he defined the limits of acceptable/respectable SF in British TV. (It's hard to imagine that there could have been a Dr Who without his trailblazing efforts for the genre.)

Like Ray Bradbury (here's a connection for you!), Kneale crossed genres without hesitation. His science fiction was filled with horror, his horror often scientifically rationalised, all of it delivered with an element of fun.

He will be missed.

I've never heard of him but he sounds like a really neat guy.

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...and a very busy guy!

http://www.nigelkneale.cwc.net/television.htm#top

My wife remembers the Quatermass series very well.

For many Brits over the age of 30, their concept of science fiction is defined by Quatermass, Dr Who, John Wyndham and H.G.Wells.

Quatermass was a (fictional) rocket scientist who was always getting caught up in alien invasions. There were three series in the late 1950s, and a further TV film in 1980. The best was Quatermass and the Pit, in which it turns out that Earth had been invaded by Martians millions of years ago. Humans' concept of the Devil turns out to be a race memory of the Martian invasion!

The TV series were remade as Hammer horror films, with an American (Brian Donlevy) in the lead role in order to gain some American theatrical distibution (except for the third one, which had a Brit in the lead role). The films were OK, but not a patch on the TV versions.

I knew that if any American member of the forum had heard of Quatermass, it would be Braling II!

I've posted a short obituary of Kneale on my website.

Not from Quatermass, but here's one of my cousins from another show you mentioned.
(It's an early picture - please ignore the 'plumber's helper' appendage!)

dalek.jpg (138 Kb, 7 downloads)

And if he wanted his name removed from "Halloween 3" (after the director butchered his screenplay), he sounds like a very smart guy.

quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:
Not from Quatermass, but here's one of my cousins from another show you mentioned.
(It's an early picture - please ignore the 'plumber's helper' appendage!)

Exterminate!!

Actually, BII, I think you will find that Daleks are living things inside a metal machine. Unlike your good self, and other constructs of Marionette Inc.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
And if he wanted his name removed from "Halloween 3" (after the director butchered his screenplay), he sounds like a very smart guy.

I would say so, yes.