Quatermass Experiment, the
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Quatermass Experiment, the
 | |
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| Episodes: | 6 |
| Year: | 1953 |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Seasons: | 1 |
| Seasons Breakdown: | (1) 6 |
| Category: | Aliens on Earth |
| Colour: | No |
| Format: | Serial |
| Company: | BBC |
| Creator: | Nigel Keanle |
| Run Time (mins): | 30 |
| Language: | English |
| Type of Show: | Live Action |
| Status: | Ended |
| Broadcaster: | BBC |
| First Aired: | |
| Last Aired: | |
Summary
The crew of a new experimental rocket becomes the first group of humans to travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere. On the ground, Professor Bernard Quatermass and his team of laboratory assistants await the vessel’s return with increasing apprehension. The rocket has overshot its intended orbit and is feared lost until it is eventually detected by radar. It re‑enters the atmosphere and crash‑lands in Wimbledon, London.
Quatermass and his team, led by chief assistant Paterson (Hugh Kelly), arrive at the crash site and open the spacecraft. Inside they find only one surviving crewman, Victor Carroon; the other two pressure suits are empty. As the ship’s hatch had remained sealed throughout the flight, the disappearance of the other astronauts is inexplicable. Unknown to the investigators, an extra-terrestrial organism has entered Carroon’s body and absorbed the other two crew members.
Carroon is critically ill. Dr. Briscoe (John Glen), the Rocket Group’s physician, and Carroon’s wife Judith (Isabel Dean) are secretly engaged in an affair. Meanwhile, journalist James Fullalove (Paul Whitsun‑Jones) and Inspector Lomax (Ian Colin) of Scotland Yard seek information about the incident. Carroon is kidnapped by criminals hoping to ransom him to the British Rocket Group, but he kills his captors and escapes as his body begins to mutate into a plant‑like alien organism.
Carroon’s transformation accelerates, prompting a police manhunt across London. Quatermass conducts laboratory analyses of biological samples and concludes that the alien spores threaten to consume all terrestrial life. The creature, now fully transformed, is eventually sighted by a television crew inside Westminster Abbey.
Quatermass, accompanied by British Army forces, attempts to destroy the organism, but conventional weapons prove ineffective. With approximately one hour remaining before the creature reaches a critical stage that would trigger global extinction, Quatermass appeals to the vestiges of the three absorbed human minds within the organism. He persuades them to sacrifice themselves, enabling the destruction of the alien entity and averting planetary catastrophe.
Cast
Professor Bernard Quatermass REGINALD TATE, Judith Carroon ISABEL DEAN, Victor Carroon DUNCAN LAMONT, John Paterson HUGH KELLY, James Fullalove PAUL WHITSUN-JONES, Dr. Gordon Briscoe JOHN GLEN, Detective Inspector Lomax IAN COLIN, Detective Sergeant Best FRANK HAWKINS, News Editor OLIVER JOHNSON, Dr. Ludwig Teichenheim CHRISTOPEHR RHODES, Miss Wilde KATIE JOHNSON, Charles Greene PETER BATHURST, Peter Marsh MORAY WATSON.
See Also: Quatermass (1979), Quatermass II and Quatermass and the Pit
Tags: Aliens on Earth, United Kingdom, 1953, English
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