Nigel Kneale and Quatermass

Jon Mackley

Research output: Contribution to Book/ReportChapterpeer-review

Abstract

In the 1950s, three TV series were broadcast about the experimental rocket scientist, Bernard Quatermass, and a fourth shown in the 1970s. Quatermass highlights the gothic mood by exploring post-war social anxieties, and that the world could not be defended against an alien threat. Through these, and his other television stories, Kneale confronts local legend and apparently supernatural phenomena through a scientific lens, stressing that an alien presence could be brought back from space, or could infiltrating society as part of an invasion, or it could even sit at the heart of mankind, bringing into question the nature of humanity.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic
EditorsClive Bloom
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherPalgrave Macmilan
Pages819-835
Number of pages17
Volume3
Edition1st
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-030-33136-8
ISBN (Print)978-3-030-33135-1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Dec 2020

Keywords

  • Aliens
  • Belief system
  • Claustrophobia
  • The Demonic
  • Dystopia
  • Experimental Science
  • Ghost Story
  • Haunting
  • Horror
  • Origins of humanity
  • Ritual
  • Science Fiction
  • Supernatural
  • Superstition
  • Terror
  • Zeitgeist

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