The Quatermass Memoirs is a British radio drama-documentary, originally broadcast in 5 episodes on BBC Radio 3 in March 1996. Written by Nigel Kneale, it was born out of his Quatermass series of films and television serials, which had first been broadcast in the 1950s. The idea for the show appeared as BBC radio intended to create a season of programming looking back at the 1950s, and it was the final piece of writing Kneale completed relating to the character. The show is centered on the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass who, albeit older than in the previous series, is "the same very concerned scientist" but worried about his previous decisions. Andrew Keir, who had played Quatermass in the 1967 film Quatermass and the Pit, was chosen to voice the character. Later, Nigel Kneale himself became dismissive of the serial, but critics gave the production relatively positive reviews. Overview The series mixes three different strands: a new monologue by Kneale in which he discusses the genesis and development of the Quatermass serials and their main character; archival material from the television productions, and from documentary and newsreel coverage of key events of the times in which they were made, such as the Cold War, the advent of nuclear weapons and the embryonic Space Race; and the dramatised strand, in which the Professor discloses his reasons for reclusion and discusses his demons with a persistent reporter who invades his hermitage (and ultimately becomes his friend). This third element is set several years after the events of the third serial, Quatermass and the Pit (1958–59), and shortly before those of the fourth and final serial, Quatermass (1979). Continuity is maintained with the 1979 serial by presenting Quatermass living in seclusion in the Scottish Highlands, while the final episode reveals that the social collapse foreshadowing the events of the final story has already begun. Production Kneale had brought Quatermass's story to a close in the 1979 serial Quatermass, and for many years saw no reason to revisit the character. However, in 1995 he was approached by BBC radio producer Paul Quinn with an idea for creating a drama-documentary about the character as part of a season of BBC radio programming looking back at the 1950s. Quinn told Dreamwatch magazine, "For many people who remember the seminal experience of hiding behind the sofa when the Quatermass serials came on the television, Quatermass was the