Invasion of the Body Snatchers. At the same time, it reflected the widespread anxiety of the nuclear age – the story begins with a failed test of a nuclear-powered rocket in Australia (at a time when the country was in reality a site for a series of British nuclear weapons tests). In short, Quatermass II was the perfect cold-war drama." Some science fiction fans have speculated that the Quatermass serials in general, and Quatermass II in particular – with its elements including a conspiracy of silence in the government concerning extraterrestrial life, secret government facilities for alien use, and the silencing of any critic who opposes the government's plans – influenced the successful American series The X-Files (1993–2002). Kneale was invited to write for The X-Files during the 1990s, but declined the offer. Other genre productions that have been compared with the serial include the 1970 Doctor Who story Spearhead from Space. This serial features an alien entity falling to Earth in a meteorite shower; a factory taken over for the growth of the alien creature, and governmental institutions being infiltrated by servants of the aliens. Other media As with The Quatermass Experiment, the film rights to the serial were purchased by Hammer Film Productions – in this case after they had only read the scripts, before the serial was even made. Titled Quatermass 2, the film was released in 1957 and once again directed by Val Guest, with Brian Donlevy starring; unlike the first film, Kneale wrote the screenplay himself. In the United States, the film was released under the title Enemy from Space. Shortly after Quatermass II finished its run, comedian Bob Monkhouse included a spoof of the serial in an episode of his own BBC television series, which featured Monica Grey reprising her role as Paula Quatermass. Cartier and Kneale were greatly displeased with this and complained to their superiors at the BBC about it. Quatermass returned to the BBC in 1958 when Kneale's third serial, Quatermass and the Pit, began transmission. That was the last television appearance of the character for 20 years, until Kneale brought Quatermass back for a final time in the 1979 serial Quatermass, this time produced for Thames Television. A serialised novelisation of Quatermass II, written by Kneale, ran in the Daily Express newspaper in the UK from 5 to 20 December 1955, although Kneale was forced to draw the storyline to