by Manx writer Nigel Kneale in 1953 for the serial The Quatermass Experiment. Its success led to two sequels, Quatermass II (1955) and Quatermass and the Pit (1958). These three Quatermass serials are seen today as seminal 1950s television productions. Kneale, however, became disenchanted with the BBC and went freelance in the late 1950s, producing scripts for Hammer Films and Associated Television. The notion of bringing Professor Quatermass back for a fourth adventure dated back to at least 1965 when producer Irene Shubik asked Kneale to contribute a new Quatermass story for the first season of the science fiction anthology series, Out of the Unknown. Nothing came of this but the prospect of Quatermass making a reappearance arose again when, following the success of the film version of Quatermass and the Pit in 1967, Hammer announced it was in discussions with Kneale for a new Quatermass adventure. Again, this did not progress beyond the initial negotiation stage. In the meantime Kneale had been coaxed back to the BBC, writing plays such as The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968), Wine of India (1970) and The Stone Tape (1972). Following completion of The Stone Tape, Kneale was commissioned on 21 November 1972 by BBC head of drama serials, Ronnie Marsh, to write a new four-part Quatermass serial. Assigned to produce the serial was Dixon of Dock Green producer Joe Waters. Preliminary filming on Quatermass began in June 1973 at Ealing Studios where special effects designer Jack Wilkie and his assistant, Ian Scoones shot model footage for part one of the serial, of a space station with astronauts working on its hull. At this point the BBC got cold feet about the project; it had become concerned about the cost of mounting the production and had been refused permission to film at Stonehenge, one of the locations at which Kneale had envisaged the Planet People would gather to be reaped by the alien force. Kneale recalled that Stonehenge "had become Big Business and the place was like a factory with tourists there from dawn to dusk... they weren't going to let anyone go near it." Kneale also felt that the BBC was unhappy with the script believing it "didn't suit their image at that time; it was too gloomy." In the end, it was decided during summer 1973 that for financial reasons the BBC would not proceed with the production. However the