was never happy with the whole idea in the first place. The central idea was too ordinary". Although Kneale was pleased with the high production values, he was dissatisfied with the casting, believing that John Mills "didn't have the authority for Quatermass". He was similarly unimpressed with Simon MacCorkindale, noting that "We had him in Beasts playing an idiot and he was very good at that". Kneale disliked the depiction of the Planet People, as his inspiration had been angry punks rather than hippies (as evidenced by his portrayal of Kickalong as a gun-toting lunatic who commits multiple motiveless murders). Producer Ted Childs thinks that "the primary problems with it were (a) it was perhaps too depressing a story for a popular television audience and (b) the punters were used to a fairly high standard of technical presentation from American television... And we just couldn't afford that". Executive producer Verity Lambert's opinion is that it "didn't have the staying power of the originals, but then that's almost inevitable when you try to bring something back in a slightly different form". Other media From the outset, Euston intended to create two versions of the story; a four-part serial for broadcast on UK television and a 100-minute film, The Quatermass Conclusion, for distribution abroad. While writing the scripts, Kneale was "careful not to pad, because I knew that was the obvious thing, but to write in material which can be removed". There is one major plot deviation between the two versions; in the TV serial, Quatermass is separated from Annie Morgan as they transport Isabel to a London hospital, after Quatermass is dragged from the passenger seat of the moving vehicle by a member of the Blue Brigade. This scene is slightly changed in the film version so that Quatermass manages to stay on board the vehicle with Annie and Isabel, despite the Blue Brigade attack, enabling Quatermass to stay with Annie and Isabel as they go into the hospital. This meant that two versions of the hospital scene where Isabel dies were shot, one with Quatermass present (the film version) and one without (the television version), as well as an earlier scene at the hospital unique to the film version where Quatermass talks on the telephone. As Quatermass is present at the hospital in the film version, it enabled all the footage from the TV serial featuring Quatermass with people at