 By the summer of 1957 , Kneale was working on the scripts for a third and final BBC serial . Titled Quatermass and the Pit and again produced and directed by Cartier , this was eventually broadcast in December 1958 and January 1959 . John Robinson was no longer available to play Quatermass , so the role was offered instead to Alec Clunes . Clunes turned down the part , and it was offered once more to André Morell , who this time accepted . Morell has been praised by several reviewers as having given the definitive portrayal of Quatermass . The serial itself has been praised by the BBC 's own website as " simply the first finest thing the BBC ever made . It justifies licence fees to this day . " Despite this success , Kneale was unsure about whether the character would ever return , later telling an interviewer : " I didn 't want to go on repeating because Professor Quatermass had already saved the world from ultimate destruction three times , and that seemed to me to be quite enough . " 
