The Quatermass Experiment

Miniseries

1953 · 6 episodes · 3h 7m in all

Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells the story of the first crewed flight into space, supervised by Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group.

Episodes

1. 

   1. Contact Has Been Established

   18 Jul 1953 · 32 min

   A British experimental rocket orbits the Earth. After being out of contact for 57 hours, the capsule crashes back to Earth in Wimbledon, London. When the capsule is opened, only one member of the three-man crew emerges, Victor Carroon.

2. 

   2. Persons Reported Missing

   25 Jul 1953 · 35 min

   Victor Carroon is subjected to various tests which indicate that he has taken on the identities of the other two men. Quatermass and Paterson find a gelatinous substance spread around the capsule's interior.

3. 3

   3. Very Special Knowledge

   1 Aug 1953 · 30 min

   Carron is taken back to the crash site and a recording of what happened during the orbit is played back to him, with disturbing results. A group of journalists try to kidnap him, but he, in turn, attacks one of them as he begins to change.

4. 4

   4. Believed to be Suffering

   8 Aug 1953 · 30 min

   Carroon takes refuge inside a cinema (where a spoof film 'Planet of the Dragons', is on screen). He then goes to a chemist where he appears to in pain and his hand is seen to be badly mutated.

5. 5

   5. An Unidentified Species

   15 Aug 1953 · 30 min

   Quatermass picks up Carroon's trail and believes that the mixture of chemicals he has taken will accelerate his metamorphosis. Meanwhile, the killing starts - and Westminster Abbey a pulsating mass is revealed clinging to the building.

6. 6

   6. State of Emergency

   22 Aug 1953 · 30 min

   A state of emergency is declared and the army is brought in. Quatermass plays the creature the rocket tapes and appeals to the last vestiges of humanity left in Carroon to fight what he has become. The creature finally dies, just before it is due to spore.