The BBC airs the fourth episode of Nigel Kneale’s trend-setting science fiction series The Quatermass Experiment, starring Reginald Tate as Prof. Bernard Quatermass. This episode was not archived and does not exist in the BBC’s archives.
As Victor Carroon, still delirious, shows an unusual amount of interest in a potted cactus, a photographer intrudes on the Carroons, trying to get a photo of the returned asteronaut for his newspaper. One touch from Victor Carroon’s hand leaves the man dead. Quatermass realizes that whatever extraterrestrial intelligence was encountered by the men aboard his rocket has come to Earth in Carroon’s body. Carroon goes missing, spirited away in a car and taken to an organized crime hideout that he is able to escape quickly with his deadly touch. All the while, he is mutating into a man with cactus-like skin…
written by Nigel Kneale
directed by Rudolph Cartier
music not creditedCast: Reginald Tate (Professor Bernard Quatermass), Isabel Dean (Judith Carroon), Duncan Lamont (Victor Carroon), John Glen (Dr. Gordon Briscoe), Hugh Kelly (John Paterson), Ian Colin (Detective Inspector Lomax), Frank Hawkins (Detective Sergeant Best), Paul Whitsun-Jones (James Fullalove), Oliver Johnston (News Editor), Philip Vickers (American Reporter), Katie Johnson (Miss Wilde), Lewis Wilson (Walters), Darrell Runey (Photographer), Jack Rodney (Ramsay), Anthony Green (Boy), Richard Cuthbert (Chemist), Leo Fox (Cinema Manager), Janet Joye (Cinemagoer), Bernadette Milnes (Usherette), Keith Herrington (Space Lieutenant), Pauline Johnson (Space Girl)
Notes: The BBC, unsatisfied with its experimental telerecording technique, only recorded the first two episodes of The Quatermass Experiment. This synopsis and the remainder of this guide to The Quatermass Experiment, out of necessity, is based upon the original scripts and remaining production paperwork.
LogBook entry by Earl Green