The Quatermass Experiment (film)
The Quatermass Experiment is a 2005 live television film that reimagines the 1953 Nigel Kneale story. It aired on BBC Four as part of a season exploring classic TV. The cast includes Jason Flemyng as Professor Bernard Quatermass, Mark Gatiss as Paterson, Andrew Tiernan as Carroon, Indira Varma as Judith, David Tennant as Briscoe, Adrian Bower as Fullalove, and Adrian Dunbar as Lomax (a Ministry of Defence official). Isla Blair plays Home Secretary Margaret Blaker.
During rehearsals, David Tennant learned he would become the Doctor in Doctor Who, and in the live broadcast Flemyng cheekily changed Quatermass’s first line to reference the Doctor. The remake stays close to the original story but is set in a slightly modern time. It was written and produced by Richard Fell, directed by Sam Miller with Kneale as a consultant, and filmed as a true live production at the QinetiQ Longcross site in Surrey, with Trevor Hampton handling technical control.
The ending was moved from Westminster Abbey to the Tate Modern to suit a studio setting, and there is no visible monster on screen. The show ran about 97 minutes in a two-hour slot and finished early due to the pace of live TV. It drew about 482,000 viewers, making it BBC Four’s fourth-highest-rated program at the time. Critics praised its strong writing and performances, noting only a few live-broadcast slips. The BBC Four broadcast was later released on DVD in October 2005 with extras, and the program has since been repeated on BBC Four.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:25 (CET).