Back in the 1950s when there were only two TV channels, when there was just 405 scanlines on the screen, and where televised dramas were still being performed live, Britain's flagship scifi series was Quatermass! The show followed the perilous adventures of Professor Bernard Quatermass, Head of the British Experimental Rocket Group. Over three serials he would face off against a succession of terrifying extraterrestrial menaces.

Quatermass and the Pit was the third Quatermass serial penned by scriptwriting legend Nigel Kneale, airing on the BBC from December 1958 to January 1959. This time Professor Quatermass (André Morell) investigates a strange palaeontological dig site beneath a Knightsbridge street. There, a fossilised human skull has been found, and beneath it a vast, smoothly polished cylinder of unknown composition and purpose. What Quatermass and his friend, palaeontologist Matthew Roney (Cec Linder) do know is that both have been buried there for five million years. The revelations that follow will end with the whole of London in flames.

Legend has it that Quatermass and the Pit was such a phenomena in its day, that pubs closed early as folk rushed home to watch the series finale. Perhaps the hype was real too, because TV critics have continued to this day to laud the serial as one of the greatest British dramas of the 1950s.

Now, the big question is, would what lies "down t'pit" be enough to tempt Dani away from ordering another vodka blue at the bar? OR will she find this classic 80 year old scifi to be 'the pits'? Listen now and find out!

Credits:

Hosts: Dani Wray, Rebecca Wray, John Isles All music composed and performed by Steve Johnson https://www.idlebones.co.uk

All artwork and logos by Kevin Hiley (with some help from DALL-E 3) Directed and edited by Kevin Hiley

Produced by Kevin Hiley and Rebecca Wray

Contact details:

E-mail: idontdoscifi@gmail.com

Twitter: @idontdoscifi

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