Comprehensive information and links about Nigel Kneale

Nigel Kneale on April 18, 1922 in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, UKNigel Kneale is a Manx television and film writer, who has worked mostly in the UK. He is best known for his creation of the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass, who has appeared in three serials for BBC Television, one for Thames Television and three feature film adaptations of the BBC serials for the Hammer company.

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Early life and career

Although born in England, Kneale's family were from the Isle of Man and returned there shortly afterwards, where he was brought up in the capital, Douglas. His father was the editor of the local newspaper, and his brother Bryan is a renowned sculptor. Kneale enjoyed life on the island, but a skin condition meant that the weather there did not suit him and in 1947 he left for mainland Britain.

After initially pursuing a career as an actor, Kneale decided to switch to writing after "a season carrying spears at Stratford-upon-Avon" convinced him he would never make it very far as a performer. He began working in prose, in 1950 winning the Somerset Maugham Award for his collection of short stories, .

He had first moved into broadcasting when he began writing plays for BBC Radio in 1948, subsequently concentrating on work and becoming one of the first permanent staff drama writers for BBC Television. His first television work, on the play writers of BBC Television, and in 1953 teamed up with noted television director Rudolph Cartier - who had written "Reginald Tate as Kneale's heroic scientist Professor Bernard Quatermass in The Quatermass Experiment (1953)." tells the story of Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group, and the consequences of him sending the first manned mission into space when a terrible fate befalls the crew and only one returns. It was a huge popular and critical success, and Cartier and Kneale became the No. 1 team of BBC drama.

They worked on literary adaptations of together, in the latter case creating a television production which became almost as famous as the book itself, being labelled both horrific and subversive, provoking death threats and raising questions in Parliament.

A second Quatermass serial, , arrived in 1955, the same year in which Hammer released their adaptation of the Professor's first outing, , the spelling changed to play on the film's X-certificate for its horrific content. Kneale was displeased with the adaptation, however, on which he had been able to do no work as his BBC staff contract prohibited it.

However, soon after this he left the BBC, and was thus able to pen the screen plays of both the Hammer adaptation, .

Despite no longer being on the staff of the BBC he still wrote for them, in 1958 penning what many believe to be the greatest of all the Quatermass serials, . A sophisticated tale of racial tension, the origins of mankind and primaeval fears, it drew much critical acclaim and a huge audience for the time, allegedly emptying the pubs on the night of its final episode. There was no way Kneale could top that, and it proved to be the character's last BBC television outing, although Hammer did produce another film adaptation of

As well as having adapted his own serials for the screen, Kneale also forged a successful screenwriting career adapting other peoples' work for the cinema. He wrote the screenplays for successful film adaptations of (1982), although he was so displeased with all of the changes that were made to it that he had his name removed from the credits of the final cut. In the same decade, he collaborated with John Landis on the , but this was never eventually produced.

Much varied television work came for Kneale in the 1960s and 1970s, including stand alone plays such as , which was heavily influenced (especially in the early 1970s) by his Quatermass work, but he declined. In later years, his disapproval of became well known, as he considered it too frightening for what was ostensibly a children's programme.

Although Kneale often uses science-fiction backgrounds and settings for his s, he denies that he is a science-fiction writer and indeed has often expressed an intense dislike for the genre. He sees himself as a writer predominantly of 'straight' drama who happens to sometimes use science-fiction trappings in his stories, although this has not stopped him from becoming a great favourite and something of a legendary figure amongst fans of the genre, particularly in the UK.

In the early 1970s Kneale discussed the possibility of making a fourth and final Quatermass serial with the BBC, and although this project eventually came to nothing, Kneale took his ) in 1979. A glossy, expensive production, it starred Sir John Mills in the title role and brought to an end the Professor's story, although subsequently in 1996 Kneale penned a drama.

In 1981 Kneale tried his hand at writing comedy for television for the first time with the series , although it was not a success and he did not attempt to stray outside of drama again. In 1989 he adapted Susan Hill's novel for television, an adaptation which was generally very well-received, although not by Hill herself. In recent years his output has decreased in his retirement, although he was still writing for television well into the 1990s, contributing episodes to the popular ITV series "Kneale with his wife, the writer Judith Kerr, and the original 'monster' they created for the climax of The Quatermass Experiment, pictured in 2004." Kneale with his wife, the writer Judith Kerr, and the original 'monster' they created for the climax of featured in a poll of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of all time compiled by the British Film Institute, and in 2003 the digital television channel BBC Four produced a special documentary celebrating Kneale's life and work. All of the existing is presented in black and white because the original colour masters were wiped.

In April 2005, the digital channel BBC Four produced a live re-make of (only the first two episodes of the 1953 serial exist as telerecordings) as part of a special 'TV on Trial' season, debating whether television had ever had a true 'classic' era. Kneale's original s were adapted into a single two-hour version (although in the event the broadcast ran to only one hour forty minutes) by producer Richard Fell, and Kneale acted as a consultant on the production which was broadcast on Saturday April 2.

Kneale married the writer Judith Kerr in 1954, and they have two children. Their son Matthew Kneale is a distinguished writer himself, winning the Book of the Year prize at the prestigious Whitbread Book Awards in 2000 for the novel . Their daughter, Tracy Kneale, works in the special effects industry, and has worked on the popular