Into The Unknown by Andy Murray

Author:Andy Murray
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781909394476
Publisher: SCB Distributors

Kneale’s proposed new serial, then, would see an elderly, frightened Bernard Quatermass set adrift in a near-future extrapolation of this strife-ridden early 1970s world. As society capsizes, the Americans and Soviets would be pouring funds into space exploration, and in his expert capacity Quatermass would be drawn in when catastrophe threatens. Feeling alienated among young people, he would nevertheless long to connect to them. Indeed, Quatermass’ only concern is for his missing young granddaughter.

As ever, the conflict of the old and the young was a keen concern for Kneale. At the time, the young people of the West were rejecting the establishment of their parents’ generation which had instigated the war in Vietnam, assassinated world leaders, or else fallen, like Nixon in America, into total disrepute. The young generation elected to turn on, tune in and drop out, often seizing on a drug-enhanced lifestyle, finding their own modes of dress and speech, and embracing New Age spirituality inspired by Eastern mysticism. Indeed, the hippy movement was like a more good-natured version of the cult of the Grads that Kneale had conceived in The Big, Big Giggle.

For this new serial, the writer took the idea a step further, creating a near-future in which young folk joined together to call themselves ‘Planet People’. This curious cult would roam the countryside, seeking out places of gathering, from ancient stone circles to football stadia, in the hope of visitation from an unpredictable white light. By their understanding, the recipients were transported to another, better world. In fact, they were being harvested as field specimens by a far-off alien force. Like the Grads, the Planet People would therefore be — albeit unwittingly — enthusiastically suicidal, and sing simple rhymes to demonstrate their togetherness. But the Planet People would have a darker side, inspired by the grimmer sidelines of hippy culture. Like Charles Manson and his homicidal ‘family’, a rogue pack of Planet People, under the leadership of the charismatic Kickalong, would be quite capable of murder.

Once Kneale had submitted a full set of scripts, the BBC appointed a producer, Joe Waters, to the project. At that time Waters was a mainstay of the BBC’s trusty police drama Dixon of Dock Green. The show had been running continuously since 1955, and Waters had been in place as its producer since 1969, turning his hand to directing occasional episodes, too. It took a well-earned break for most of 1973, and so Waters was assigned to the embryonic new Quatermass project, where he began drawing up a detailed budget. It was hoped to co-fund the serial with an overseas television station, an approach that the Corporation was generally beginning to move towards.

During the spring of 1973, Kneale worked at rewriting the scripts, and the BBC visual effects department began shooting test footage. When the Department of the Environment refused permission to use Stonehenge for location shooting, the BBC considered building their own mock stone circle. The budget was now estimated at £200,000. In an uncanny replay of the

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