Review: Into the Unknown

From another planet.



At the dawn of television in England, there was a blank canvas for imaginative young writers and producers to bring to this new and eager audience something utterly fresh. One of these imaginative young men was Nigel Kneale, just off the boat from his home in the Isle of Man, a place he hints had its own share of otherworldiness.

Biographer Andy Murray charts us through the birth of Kneale's career with the BBC and the chilling scripts he wrote for them that resulted in television that still resonates with those that first saw the flickering black and white shows in those far off days.

Of course I'm talking about Quatermass, the series of television shows and films that horrified the country in an age far more innocent than today. Kneale's science fiction was very much that of John Wyndham and even H.G. Wells—that is, ordinary people encountering strange things. And, I stress the word strange, for Kneale it wasn't so much about outer space, more the presence of something lurking right here on earth. Kneale linked up ancient history and superstition and our fear of what we don't know, and mixed that with new scientific advances. Remember, it was an age of the Cold War, the country had survived the recent Second World War, communism was seen as a threat, pea souper fogs that killed thousands around the country. America had The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, England was scared witless by Quatermass and the Pit, The Quatermass Experiment and so on.

Reading Murray's book it seems a minor miracle Kneale's work ever reached the screen, the BBC hardly being the most adventurous outlet for Kneale's unbounded talents. Through many false dawns and stops and starts the series did get made and Kneale pays great tributes to director Val Guest for bringing his writing to the screen (incidentally, Val Guest died last month).

There were other highlights in the early career of Kneale. The critically acclaimed early TV adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 starring Peter Cushing was a particular success. It brought letters to The Times complaining of the nation being terrified. The great tragedy is so much of Kneale's work is lost because the BBC wiped some of the tapes to use again. Can you believe it? Imagine some national treasures of TV today suffering the same fate, Friends or The Office. Choose your favourites and imagine the tapes being wiped!

Murray's biography says much about the early days of British television: the tiny budgets, blinkered attitudes, creative people battling with accountants to get a programme made. And Nigel Kneale was very much a pioneer struggling to bring his imagination to our screens. His later work is profiled, dark things such as The Stone Tapes and Beasts. It is very much a biography of his working life, now and then it allows us a glimpse of his family—his wife of many years was a successful writer herself. The picture you get is of reserved English gentleman, old school manners if you like, preserving his privacy, getting on with what he did best, chilling the hearts of the nation.

He has his younger generation of fans, the creators of The League of Gentlemen, film maker John Landis and others, they recall the scariness of it all. Television from a bygone age that profoundly influenced many aspects today. Kneale was a true innovator and daring TV writer. A book essential for anyone remotely interested in the era.
 
[Kevin Ring]

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Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale by Andy Murray
Headpress
192 Pages