Quatermass & The Pit

Part of the seminal Quatermass series created by BBC writer Nigel Kneale and then turned into a film trilogy by Hammer, Quatermass provided the blueprint for many classic sci-fi creations to follow – including Dr Who and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.

When workers building an extension to the London Underground dig up skeletal remains, palaeontologist Dr Matthew Roney is called in and deduces that they are the remnants of a group of apemen over five million years old. But Professor Bernard Quatermass draws other conclusions, suspecting something alien afoot.

As theories swirl on the origins of these three-legged insectoid creatures with horned heads – Nazi propaganda? Demonic forces? – a drill operator is overcome by sudden telekinetic powers, and something very dark that has lurked deep within the bowels of the tube for millennia is unleashed onto the streets of London.

"Provocative and compelling... One of the high points of Hammer's film production" Film4.com

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Read our guest blog post from Nigel Kneale biographer, Andy Murray.