Quatermass [The Quatermass Conclusion] *** (1979, John Mills, Simon McCorkindale, Margaret Tyzack, Barbara Kellerman, Brewster Mason, Brenda Fricker) – Classic Movie Review 13,982

John Mills plays Professor Bernard Quatermass in director Piers Haggard’s satisfying 1979 four-part British TV sci-fi serial film Quatermass.

John Mills plays Professor Bernard Quatermass in director Piers Haggard’s satisfying 1979 four-part British sci-fi TV serial film Quatermass (also released in America and on British video as a separate parallel 107-minute cinema feature called The Quatermass Conclusion). Like its three predecessor TV serials, The Quatermass Experiment (1953), Quatermass II (1955) and Quatermass and the Pit (1958), Quatermass is written by Nigel Kneale. It was broadcast on the ITV network in the UK in October and November 1979.

An alien force is spiriting off Brit children to old Druid burial grounds, and Quatermass comes back to get to the bottom of it all after his grand-daughter has disappeared at the hands of a sinister cult.

Stagy, even hammy in places, but overall it is thoughtful, intriguing stuff, very satisfactory for fans of the series. That good actor Mills is fine as a retired Quatermass, though Kneale claimed he ‘didn’t have the authority for Quatermass’, and there is a distinguished cast to support him.

Quatermass was conceived for the BBC, who bailed. The project was acquired by Euston Films who unusually commissioned Kneale to rewrite his unmade scripts into two versions: a four-part TV serial and a 107-minute film, The Quatermass Conclusion, for international cinema release.

Cast: John Mills, Simon McCorkindale, Margaret Tyzack, Barbara Kellerman, Brewster Mason, Brenda Fricker, Toyah Willcox, Neil Stacy, Rebecca Saire, David Yip.

Kneale said: ‘The BBC version would have been much more in the studio, whereas the Euston Films version was entirely shot on 35mm film with a great deal of it outside. Much more lavish than either the BBC or I had contemplated.’

The Quatermass Conclusion is directed by Piers Haggard, runs 216 minutes or 107 minutes, is made by Euston Films, is released by Thames Television, is written by Nigel Kneale, is shot by Ian Wilson, is produced by Ted Childs and Verity Lambert, and is scored by Nic Rowley and Marc Wilkinson.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,982

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