Nigel Kneale

Writing

Nigel Kneale

Born 1922-04-18 · Lancashire, England, UK

Thomas Nigel Kneale (18 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay. Predominantly a writer of thrillers that used science-fiction and horror elements, he was best known for the creation of the character Professor Bernard Quatermass. Kneale wrote original scripts and successfully adapted works by writers such as George Orwell, John Osborne, H. G. Wells and Susan Hill. Kneale was most active in television, joining BBC Television in 1951; his final script was transmitted on ITV in 1997. He wrote well-received television dramas such as The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968), The Stone Tape (1972) and Beasts (1976) in addition to the Quatermass serials. He has been described as "one of the most influential writers of the 20th century", and as "having invented popular TV". From Wikipedia

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Halloween III: Season of the Witch poster
5.2

After a terrified toy salesman is mysteriously attacked and brought to the hospital clutching the year's most popular Halloween mask, Dr. Daniel Challis sets out to investigate the strange events and finds himself thrust into a nightmarish conspiracy.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

1982

Beasts: Buddyboy poster
3.0

When a nightclub owner buys a derelict dolphinarium, he and a young woman seem to be haunted by the ghost of Buddy Boy, the star attraction. Created as an episode of Nigel Kneale's "Beasts" horror anthology miniseries.

Beasts: Buddyboy

1976

Quatermass and the Pit poster
6.7

A mysterious artifact unearthed below a London Underground station proves to have powerful psychic effects on the people around.

Quatermass and the Pit

1967

H.M.S. Defiant poster
6.5

Defiant's crew is part of a fleet-wide movement to present a petition of grievances to the Admiralty. Violence must be no part of it. The continual sadism of Defiant's first officer makes this difficult, and when the captain is disabled, the chance for violence increases.

H.M.S. Defiant

1962

Quatermass 2 poster
6.4

In England, a group of space scientists led by Bernard Quatermass, who have developed plans for the first Moon colony, learn that a secret, ostensibly government-run, complex of identical design has been built in a remote part of England and is the focus of periodic falls of small, hollow "meteorites" originating in outer space. Quatermass determines to investigate and uncovers a terrifying extraterrestrial life form which has already begun action to take over the Earth.

Quatermass 2

1957

The Abominable Snowman poster
6.2

A kindly English botanist and a gruff American promoter lead an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti.

The Abominable Snowman

1957

First Men in the Moon poster
6.3

The world is delighted when a spacecraft containing a crew made up of the world's astronauts lands on the moon, but are shocked when the astronauts discover an old British flag and a document declaring that the moon is taken for Queen Victoria proving that the astronauts were not the first men on the moon.

First Men in the Moon

1964

Look Back in Anger poster
6.7

A disillusioned, angry university graduate comes to terms with his grudge against middle-class life and values.

Look Back in Anger

1959

Beasts: Special Offer poster
8.0

A misfit teenage checkout operator has an unrequited crush on her supermarket manager. At the same shop's cuddly cartoon mascot seems to have come alive and is causing havoc. Created as an episode of Nigel Kneale’s “Beasts” horror anthology miniseries.

Beasts: Special Offer

1976

The Witches poster
6.0

Following a nervous breakdown, Gwen takes up the job of head teacher in the small village of Haddaby. There she can benefit from the tranquillity and peace, enabling her to recover fully. But under the facade of idyllic country life she slowly unearths the frightening reality of village life in which the inhabitants are followers of a menacing satanic cult with the power to inflict indiscriminate evil and death if crossed.

The Witches

1966

The Creature poster
10.0

A scientist searches for the Yeti in a Himalayan fastness, and is soon at odds with an adventurer who wants to find the Creature for less exalted reasons.

The Creature

1955

Ladies' Night poster
NR

A tradition-bound gentlemen's club is thrown into chaos when women are allowed in during "ladies' night." One member resents the intrusion of women so much, he resorts to murder.

Ladies' Night

1986

The Chopper poster
NR

The vengeful spirit of a dead motorcyclist is reluctant to leave his wrecked machine and manifests itself to a woman journalist as motorbike noise.

The Chopper

1971

Number Three poster
9.0

A group of nuclear scientists face a moral dilemma when they discover that, as well as making electricity, their government also wants to make nuclear bombs with their products.

Number Three

1953

The Woman in Black poster
6.9

A lawyer travels to a small seaside town to settle the estate of a recently deceased woman, but soon becomes ensnared in something much more sinister.

The Woman in Black

1989

The Year of the Sex Olympics poster
5.2

Influenced by concerns about overpopulation, the counterculture of the 1960s and the societal effects of television, the play depicts a world of the future where a small elite control the media, keeping the lower classes docile by serving them an endless diet of lowest common denominator programmes and pornography. The play concentrates on an idea the programme controllers have for a new programme which will follow the trials and tribulations of a group of people left to fend for themselves on a remote island. In this respect, the play is often cited as having anticipated the craze for reality television.

The Year of the Sex Olympics

1968

The Entertainer poster
6.2

Archie Rice, an old-time British vaudeville performer sinking into final defeat, schemes to stay in show business.

The Entertainer

1960

Wuthering Heights poster
9.5

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.

Wuthering Heights

1962

Beasts: During Barty's Party poster
9.0

A suburban couple are held under siege by a pack of frighteningly intelligent rats.

Beasts: During Barty's Party

1976

The Road poster
NR

The road through the wood is said to be haunted; but are the ghosts from the past or the future?

The Road

1964

Sharpe's Gold poster
6.5

Spain, 1813. The dashing and heroic Major Richard Sharpe pits his wits against El Casco, a terrifying partisan leader who has a chilling way of dealing with his enemies. Sharpe's mission, to trade guns for deserters, is imperilled by the beautiful and desirable Ellie, who follows him into the hills where there is rumoured to be hidden Aztec gold.

Sharpe's Gold

1995

The Quatermass Conclusion poster
4.2

Influenced by the social and geopolitical situation of the early nineteen-seventies and the hippie youth movement of the late nineteen-sixties, Quatermass is set in a near future in which large numbers of young people are joining a cult, the “Planet People”, and gathering at ancient sites, believing they will be transported to a better life on another planet.

The Quatermass Conclusion

1979

The Quatermass Experiment poster
5.6

Bernard Quatermass heads the futuristic Experimental Rocket Group whose greatest voyage is coming to an end, but after a dramatic crash landing Victor Carroon begins to metamorphose into a strange, deadly alien, setting off a race against time to save humanity.

The Quatermass Experiment

2005

Nineteen Eighty-Four poster
7.3

A man who works for 'The Party' (an all powerful empire led by a man known only as 'Big Brother') begins to have thoughts of rebellion and love for a fellow member. Together they look to help bring down the party.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

1954