The sci-fi sensation continues unabated and Legendary, the studio behind current projects, including Dune and Lost in Space, has confirmed that they’re working with Hammer Films to turn The Quatermass Experiment into a new movie, with Hanna’s David Farr set to write the script.

Originally a series of BBC serials in the 1950s, where the titular Professor Bernard Quatermass was played by Reginald Tate, The Quatermass Experiment was set in a near future where Britain had successfully launched the first manned space mission, overseen by Quatermass and his team of crack scientists.

When the mission returns with several astronauts missing and one gravely ill, however, Quatermass and his team find themselves having to confront the possibility that a sinister alien presence has come to destroy Earth.

It’s regarded by many to be among the first pieces of “adult” sci-fi and its influence can be felt in subsequent British classics like Blake’s 7 and Doctor Who. Although the original series was just six episodes long, over the 20 years that followed the original Quatermass serials, several new stories revolving around the professor and some thrilling, horrifying alien encounters were made.

In 2005, the BBC remade the original serial as a live TV event, with Jason Flemyng being perfectly cast as Quatermass and pre-Doctor Who David Tennant. In fact, It broadcast just weeks before Tennant was officially revealed as the next Doctor.

Scott Snowden is MyM’s US Editor. Follow him on Twitter.

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