The Quatermass Experiment
Very Special Knowledge
TV Flash files “Very Special Knowledge” as a desk essential hour — The Quatermass Experiment (1953) on BBC, season 1, episode 3, aired 1953-08-01, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E03: listed hour 3 of 6 in the The Quatermass Experiment guide, hour 3 of 6 in season 1. It aired 1953-08-01 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Persons Reported Missing” (S01E02). Next is “Believed to Be Suffering” (S01E04).
Essential hour: “Very Special Knowledge”. Very Special Knowledge: mid-serial titled expertise, lost-media legend with teeth still assembling in a live studio.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Carron is taken back to the crash site and a recording of what happened during the orbit is played back to him, with disturbing results. A group of journalists try to kidnap him, but he, in turn, attacks one of them as he begins to change.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Very Special Knowledge sit in the The Quatermass Experiment guide?
S01E03 is listed hour 3 of 6 — hour 3 of 6 in season 1, season 1 episode 3.
When did The Quatermass Experiment S01E03 air?
Very Special Knowledge aired 1953-08-01 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with the two surviving 1953 episodes. Live BBC rocket horror; the gaps are part of the legend, not a failure of your queue.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The Quatermass Experiment is British rocket horror on a shoestring: a 1953 BBC serial that terrified a nation and taught television to do dread. Adult sci-fi, culturally massive, some live episodes wiped. Watch it now as lost-media legend with teeth — the serial that proved the living room could be a frightened theater.
The rocket comes back wrong and the living room cannot pause. The Quatermass Experiment, Nigel Kneale's live BBC serial (July–August 1953, directed by Rudolph Cartier), gripped the UK: Professor Bernard Quatermass — Reginald Tate — facing an alien horror unfolding in London, Isabel Dean as Judith Carroon, Hugh Kelly as John Paterson. Six parts. Adult sci-fi, culturally massive. Only the first two episodes survive complete; later ones wiped. Lost-media legend with teeth. British rocket horror on a shoestring. The…
Filed against
- Reginald Tate as Prof. Bernard Quatermass
Reginald Tate played Prof. Bernard Quatermass on The Quatermass Experiment, 1953 BBC rocket horror on a shoestring — a serial that terrified a nation and taught television to do dread. Adult sci-fi, culturally massive, some live episodes…
- Isabel Dean as Judith Carroon
Isabel Dean played Judith Carroon on The Quatermass Experiment — British rocket horror on a shoestring, 1953 BBC serial that terrified a nation, adult sci-fi, some live episodes wiped. Lost-media legend with teeth. TV Flash files her as…
- Hugh Kelly as John Paterson
Hugh Kelly played John Paterson on The Quatermass Experiment — 1953 BBC rocket horror on a shoestring, a serial that terrified a nation and taught television to do dread. Adult sci-fi, culturally massive, some live episodes wiped. TV…