The Quatermass Experiment
An Unidentified Species
TV Flash files “An Unidentified Species” as a desk essential hour — The Quatermass Experiment (1953) on BBC, season 1, episode 5, aired 1953-08-15, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E05: listed hour 5 of 6 in the The Quatermass Experiment guide, hour 5 of 6 in season 1. It aired 1953-08-15 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Believed to Be Suffering” (S01E04). Next is “State of Emergency” (S01E06).
Essential hour: “An Unidentified Species”. An Unidentified Species: late-serial science title, the experiment proving the living room could take a horror it could not pause.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Quatermass picks up Carroon's trail and believes that the mixture of chemicals he has taken will accelerate his metamorphosis. Meanwhile, the killing starts - and Westminster Abbey a pulsating mass is revealed clinging to the building.
Viewer FAQ
Where does An Unidentified Species sit in the The Quatermass Experiment guide?
S01E05 is listed hour 5 of 6 — hour 5 of 6 in season 1, season 1 episode 5.
When did The Quatermass Experiment S01E05 air?
An Unidentified Species aired 1953-08-15 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…