We Are The Martians: The Legacy of Nigel Kneale

SYNOPSIS

Thomas Nigel Kneale may not be a household name, but those who know him revere him. And those who don t know the name, will certainly have felt his influence.

In many ways the father of television drama in the UK, he was also, in every way, a successor to H.G. Wells and M.R. James in his impact. The missing link in the genre chain that leads from Wells to J.G. Ballard.

Why is he so little known? Perhaps because he was a screenwriter in the days before TV thought to preserve its output, and because many of his most successful works dealt with Science Fiction and the Supernatural.

But he was a pioneer.

He pushed the medium in a new direction with THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT, forging a more vivid, more cinematic means of telling stories, with Producer/Director Rudolph Cartier. He demanded more from Television... in terms of style, and content. Filling his stories with ideas as well as emotion. Time after time, he broke new ground, tested the boundaries; provoked as he enthralled, made us think as he made us feel... THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT, THE YEAR OF THE SEX OLYMPICS, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, THE ROAD, THE STONE TAPE, BEASTS...

In the UK, there s not a single TV drama dealing in Speculative ideas that does not owe him a debt; directly, or by the ripples of influence that preceded them...

Now the authors, critics and screenwriters who have been moved and influenced by his work, come together to celebrate his life, his work, and his extraordinary legacy in:

WE ARE THE MARTIANS: The Legacy Of Nigel Kneale. CONTENTS
Foreword - Mark Gatiss
Introduction - Neil Snowdon
King Of Hauntology - Mark Chadbourn
The Literary Kneale - Tim Lucas
The Quatermass Conception - Stephen Bissette
A Conversation With Judith Kerr - Neil Snowdon
On Nigel Kneale - Ramsey Campbell
The Quatermass Legacy: A Personal Reflection On Kneale And His Influence - David Pirie
Creeping Unknown Pt1: Wuthering Heights, The Crunch, Nineteen Eighty Four - Kim Newman
Phenomena Badly Observed, And Wrongly Explained: Quatermass, The Pit, And Me - John Llewellyn Probert
Under The Influence - Maura McHugh
A Conversation With Joe Dante - Neil Snowdon
Brief Encounter - Stephen Laws
Adaptation And Anger, Or The Nigel Kneale-John Osbourne Synthesis - Richard Harland Smith
The Promised End Nigel Kneale s Lost Masterpiece from 1963: The Road - Jonathan Rigby
A Conversation With Mark Gatiss - Neil Snowdon
Cool The Audience, Cool The World: Media, Mind Control & The Modern Family - Kier-La Janisse
Pushing The Door He Unlocked: Ghostwatch And The Stone Tape - Stephen Volk
Beasts: An Overview - Mark Morris
It Would Have Been Suckled, You Know : Beasts And Baby An Appreciation - Jeremy Dyson
Quatermass: Rebirth & Ressurection Jez Winship
The Quatermass Conclusion: An Interview With Nigel Kneale - David Sutton.
Creeping Unknown Pt2: Kinvig Kim Newman
In Pursuit Of Unhappy Endings: Chris Burt & Herbert Wise on The Woman In Black - Tony Earnshaw
Where s Kneale When You Need Him- Thana Niveau
Creeping Unknown Pt3: Sharpe's Gold & Kavanagh QC - Kim Newman
On Wishing For A Nigel Kneale Childhood - Lynda E. Rucker