PRESS
RELEASE
192pp
| Available Nov 2005 | Critical Vision
The
first full biography of a living legend, drawing on a whole range
of exclusive interviews.
Nigel
Kneale invented popular television"—Mark Gatiss, The
League of Gentlemen
Over
fifty years ago, the first instalment of a fantasy series called
Quatermass aired on BBC TV. Penned by scriptwriter NIGEL KNEALE,
it was a vast success and the big screen adaptation that followed
helped place HAMMER FILMS on the international map.
Quatermass
was but the tip of the iceberg. Kneale followed it with a horde
of astonishing TV work that stands amongst the most original and
powerful in the history of the medium—from The Creature and
The Road to The Stone Tape and The Year of The Sex Olympics. Blending
elements of horror and science fiction with intelligent, powerful
drama, many of these works have since been lost, the broadcast
tapes wiped, but they continue to influence generations of admirers
and filmmakers—amongst them JOHN CARPENTER, DAN O’BANNON,
JOE DANTE, JOHN LANDIS, CHRIS CARTER, THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN,
the makers of DOCTOR WHO, STEVEN SPIELBERG and many others.
A
key figure in popular culture, yet a vastly underrated one, Into
The Unknown is the first book to examine Kneale’s work and
assess its pioneering nature, drawing on interviews with major
collaborators and high-profile fans—as well as Kneale himself.
"I
myself was writing a science fiction horror film and I worked
very hard to understand and to emulate some of what Nigel Kneale
had done"—Dan O'Bannon, writer of one of the key films
of all time, ALIEN
Kneale
was an acknowledged influence on Chris Carter and THE X FILES,
and Dan O’Bannon, creator of the ALIEN series
Nigel
Kneale’s archive work increasingly plays on Public Broadcast
TV stations and at festivals, hailed as "classics" and
Kneale himself as a "living legend". Much of his movie
work is presently available on DVD
The
book features lots of inside info on British TV sci fi.
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