Invisible Ink no 314: Thomas Nigel Kneale

He became a legend in his own lifetime, a shining example of how to explore fantastical subjects rigorously without sacrificing believability. Born in 1922, Kneale was raised in the Isle of Man, studied law, moved to London and joined Rada, but he quickly abandoned acting to be a writer. His debut short story collection Tomato Cain and Other Stories won the Somerset Maugham Award, but although his publisher pushed him to write a novel he chose to write for television, which he did successfully for more than 40 years. Before he began working for the BBC he had never seen any television at all.

Kneale soon realised that British drama was polite, slow and dull. Filmed live, it was trapped in a middle-class netherworld of drawing-room sets and cut-glass accents. He and his director wanted to open up stories and explore grander themes. Although Kneale wrote and adapted many other works, he is best remembered for his character Bernard Quatermass.

For six weeks The Quatermass Experiment gripped the nation. This story of a manned space flight that brings back a germ brilliantly exploited Britain’s postwar insecurities and was a massive hit for the BBC. The stumbling pilot, his arm swollen and bandaged as his infection spreads, is driven by the need to survive, and must have struck an uncomfortable chord with war veterans. Kneale subsequently adapted 1984 in a production that was considered so shocking that questions were asked in Parliament about its suitability for television, even though the Queen had enjoyed it.

Quatermass II was an even eerier exploration of government dishonesty. One of the key features of Kneale’s writing was his ability to see the central story from a dozen viewpoints, canvassing opinions from char ladies and politicians. The next, Quatermass and the Pit, was even better. Inspired by the racial tensions Kneale had seen rising in Britain (the Notting Hill riots occurred during production) it suggested that the human race itself was racially “impure”.

Kneale tried scripting for US projects but the experience was always disastrous. Turning down James Bond adaptations, he instead wrote disturbing, prescient British plays including The Year of the Sex Olympics, in which the British are kept stupefied with a diet of lowbrow entertainment. Kneale was surrounded by writers; he was Judith Kerr’s husband and Matthew Kneale’s father. His concept for a Quatermass prequel set in pre-war Germany has yet to be realised.