Rejoice! First the Beeb says it will revive Doctor Who complete with Daleks, and now it has revealed plans to bring back Quatermass! Not just classic science fiction - classic London science fiction.
The good Doctor Quatermass, rocket scientist and walking stiff upper lip, will lead the summer line-up on BBC 4, and is as good a reason as any for getting digital. Those unfamiliar with Quatermass are in for a treat; while dwarfed in popularity by Doctor Who and American imports, it was still a gem of writing and apocalyptic darkness. But best of all, it was London sci-fi through and through. The Quatermass Experiment - the series BBC 4 plans to revive - originally ended with a showdown with a pulsing alien blob in Poet's Corner. Quatermass and the Pit, the third series, dealt with an alien spacecraft discovered during Tube excavations in SW1. If the Beeb has any sense, this link will be retained, and the revived Quatermass will be more A to Z files than X-files.
