Tonight, we complete the Hammer Quatermass trilogy (albeit out of order) with The Quatermass Xperiment (a.k.a. The Creeping Unknown in the US) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial written by Nigel Kneale. Produced by Anthony Hinds, one of the of 37 films he made for Hammer. Hinds wrote a number of films under the  pseudonym 'John Elder' which he adopted after Her couldn't afford a screenwriter for The Curse of the Werewolf). It is directed by Val Guest, writer and director of the Cannon and Ball vehicle, Boys in Blue and Confessions of a Window Cleaner. (and of course director of Quatermass 2) The film stars Oscar Nominee, Brian Donlevy in his fist of 2 portrayals as the eponymous Professor Bernard Quatermass. 

Richard Wordsworth, Who feature as a sinister taxidermist with James Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock's second version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, as well as appearing in British TV dramas such as Huntingtower and The Tripods, and notablble in other Hammer films - The Revenge of Frankenstein and The Curse of the Werewolf, plays the tormented astronaut Carroon. 

Jack Warner plays Inspector Lomax (insanely famous in his time as the titular Dixon of Dock Green appearing in 432 episodes on tv from 1955 to 1976) 

Margia Dean plays Judith Carroon. Dean only passed away, sadly, this June. 

We also briefly see Thora Hird in one scene as 'Rosie'. Thora lived so long and did achieved so much, she was the subject of 'This is your Life' Twice. The Quatermass Experiment was originally a six-part TV serial broadcast by BBC Television in 1953. It was an enormous success with critics and audiences alike, later described by film historian Robert Simpson as "event television, emptying the streets and pubs". 

Among its viewers was the forementioned Hammer Films producer, Anthony Hinds, who was immediately keen to buy the rights for a film version. Nigel Kneale also saw the potential for a film adaptation and, at his urging, the BBC touted the scripts around a number of producers. Kneale met with Sidney Gilliat to discuss the scripts but Gilliat was reluctant to buy the rights as he felt any film adaptation would inevitably receive an 'X' Certificate from the British Board of Film Censors. Hammer's offer met some resistance within the BBC, with one executive expressing reservations that The Quatermass Experiment was not suitable material for the company, but the rights were nevertheless sold for an advance of £500. 

Kneale was a BBC employee at the time, which meant that his scripts were owned entirely by the BBC. He received no extra payment for the sale of the film rights. This became a matter of some resentment on Kneale's part, and when his BBC contract came up for renewal he demanded and secured control over any future film rights for his work. Kneale remained bitter over the affair until the BBC made an ex-gratia payment of £3,000 to him in 1967, in recognition of his creation of Quatermass.  

We also include the concept Album 'Victor Caroon', available on Soundcloud here:

https://soundcloud.com/victor-caroon

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Murder by Decree is a 1979 mystery thriller directed by Bob Clark (Director of ‘Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things’ and ’Dead of Night’ (not the brilliant black and white British film from 1945 - featured in episode 13, but the 1974 American film ), he also directed ‘Black Christmas’, ‘Porkys’ and ‘Porkys 2’ 

Murder by Decree was written by playwright John Hopkins, who scripted the Bond film Thunderball, and the Alec Guinness TV version of Smileys People. Hopkins referenced Conan Doyle's work, particularly Holmes' deduction and science skills but downplayed other aspects of the characters, such as Holmes' drug use, in favour of making them more likeable and human.

Peter O'Toole was originally cast as Sherlock Holmes, and Sir Laurence Olivier was cast as Dr. Watson. But the two actors had not worked well together in the past, and were unable to overcome their differences for this movie. Rather, Holmes is played by Christopher (Captain Georg von Trapp) Plummer and Dr. Watson is played by James Mason.

Plummer, described by IMDB as“ perhaps Canada's greatest thespian”, turned down the role of Gandalf in Sir Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and admits to regretting that decision. 

Question for James and Jon? Christopher Plummer had two roles in common with Peter Cushing, can you name them?

James Mason reportedly, he once saved the life of Max Bygraves' son at a party at Judy Garland's house. The boy fell into the pool and Max did not notice. James Mason did and, fully clothed, he jumped into the water and pulled him out. He was scheduled to play James Bond in a 1958 television adaptation of "From Russia with Love", which was ultimately never produced. Later, despite being in his 50s, Mason was a contender to play Bond in Dr. No before Sean Connery was cast. He later turned down the role of Hugo Drax in the James Bond film Moonraker, which went to Michael Lonsdale.

In his autobiography, "In Spite of Myself", Plummer noted that Mason was the best Watson he had seen, and that his death halted a proposed furthering of their on-screen partnership.

The film also features:

David Hemmings (Blow Up, Deep Red, Brabarella, Gladiator, Magnum Pi and Airwolf) as Inspector Foxborough, Anthony Quayle (Lawrence of Arbia, The Guns of Navarone) as Sir Charles Warren, Frank Finlay (Lifeforce, The Three Musketeers) as Inspector Lestrade, Geneviève Bujold as Annie Crook, Susan Clark as Mary Kelly, John Gielgud as Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, Donald Sutherland as Robert Lees and the Mighty June Brown as Anne Chapman

The film's premise of the plot behind the murders is influenced by the book Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, by Stephen Knight, who presumed that the killings were part of a Masonic plot. The original script contained the names of the historical suspects, Sir William Gull and John Netley. In the actual film, they are represented by fictional analogues: Thomas Spivy (Gull) and William Slade (Netley). This theory on the perpetrators of the killings is featured in a number of other Jack the Ripper-themed fictions, including the graphic novel ‘From Hell’.

The replica nineteenth century dockland set took two months and fifty men to construct at Shepperton Studio's largest soundstage. The set also included a replica muddy Thames River, Alien was shooting concurrently in the same studios.

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Tonight we are discussing the  1989 British horror drama television film directed by Herbert Wise (most famous for I, Cladius, who worked solidly from 1957 to 2001 on everything from The Bill to 9 episodes of Tales of the Unexpected - including ‘The Landlady’ which may well be the episode that Jon talked about remembering in episode 29) 

It  stars

Adrian Rawlins (Harry Potters Dead Dad in the movies and Mr Pike in one episode of Neighbours), 

Bernard Hepton (I, Claudius, Get Carter Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy and Colditz), David Daker (93 episodes of Boon, 84 episodes of Z cars, Time Bandits and 2 Doctor Who stories: Irongron in The Time Warrior and Captain Rigg in Nightmare of Eden) 

and Pauline Moran ( who was Miss Lemon in many episodes of Poirot and was bass player in the all female band ‘The She Trinity’ who had a top 40 hit a cover of "He fought the law" in 1966.). 

Hill’s The Woman in Black had already been adapted into a beloved stage-play that went to become the West End’s second longest running, non-musical after The Moustrap. More recently, the story was filmed by Hammer in 2012, staring Daniel Radcliff and going on to be the highest grossing British horror movie of all time.

This teleplay is adapted from the 1983 novel of the same name by Susan Hill. It focuses on a young solicitor who is sent to a coastal English village to settle the estate of a reclusive widow, and finds the town haunted.

The programme was produced by Central Independent Television for ITV, it was filmed at Stanlake Park in Berkshire, using the causeway to Osea Island, near Goldhanger in Essex, and the local salt marshes, whilst scenes to represent Crythin Gifford were filmed at the National Trust village of Lacock, near Chippenham, Wiltshire.

and premiered on Christmas Eve 1989. It was an unexpected success, though author Susan Hill reportedly disagreed with some of the slight changes made in the adaptation By General Witchfinder’s favourite Nigel Kneale, who you will all most like be aware of as the writer of the eerie and downright terrifying with his Quatermass tetralogy and, the classic ‘The Stone tape’, The Road and Beasts, a six horror stories based around animals, for ITV. (Go and check out episodes 5, 17, 27, and  34 for more Kneal goodness)

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After his involvement in the reboot of the Tomb Raider movie franchise was scuppered by the Pandemic, Ben Wheatley, director of Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England and High-Rise, announced in September 2020,that he had written and directed a horror film over the course of 15 days in August. This became In the Earth, a science fiction horror film staring Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith, Hayley Squires, Ellora Torchia, John Hollingworth and Mark Monero.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film a score of 4/5 stars, writing that it "brings us back to Wheatley’s classic world of occult loopy weirdness and cult Britmovie seediness, with a new topical dimension of pandemic paranoia".

The research station is called ATU327A. This is derived from the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index (ATU index), a catalogue of folktale types used in folklore. Index # ATU 327a is called "the children and the witch", which the story of Hansel and Gretel is classified as. The ATU listing reads: "The parents abandon their children in the wood. The gingerbread house. The boy fattened; the witch thrown into the oven. The children acquire her treasure."

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Clips from the best bits from episodes four to six

4 - James Herbert - The Rats

https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/fcc6efe904b6f9160ab7a0656bc46dd0f5901e93/view

5 - Nigel Kneale’s - The Stone Tape

https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/ff8003920d88e2462eaa2353dc2a007a102c2789/view

6 - The Satanic Rites of Dracula

https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/75233646bd312312a10f794fb49b2ffed51b2a72/view

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The Shout is a 1978 British horror film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski (who is also an Actor was in Mars Attacks and played a General in Marvels The Avengers). 

It was based on a short story by Robert Graves (author of I, Claudius and great friend of Spike Milligan, with whom, from the 1960s until his death, he frequently exchanged letters, Many of which are collected in the book ‘Dear Robert, Dear Spike’) 

Grave's short story was adapted for the screen by Skolimowski and Michael Austin screenwriter of Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. 

The film was the first to be produced by Jeremy Thomas under his ‘Recorded Picture Company’ banner. Thomas went on to produce and exec-produce 70 more films (to date) including Naked Lunch, The last Emperor, Crash, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, Sexy Beast and High-rise.

Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios, the film's sets were designed by the art director Simon Holland (Quadrophenia, Buster, Nuns on the Run and King Ralph). 

The North Devon coastline, specifically Saunton Sands and Braunton Burrows, were used for the bulk of the location shooting. The church of St Peter in Westleigh was used for the church scenes. 

The soundtrack is by Michael Rutherford and Tony Banks of the rock band Genesis (After the original first choice of David Bowie turned it down). When heard in theatres in Dolby Stereo, it was aurally separating and distorting. Reportedly, forty different music tracks were used for the sound, when it was usual for films of this era to use just 4.

The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival and received the Grand Prize of the Jury, in a tie with Bye Bye Monkey (A film staring Gérard Depardieu about a man who finds the corpse of King Kong and Kong's orphaned son, and takes it to a friend who lives in the city, and they decide to raise it.)

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Quatermass and the Pit (or as it’s known in the US ‘Five Million Years to Earth’) is a 1967 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, a sequel to the earlier Hammer films The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2 (see General Witchfinders episode 17 for more details). Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television serial, of the same name, written by Podcast hero Nigel Kneale. 

It was directed by Roy Ward Baker (who is responsible for such highs as A Night to Remember And such lows and The scars of Dracula and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires - see episodes 28 and 31 respectively)  And this incarnation stars Andrew Keir (featured in Cleopatra, Dracula: Prince of Darkness and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.)  in the title role as Professor Bernard Quatermass, replacing Brian Donlevy, who played the role in the two earlier films. James Donald, Barbara Shelley (also in Dracula: Prince of Darkness and The Gorgon) and Julian Glover (whos been in some little known films called Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Empire strikes back, Games of thrones, several Doctor Who stories and load of other stuff including being the voice of a giant spider in Harry Potter) they appear in co-starring roles.

Nigel Kneale wrote the first draft of the screenplay in 1961, but difficulties in attracting interest from American co-financiers meant the film did not go into production until 1967. The director, Roy Ward Baker, was chosen because of his experience with technically demanding productions such as A Night to Remember; this was the first of six films that he directed for Hammer. Andrew Keir, playing Quatermass, found making the film an unhappy experience, believing Baker had wanted Kenneth More to play the role. Owing to a lack of space, the film was shot at the MGM-British Studios in Elstree, Borehamwood, rather than Hammer's usual home at the time, which was the Associated British Studios, also in Elstree.

The plot of the film verison was condensed to fit the shorter running time, the main casualty being the removal of a subplot involving a journalist named James Fullalove, and the climax was altered slightly to make it more cinematic. The setting for the pit was changed from a building site to the London Underground. The closing scene of the television version, in which Quatermass pleads with humanity to prevent Earth becoming the "second dead planet", was also dropped, in favour of a shot of Quatermass and Judd sitting alone amid the devastation wrought by the Martian spacecraft.

The script was sent to John Trevelyan of the British Board of Film Censors in December 1966. Trevelyan replied that the film would require an X certificate and complained about the sound of the vibrations from the alien ship, the scenes of the Martian massacre, scenes of destruction and panic as the Martian influence takes hold and the image of the Devil.

It has been suggested that Tobe Hooper's 1985 Lifeforce is largely a remake of Hammer's Quatermass and the Pit. In an interview, director Tobe Hooper discussed how Cannon Films gave him $25 million, free rein, and Colin Wilson's book The Space Vampires. Hooper then shares how giddy he was: "I thought I'd go back to my roots and make a 70mm Hammer film.

Three decades on, Andrew Keir reprised the role of the Professor in "The Quatermass Memoirs", a five-part docudrama scripted by Nigel Kneale and transmitted on BBC Radio 3 in March 1996.

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Ghost Adventures is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 25, 2007. The program follows ghost hunters Zak Bagans, Nick Groff (season 1–10), Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley as they investigate locations that are reported to be haunted.

The crew also claims to have recorded spirit possessions on video. Bagans believes that he was possessed at the Preston School of Industry and at Poveglia Island in Italy. Groff claims that he was overtaken by a "dark energy" at the Moon River Brewing Company. Goodwin claims he was "under the influence of a dark spirit" at Bobby Mackey's Music World and Winchester Mystery House.

There have been a number of Ghost Adventures Spins offs:

• Ghost Adventures: Aftershocks
• Ghost Adventures: Where Are They Now?
• Ghost Adventures: Serial Killer Spirits
• Ghost Adventures: Screaming Room!
• Ghost Adventures: Quarantine
• Ghost Adventures: Top 10
• Ghost Adventures: House Calls
• Paranormal Challenge
• Deadly Possessions aka Ghost Adventures: Artifacts
• Demon House
• The Haunted Museum

Bagans was born in Washington, D.C. on April 5, 1977 and raised in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. 

One of Bagans' more notable claims from the show is his alleged communication with deceased actor David Strickland of NBC's Suddenly Susan. Strickland committed suicide at the Oasis Motel in Las Vegas in 1999. Bagans claims to have recorded Strickland's voice nearly a decade following his death, and included this recording in a track on the album NecroFusion. No known scientific analysis has been attempted on the raw recording, including any comparison of the voice heard on the Electronic Voice Phenomena recording to that of the famous actor.

He has a tattoo of the number 11, symbolizing his apologizes to a female spirit he mocked while investigation on room n. 11 of Silver Queen Hotel, Virginia City, back in 2004.

In 2009 the team travelled to the UK to investigate The Ancient Ram Inn, a Grade II listed building and a former pub located in Wotton-under-Edge. Renowned as one of the most haunted buildings in England.

Something Horrific:

Men - Alex Garland

Uncanny Live with Mark Gatiss

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001gjsg

The Night House - David Bruckner

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"Whistle and I'll Come to You" is a 1968 BBC television drama adaptation of the 1904 ghost story "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" by M. R. James. It tells of an eccentric and distracted professor who happens upon a strange whistle while exploring a Knights Templar cemetery on the East Anglian coast. When blown, the whistle unleashes a frightening supernatural force.

The production starred Michael Hordern and was adapted and directed by Jonathan Miller. It was broadcast as part of the BBC arts strand Omnibus and inspired a new yearly strand of M.R. James television adaptations known as A Ghost Story for Christmas.

Jonathan Miller adapted his 1968 version as part of the BBC arts strand Omnibus, which consisted mainly of arts documentaries so the dramatic adaptation was an unusual move; This probably explains Miller's documentary-like introduction to the film. The adaptation itself changes a number of aspects of James' story, turning the academic, described as "young, neat and precise of speech" into a bumbling, awkward, middle-aged eccentric. This adaptation was filmed on the Norfolk coast, at Waxham and nearby.

The performance of Michael Hordern is especially acclaimed, with his hushed mutterings and repetition of other characters' words, coupled with a discernible lack of social skills, turning the professor from an academic caricature into a more rounded character, described by horror aficionado David Kerekes as "especially daring for its day". The stage journal Plays and Players suggests that Hordern's performance hints that the professor suffers from a neurological condition called the "idea of a presence". Much of the script was improvised on location with the actors.

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Stigma is an episode of the BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas series, made in 1977. It was the first of only two stories set in the actual year of its making, and the last which mainstay Lawrence Gordon Clark would direct. It was first shown on BBC One on 29 December 1977 (postponed from its original scheduled broadcast date of 28 December), and was repeated on 29 May 1978. Scripted by Clive Exton, the thirty-minute piece stars Kate Binchy, Peter Bowles and Maxine Gordon.

The production was filmed at Avebury, Wiltshire, which had also been the location used for the ITV series Children of the Stones (screened earlier the same year). The production is unlike the previous films in the Ghost Story For Christmas strand in several ways; it is the first to be an original story and the first to be set in the then-present day. Critical opinion is decidedly mixed, with the decision to move away from adaptations of classic ghost stories the main concern. 

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The martial arts horror film The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires was released in 1974. 

It stars.

Peter Cushing as Professor Van Helsing 

Christopher Lee… oh hang on… John Forbes-Robertson as Count Dracula (Not the son of Johnston Forbes-Robertson, but did play Mr Badger in 2 episodes of Jonny Briggs) 

Robin Stewart as Leyland Van Helsing  (29 episodes of Sons and Daughters) 

Julie Ege (pronounced eg-gay", not "edge") as Vanessa Buren (1962 Miss Norway and competed in Miss Universe pageant Awarded the title "The New Sex Symbol of the 70s" by the head of Hammer Film Studios, Sir James 

Carreras. Hammer featured her as a not-so-glamorous prehistoric woman in its ‘Creatures the World Forgot’ (1971). The film was a flop, but Julie went on a round-the-world publicity tour and became a leading pin-up model. 

She lived for six years in the 1970s with Tony Bramwell, former assistant to The Beatles and later a successful record and film music promoter. Their next door neighbor was Brian May of the rock group Queen. To date, she is the only Norwegian James Bond girl (in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969))

Shen Chan as Kah, David Chiang as Hsi Ching and Szu Shih as Mei Kwei all stars of innumerable asian movies. 

The film began development due to Don Houghton's father-in-law knowing Hong Kong film producer Run Run Shaw. Houghton flew to Hong Kong to discuss a project with Run Run and his brother Runme who agreed to finance 50% of the film. It was shot between October 22 and December 11, 1973, at Shaw Brothers Studios in Hong Kong. 

The Shaw Brothers were not happy with how Roy Ward Baker (Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde, Scars of Dracula, The Vampire Lovers, and A Night to Remember) was directing the film and had martial arts sequences choreographed by one of their studios directors Cheh Chang (uncredited), these additional scenes that led to the Eastern version of the film to run at 110 minutes (20 mins longer that the UK version).  

Renee Glynee who was the continuity supervisor for the film stated that working with the Shaw Brothers Studios was "a big experience" due to language differences and that director Roy Ward Baker was constantly screaming at the Chinese actors to stop spitting on set. In an interview in the late 1990’sBaker described the shooting of this film as "a nightmare". He discovered that Hong Kong films were made silent and looped in post-production due to the constant noise of traffic and aircraft. He lamented that Peter Cushing was practically catatonic on set, having recently been widowed but still wanting to do the film to give him something to do.

On its release in the United States, the film was truncated further by 20 minutes, re-titled The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula and loops several remaining scenes to fill the running time. 

In all territories, the film was a financial failure. 

This is the only Hammer "Dracula" film not to feature Count Dracula's name in the title.

Forbes-Robertson, long time stand in for Big Chris Lee (was considered to fill the cape in Scars of Dracula before Lee was persuaded to return) was furious when he discovered that he had been dubbed by David de Keyser.  

Lee tried to talk Peter Cushing into not doing the project, as he considered it below an actor of Cushing's calibre. Lee told Cushing that Ralph Bates was willing to step in and do the film if Cushing wanted to back out, but Cushing replied that he thought the change of scenery might help his ongoing grief induced depression. 

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