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141-629: Quatermass II is a British science fiction serial , originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the Quatermass series by writer Nigel Kneale , and the oldest of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives. The serial sees Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group being asked to examine strange meteorite showers. His investigations lead to his uncovering

282-409: A collective consciousness . From this, they assume that it was the population of Winnderden Flats itself who demolished the village and built the plant. Quatermass decides that they can use the remaining Quatermass II rocket like a nuclear bomb and destroy the asteroid, much to Leo's protest at the rocket being unsafe to fly. Fowler tries to steal information about the other plants from the ministry, but

423-426: A DVD box set of all its existing Quatermass material. This included digitally restored versions of all six episodes of Quatermass II , with the sound and vision of the telerecording copies cleaned up as far as possible, and some of the existing special effects inserts that survived on their original film elements being re-inserted into the episodes. In 2016 BBC Store released Quatermass II and Quatermass and

564-617: A Shadows instrumental replaced a Richard song at the top of the British charts. Richard's fifth single "Living Doll" triggered a softer, more relaxed, sound. Subsequent hits, the No. 1s " Travellin' Light " and " I Love You " and also " A Voice in the Wilderness ", lifted from his film Expresso Bongo , and " Theme for a Dream " cemented Richard's status as a mainstream pop entertainer along with contemporaries such as Adam Faith and Billy Fury . Throughout

705-582: A bad thing... What Quatermass II does is take that metaphor and apply it to the specific conditions of Britain in the 1950s; not just the Cold War paranoia, but the traditional British grumbling resentment of bureaucracy as represented by the council , or in this case big business". The British Film Institute's " Screenonline " website also offers praise in its analysis of the serial: "With its tale of an invasion by an invisible enemy indistinguishable from ourselves, Kneale's story tapped into contemporary fears about

846-582: A barely veiled commentary on racial change in Britain. In one scene in Quatermass II , the Professor stands outside a pub and watches the sky fill with dark asteroids. 'They're coming in their thousands', he says, 'this is it'". However, this interpretation of the serial is not widespread, and is undermined in episode five where an Irish immigrant helps Quatermass sabotage the aliens' food supply system. In any case, it

987-453: A conspiracy involving alien infiltration at the highest levels of the British government. As even some of Quatermass's closest colleagues fall victim to the alien influence, he is forced to use his own unsafe rocket prototype, which recently caused a nuclear disaster at an Australian testing range, to prevent the aliens from taking over mankind. Although sometimes compared unfavourably to the first and third Quatermass serials, Quatermass II

1128-528: A female superhero, wears traditional folkloric clothes and tries to save traditional elements of Dutch society against the factory owners. Italian TV shows include A come Andromeda (1972) which was a remake of 1962 BBC serial, A for Andromeda (from the novels of Hoyle and Elliott), Geminus (1968), Il segno del comando (1971), Gamma (1974) and La traccia verde (1975). French series are Highlander: The Series , French science-fiction/fantasy television series (both co-produced with Canada) and

1269-449: A group of Dutch space explorers and their adventures, De duivelsgrot (The devil's cave), broadcast from 1963 to 1964, about a scientist who finds the map of a cave that leads to the center of the Earth and Treinreis naar de Toekomst (Train journey to the future) about two young children who are taken to the future by robots who try to recreate humanity, but are unable to give the cloned humans

1410-611: A growing number of followers. The British series, Doctor Who , has similarly attracted a devoted following. In the late 1990s, a market for celebrity autographs emerged on eBay , which created a new source of income for actors, who began to charge money for autographs that they had previously been doing for free. This became significant enough that lesser-known actors would come to conventions without requesting any appearance fee, simply to be allowed to sell their own autographs (commonly on publicity photos). Today most events with actor appearances are organized by commercial promoters, though

1551-470: A large amount of superhero -themed animation, much of this adapted from comics series, while the impossible characters and settings allowed in animation made this a preferred medium for both fantasy and for series aimed at young audiences. Originally, animation was all hand-drawn by artists, though in the 1980s, beginning with Captain Power , computers began to automate the task of creating repeated images; by

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1692-474: A live album titled From a Distance: The Event was released. It compiled highlights of the previous year's The Event show, and provided two live tracks as singles, " Silhouettes " (UK No. 10) and " From a Distance " (No. 11). However, it was with the Christmas single " Saviour's Day " that Richard scored his 13th UK No. 1 single and his 100th top 40 hit. The album itself reached No. 3 over the Christmas period and

1833-626: A man who becomes trapped in a telephone booth, while passersby seem unable to help him, won the 1973 International Emmy Award for Fiction. The series Plutón B.R.B. Nero (2008) was a brutal SF comedy by Álex de la Iglesia , in the line of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , Red Dwarf , or Doctor Who , with 26 episodes of 35 minutes. Other series of the 2010s were Los protegidos (2010-2012), El barco (2011-2013), and El internado (2007-2010), all three inspired by North American productions, with minor SF elements. The latest success

1974-456: A more middle-of-the-road image, and he sometimes ventured into contemporary Christian music . In a career spanning over 65 years, Richard has amassed several gold and platinum discs and awards, including two Ivor Novello Awards and three Brit Awards . More than 130 of his singles, albums, and EPs have reached the UK Top 20, more than any other artist. Richard has had 67 UK top ten singles,

2115-464: A number of fan-run conventions still exist, such as Toronto Trek and Shore Leave . The 1985 series Robotech is most often credited as the catalyst for the Western interest in anime. The series inspired a few fanzines such as Protoculture Addicts and Animag both of which in turn promoted interest in the wide world of anime in general. Anime's first notable appearance at SF or comic book conventions

2256-428: A number of smaller fiction/fantasy television series, including Tang in 1971, about a secret organization that attempts to control the world with a new super weapon, "Les atomistes" and 1970 miniseries "La brigade des maléfices". Another French-produced science fiction series was the new age animated series Il était une fois... l'espace (English: Once upon a time...space ). Anime-influenced animation includes

2397-553: A popular music, film, and television personality at home in the UK as well as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Northern Europe and Asia, and retains a following in other countries. When not touring, he divides his time between Barbados and Portugal. In 2019, he relocated to New York. Cliff Richard was born Harry Rodger Webb on 14 October 1940 at King George's Hospital (now King George's Medical University ), Victoria Street, in Lucknow , which

2538-503: A pyrotechnic during filming, and then an optical glowing line added to the film image in post-production. Stunts are another important category of physical effects. In general, all kinds of special effects must be carefully planned during pre-production . Babylon 5 was the first series to use computer-generated imagery , or "CGI", for all exterior space scenes, even those with characters in space suits. The technology has made this more practical, so that today models are rarely used. In

2679-561: A range of British television series, and in 1956 had a small role in the film X the Unknown , which Hammer Film Productions had intended as a sequel to their version of The Quatermass Experiment , until Kneale denied them the rights to use the character. Four actors who each became well known for a particular role on British television had supporting parts in Quatermass II . Rupert Davies who played MP Vincent Broadhead would go on to find fame as Sûreté detective Commissaire Jules Maigret ,

2820-610: A record number of consecutive top ten UK hits for a male artist. Richard continued having international hits, including 1967's "The Day I Met Marie", which reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 5 in the Australian charts. Richard acted in the 1967 film Two a Penny , released by Billy Graham's World Wide Pictures , in which he played Jamie Hopkins, a young man who gets involved in drug dealing while questioning his life after his girlfriend changes her attitude. He released

2961-558: A revival of the popular Italian hit "L'edera". In 1965, sessions under the direction of Billy Sherrill in Nashville, Tennessee were particularly successful, yielding " The Minute You're Gone ", which topped the UK singles chart, and "Wind Me Up (Let Me Go)", which made No. 2. Richard, and the Shadows in particular, however, never achieved star status in the United States. In 1960 they toured

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3102-479: A rocker's sense of speed and passion, and Lionel Bart 's " Living Doll ". It was on "Living Doll" that the Drifters began to back Richard on record. It was his fifth record and became his first No. 1 single. By that time, the group's line-up had changed with the arrival of Jet Harris , Tony Meehan , Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch . The group was obliged to change its name to "The Shadows" after legal complications with

3243-474: A scheduled repeat the following Monday night at 10:15 p.m. All six episodes survive intact in the BBC's archives, although the telerecording copies in some cases suffer from poor quality sound and vision. Owing to either technical or artistic problems, Cartier had some scenes re-performed by the cast immediately following the live performance on the Saturday evening, and these were telerecorded and used to replace

3384-694: A science fiction television series based upon Zoran Živković's story, winner of a World Fantasy Award . Návštěvníci (The Visitors) was a Czechoslovak (and Federal German, Swiss and French) TV series produced in 1981 to 1983. The family show aired in a larger number of European countries. For a list of notable science fiction series and programs on television, see: List of science fiction television programs . People who have influenced science fiction on television include: [REDACTED] Media related to Science fiction television programmes at Wikimedia Commons Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb ; 14 October 1940)

3525-400: A series of French-Japanese cartoons / anime , including such titles as Ulysses 31 (1981), The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982), and Ōban Star-Racers (2006). The first Spanish SF series was Diego Valor , a 22 episode TV adaption of a radio show hero of the same name based on Dan Dare , aired weekly between 1958 and 1959. Nothing was survived of this series, not a single still; it

3666-456: A soul. All three of these television series were aimed mostly at children. Later television series were Professor Vreemdeling (1977) about a strange professor who wants to make plants speak and Zeeuws Meisje  [ nl ] (1997) a nationalistic post-apocalyptic series where the Netherlands has been built full of housing and the highways are filled with traffic jams. The protagonist,

3807-470: A spectacular titled The Event in front of a combined audience of 144,000 people. On 30 June 1990, Richard performed to an estimated 120,000 people at England's Knebworth Park as part of an all-star concert line-up that also included Paul McCartney , Phil Collins , Elton John and Tears for Fears . The concert in aid of charity was televised around the world and helped to raise $ 10.5 million for disabled children and young musicians. Later in 1990,

3948-485: A staggering array of models; the USS Enterprise had to be built in several different scales for different needs. Models fell out of use in filming in the 1990s as CGI became more affordable and practical, but even today, designers sometimes construct scale models which are then digitized for use in animation software. Models of characters are puppets . Gerry Anderson created a series of shows using puppets living in

4089-549: A universe of models and miniature sets, notably Thunderbirds . ALF depicted an alien living in a family, while Farscape included two puppets as regular characters. In Stargate SG-1 , the Asgard characters are puppets in scenes where they are sitting, standing, or lying down. In Mystery Science Theater 3000 , the characters of Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo , two of the show's main (and most iconic) characters, are puppets constructed from random household items. As animation

4230-445: A video for it. EMI agreed to his demand despite the fact the single was expected to sell well. About 1,000 copies are known to exist on vinyl. In 1976, the decision was made to repackage Richard as a rock artist. That year, Bruce Welch relaunched Cliff's career and produced the landmark album I'm Nearly Famous , which included the successful but controversial guitar-driven track " Devil Woman ", which became Richard's first true hit in

4371-499: Is El ministerio del tiempo ( The ministry of time ), premiered on February 24, 2015 on TVE 's main channel La 1 . The series follows the exploits of a patrol of the fictional Ministry of Time, which deals with incidents caused by time travel. It has garnered several national prizes in 2015, like the Ondas Prize , and has a thick following on-line, called los ministéricos . Serbia produced The Collector ( Sakupljač ),

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4512-567: Is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley . Richard was originally marketed as a rebellious rock and roll singer in the style of Presley and Little Richard . With his backing group, the Shadows , he dominated

4653-469: Is completely free of the constraints of gravity, momentum, and physical reality, it is an ideal technique for science fiction and fantasy on television. In a sense, virtually all animated series allow characters and objects to perform in unrealistic ways, so they are almost all considered to fit within the broadest category of speculative fiction (in the context of awards, criticism, marketing, etc.) The artistic affinity of animation to comic books has led to

4794-639: Is in direct contrast with Kneale's deliberate attack on racial intolerance in Quatermass and the Pit . Speaking in a 2003 television documentary about Nigel Kneale's career, the writer and critic Kim Newman praised the underlying themes of Quatermass II , and their particular relevance to the British way of life: " Quatermass II is the British Invasion of the Bodysnatchers , but I don't necessarily think that's

4935-438: Is not known if the show was even recorded or just a live broadcast. The 60s were dominated by Chicho Ibáñez Serrador and Narciso Ibáñez Menta , who adapted SF works from Golden Age authors and others to a series titled Mañana puede ser verdad . Only 11 episodes were filmed. The 70s saw three important television films, Los pajaritos (1974), La Gioconda está triste (1977), and La cabina (1972), this last one, about

5076-404: Is on screen at once. In general, science fiction series are subject to the same financial constraints as other television shows. However, high production costs increase the financial risk, while limited audiences further complicate the business case for continuing production. Star Trek was the first television series to cost more than $ 100,000 per episode, while Star Trek: The Next Generation

5217-428: Is overcome and possessed by a makeshift meteorite hidden inside a filing cabinet. Quatermass is narrowly saved from discovery by the rioting construction workers, who storm the plant and along with him are besieged inside the gas distribution centre, where they pump oxygen into the completed pressure dome to poison the ammonids, however some of the workers succumb to propaganda from the plant controllers, who offer them

5358-458: Is too often let down by the production's rougher edges. Your heart will break halfway through episode six as it all falls apart. And then there's Monica Gray [sic] – less an actress than a finishing school on legs". Writing in The Times in 2006, Morgan Falconer claimed to find racist undertones in the serial: "Quatermass, for instance, often seemed to have an unhealthy preoccupation with blackness,

5499-513: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Later series made in the 1960s included The Interpretaris (1966) Vega 4 (1967), and Phoenix Five (1970). The country's best known Science Fiction series was Farscape ; an American co-production, it ran from 1999 to 2003. A significant proportion of Australian produced Science Fiction programmes are made for the teens/young Adults market, including The Girl from Tomorrow ,

5640-532: The B-side ; this was "Move It", written and composed by the Drifters' Samwell while he was on board a number 715 Green Line bus on the way to Richard's house for a rehearsal. For the "Move It" session, Paramor used the session guitarist Ernie Shears on lead guitar and Frank Clark on bass. There are various stories about why the A-side was replaced by the intended B-side. One is that Norrie Paramor's young daughter raved about

5781-459: The Billy Graham crusades. As time progressed, Richard balanced his faith and work, enabling him to remain one of the most popular singers in Britain, as well as one of its best-known evangelical Christians. Richard's 1965 UK No. 12 hit "On My Word" ended a run of 23 consecutive top ten UK hits between "A Voice in the Wilderness" in 1960 to "The Minute You're Gone" in 1965, which, to date, is still

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5922-473: The Eurovision Song Contest Previews for the BBC in 1971 and 1972. In 1975, he released the single " Honky Tonk Angel ", produced by Hank Marvin and John Farrar, oblivious to its connotations or hidden meanings. As soon as he was notified that a "honky-tonk angel" was southern US slang for a prostitute, the horrified Richard ordered EMI to withdraw it and refused to promote it, despite making

6063-717: The Super Robots such as Mitsuteru Yokoyama 's Tetsujin 28-go ( Gigantor ) and Go Nagai 's Mazinger Z , and the Real Robots such as Yoshiyuki Tomino 's Gundam series and Shōji Kawamori 's Macross series. Other primary aspects of Japanese science fiction television are the superhero tokusatsu (a term literally meaning special effects ) series, pioneered by programs such as Moonlight Mask and Planet Prince . The suitmation technique has been used in long running franchises include Eiji Tsuburaya 's Ultra Series , Shotaro Ishinomori 's Kamen Rider Series , and

6204-610: The Super Sentai Series. In addition, several dramas utilize science fiction elements as framing devices, but are not labeled as "tokusatsu" as they do not utilize actors in full body suits and other special effects. Among the notable German language productions are: Danish television broadcast the children's TV-series Crash in 1984 about a boy who finds out that his room is a space ship. Early Dutch television series were Morgen gebeurt het  [ nl ] (Tomorrow it will happen), broadcast from 1957 to 1959, about

6345-541: The UK Singles Chart . John Lennon credited "Move It" as being the first British rock record. In the early days, Richard was marketed as the British equivalent of Elvis. Like previous British rockers such as Tommy Steele and Marty Wilde , Richard adopted Elvis-like dress and hairstyle. In performance he struck a pose of rock attitude, rarely smiling or looking at the audience or camera. His late 1958 and early 1959 follow-up singles, " High Class Baby " and " Livin' Lovin' Doll ", were followed by " Mean Streak ", which carried

6486-558: The concept album recorded for Time . In August 1986, Richard was involved in a five-car crash in torrential rain on the M4 motorway in West London. Richard's car was a write-off,as another car swerved and braked hard. Richard hurt his back in the accident, but was not seriously injured. Police called for a cab from the accident scene so that he was able to perform that night in the Time musical. After

6627-424: The "Cliff Richard musical", and led to Richard's being named the No. 1 cinema box office attraction in Britain for both 1962 and 1963, beating that of even James Bond . The title song of The Young Ones became his biggest-selling single in the United Kingdom, selling over one million copies in the UK. The irreverent 1980s TV sitcom The Young Ones took its name from Richard's 1962 film. In mid-1963, Cliff and

6768-599: The 'red' (i.e. communist ) threat, although in a less direct way than the American science fiction films of the 1950s, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers . At the same time, it reflected the widespread anxiety of the nuclear age – the story begins with a failed test of a nuclear-powered rocket in Australia (at a time when the country was in reality a site for a series of British nuclear weapons tests). In short, Quatermass II

6909-580: The 1950s". Doctor Who , which launched in 1963 and ran until 1989, then was revived in 2005, was listed in the Guinness World Records in 2006 as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world and as the "most successful" science fiction series of all time. Other cult British series in the science fiction genre include The Tomorrow People , Space: 1999 , Blake's 7 , Star Cops and Red Dwarf . Science fiction in Canada

7050-467: The 1953 science-fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment in a memo written in 1954, BBC Television's Controller of Programmes, Cecil McGivern , noted that: "Had competitive television been in existence then, we would have killed it every Saturday night while [ The Quatermass Experiment ] lasted. We are going to need many more 'Quatermass Experiment' programmes". Having recently signed a two-year extension to his BBC staff writer's contract, Nigel Kneale

7191-425: The 1990s, CGI required expensive processors and customized applications, but by the 2000s (decade), computing power has pushed capabilities down to personal laptops running a wide array of software. Models have been an essential tool in science fiction television since the beginning, when Buck Rogers took flight in spark-scattering spaceships wheeling across a matte backdrop sky. The original Star Trek required

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7332-592: The 1990s, hand-drawn animation became defunct. In recent years as technology has improved, this has become more common, notably since the development of the Massive software application permits producers to include hordes of non-human characters to storm a city or space station. The robotic Cylons in the new version of Battlestar Galactica are usually animated characters, while the Asgard in Stargate SG-1 are animated when they are shown walking around or more than one

7473-477: The American group the Drifters as "Living Doll" entered the American top 40, licensed by ABC-Paramount . "Living Doll" was used in Richard's début film Serious Charge , but it was arranged as a country standard, rather than a rock and roll standard. The Shadows were not a typical backing group. They became contractually separate from Richard, and the group received no royalties for records backing Richard. In 1959,

7614-501: The B-side; another was that influential TV producer Jack Good , who used the act for his TV show Oh Boy! , wanted the only song on his show to be "Move It" as opposed to "Schoolboy Crush". Richard was quoted as saying: It's wonderful to be going on TV for the first time, but I feel so nervous that I don't know what to do. I shaved my sideburns off last night... Jack Good said it would make me look more original. The single went to No. 2 on

7755-459: The BBC in 1958 when Kneale's third serial, Quatermass and the Pit , began transmission. That was the last television appearance of the character for 20 years, until Kneale brought Quatermass back for a final time in the 1979 serial Quatermass , this time produced for Thames Television . A serialised novelisation of Quatermass II , written by Kneale, ran in the Daily Express newspaper in

7896-585: The British Eurovision entry " Power to All Our Friends ;" the song finished third, close behind Luxembourg's " Tu Te Reconnaîtras " and Spain's " Eres Tú ". This time, Richard took Valium to overcome his nerves, and his manager was almost unable to wake him for the performance. Richard also hosted the BBC's qualifying heat for the Eurovision Song Contest , A Song for Europe , in 1970, 1971 and 1972 as part of his BBCTV variety series. He presented

8037-455: The British popular music scene in the pre-Beatles period of the late 1950s to early 1960s. His 1958 hit single " Move It " is often described as Britain's first authentic rock and roll song. In the early 1960s, he had a successful screen career with films including The Young Ones , Summer Holiday and Wonderful Life and his own television show at the BBC. Increased focus on his Christian faith and subsequent softening of his music led to

8178-466: The Moon (1964), as well as continuing to write for television, including two further Quatermass serials, until 1997. Kneale credited the director Rudolph Cartier with bringing to the screen in Quatermass II , with its ambitious location filming, an expansive style that had not been seen in British television drama beforehand. Cartier worked with Kneale again on the third Quatermass serial, Quatermass and

8319-403: The Moon. Similarly 'marked' armed guards arrive from the plant and take Dillon away. Whilst being taken Dillon threateningly tells Quatermass not to follow. After the guards' departure Quatermass speaks with a tramp, who explains that there used to be a small government research unit consisting of a few huts by Winnerden Flats, and that a year ago they expanded and bulldozed the village, and built

8460-510: The Pit , in 1958, and had subsequent successes with plays such as Anna Karenina (1961), Cross of Iron (1961) and Lee Oswald – Assassin (1966). He continued directing for television until the 1970s. Meteorites are falling over Northern England , one of which is observed by an Army radar unit. After a farmer finds one of the objects in a field, the soldiers become directly involved, and Captain Johnny Dillon decides to unofficially ask

8601-411: The Pit . Science fiction on television The need to portray imaginary settings or characters with properties and abilities beyond the reach of current reality obliges producers to make extensive use of specialized techniques of television production. Through most of the 20th century, many of these techniques were expensive and involved a small number of dedicated craft practitioners, while

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8742-475: The Shadows (then still the Drifters) landed an EMI recording contract of their own, for independent recordings. That year, they released three singles, two of which featured double-sided vocals and one of which had instrumental A and B sides. They thereafter had several major hits, including five UK No. 1s. The band also continued to appear and record with Richard and wrote many of his hits. On more than one occasion,

8883-470: The Shadows and "Congratulations" solo. In 1972, he made a short BBC television comedy film called The Case with appearances from comedians and his first ever duets with a woman—Newton-John. He went on to release a double live album, Cliff Live in Japan 1972 , which featured Newton-John. His final acting role on the silver screen to date was in 1973, when he starred in the film Take Me High . In 1973, he sang

9024-521: The Shadows appeared for a season in Blackpool , where Richard had his portrait modelled by Victor Heyfron. As with the other contemporary rock acts in Britain, Richard's career was affected by the advent of the Beatles and the Mersey sound in 1963 and 1964. He continued to be popular, and have hits in the charts throughout the 1960s, though not at the level that he had enjoyed before. Nor did doors open to him in

9165-553: The Shadows closed the first half of the show with a 30-minute set of their own, then backed Richard on his show-closing 45-minute stint, as exemplified by the retrospective CD album release of Live at the ABC Kingston 1962 . Tony Meehan and Jet Harris left the group in 1961 and 1962 respectively, and later had their own chart successes for Decca . The Shadows added bass players Brian Locking (1962–63) and then John Rostill (1963–68) and took on Brian Bennett permanently on drums. In

9306-534: The Shadows split in 1968, Richard continued to record. During the 1970s, Richard took part in several television shows and fronted his own show It's Cliff Richard from 1970 to 1976. It starred Olivia Newton-John , Hank Marvin and Una Stubbs , and included A Song for Europe . He began 1970 by appearing live on the BBC 's review of the sixties music scene, Pop Go The Sixties , which was broadcast across Britain and Europe on 31 December 1969. He performed "Bachelor Boy" with

9447-564: The UK from 5 to 20 December 1955, although Kneale was forced to draw the storyline to a premature conclusion as the paper lost interest in the project. The television scripts were released by Penguin Books in 1960, with a selection of stills from the production also included. The book was re-released in 1979, with a new introduction by Kneale, to coincide with the transmission of the Thames Television serial. In April 2005 BBC Worldwide released

9588-557: The UK. It was also the lead single from the UK top ten album Stronger . Released along with the singles " I Just Don't Have the Heart " (UK No. 3), " Lean On You " (No. 17) and " Stronger Than That " (No. 14), the album become Richard's first studio album to amass four UK top twenty hits. Richard received the Brits highest honour, The Outstanding Contribution award", in 1989. In June that year, he filled London's Wembley Stadium for two nights with

9729-750: The US market; he was not considered part of the British Invasion , and despite four Hot 100 hits (including the top 25 "It's All in the Game") between August 1963 and August 1964, the American public had little awareness of him. Although baptised as an Anglican , Richard did not practise the faith in his early years. In 1964, he became an active evangelical Christian and his faith has become an important aspect of his life. Standing up publicly as an evangelical affected his career in several ways. Initially, he believed that he should quit rock 'n' roll, feeling he could no longer be

9870-671: The US through a cover version by Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann which was almost unchanged from their worldwide hit. Richard and the band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show , which was crucial for the Beatles , but these performances did not help them gain sustained success in North America. Richard and the Shadows appeared in six feature films, including a debut in the 1959 film Serious Charge but most notably in The Young Ones , Summer Holiday , Wonderful Life , and Finders Keepers . These films created their own genre, known as

10011-439: The United States and were well-received, but lacklustre support and distribution from a revolving door of American record labels proved an obstacle to long-term success there, despite several chart records by Richard, including the aforementioned "It's All in the Game" on Epic, via a renewed linking of the worldwide Columbia labels after Philips ended its distribution deal with CBS. To the Shadows' chagrin, " Apache " reached No. 2 in

10152-485: The United States to follow on from the success of "Devil Woman" in 1976. In 1980, " Carrie " broke into the US top 40, followed by " Dreamin' ", which reached No. 10. His 1980 duet " Suddenly " with Olivia Newton-John, from the film Xanadu , peaked at No. 20, followed by " A Little in Love " (No. 17) and " Daddy's Home " (No. 23) in 1981. After many years of limited success in the US, three of his singles simultaneously charted on

10293-484: The United States, and the ballad " Miss You Nights ". In reviewing the new album in Melody Maker , Geoff Brown heralded it the renaissance of Richard. Richard's fans were excited about this revival of a performer who had been a part of British rock from its early days. Many big names in music such as Jimmy Page , Eric Clapton and Elton John were seen sporting I'm Nearly Famous badges, pleased that their boyhood idol

10434-430: The United States, the film was released under the title Enemy from Space . Shortly after Quatermass II finished its run, comedian Bob Monkhouse included a spoof of the serial in an episode of his own BBC television series, which featured Monica Grey reprising her role as Paula Quatermass. Cartier and Kneale were greatly displeased with this and complained to their superiors at the BBC about it. Quatermass returned to

10575-401: The aliens. As with The Quatermass Experiment , the film rights to the serial were purchased by Hammer Film Productions – in this case after they had only read the scripts, before the serial was even made. Titled Quatermass 2 , the film was released in 1957 and once again directed by Val Guest , with Brian Donlevy starring; unlike the first film, Kneale wrote the screenplay himself. In

10716-415: The ammonids have long been in control of the government. They appeal to his human side to allow them to continue, which he does so after Leo tells him the rocket must launch. Despite both being old and unfit, Quatermass and Leo are the only two who have the scientific knowledge to make such a flight. They fly to the asteroid and land on it, but en route Quatermass finds out that the night the plant exploded Leo

10857-424: The chance to see inside the dome. The guards kill them by blocking the pipe with their bodies. In anger, the remaining workers fire on the dome with a bazooka , igniting the hydrogen and subsequently destroying the entire plant, killing the ammonids and releasing ammonia gas into the surrounding area. The team invite Dillon up to the control room, where they see he has written orders from the very top , showing that

10998-694: The charity Comic Relief . Along with the song, the recording contained comedy dialogue between Richard and the Young Ones. That same year, Richard opened in the West End as a rock musician called upon to defend Earth in a trial set in the Andromeda Galaxy in the multi-media Dave Clark musical Time . Three Richard singles, "She's So Beautiful", which reached No. 17 in the UK, "It's in Every One of Us" and "Born To Rock 'n Roll", were released over 1985 and 1986 from

11139-521: The closure of the studios after 40 years of use by the BBC. The available British television audience had doubled since The Quatermass Experiment had been shown in 1953, and the viewing figures for Quatermass II were accordingly higher. The serial gained an audience of 7.9 million viewers for its first three episodes, rising to 8.3 million for the fourth and fifth and concluding with 9 million. A BBC audience research report commissioned after Quatermass II had finished found that 90% of those questioned in

11280-463: The credit control office of Thorn Electrical Industries , Enfield , and the family moved in with other relatives in Waltham Cross , Hertfordshire, where he attended Kings Road Junior Mixed Infants School, until a three-bedroom council house in nearby Cheshunt was allocated to them in 1950, at 12 Hargreaves Close. He then attended Cheshunt Secondary Modern School from 1952 to 1957. As a member of

11421-466: The domestic television market, most Canadian productions involve partnerships with production studios based in the United States and Europe. However, in recent years, new partnership arrangements are allowing Canadian investors a growing share of control of projects produced in Canada and elsewhere. Australia's first locally produced Science Fiction series was The Stranger (1964–65) produced and screened by

11562-481: The early 1960s, his hits were consistently in the top five. In 1961, EMI records organised Richard's 21st birthday party at its London headquarters in Manchester Square led by his producer Norrie Paramor. Photographs of the celebrations were incorporated into Richard's next album, 21 Today , in which Tony Meehan joined in despite having very recently left the Shadows to be replaced by Brian Bennett. Typically,

11703-425: The early 1990s had become one of the most popular dramas on American television. Star Trek fans continued to grow in number, and first began organizing conventions in the 1970s. No other show attracted a large organized following until the 1990s, when Babylon 5 attracted both Star Trek fans and a large number of literary SF fans who previously had not been involved in media fandom. Other series began to attract

11844-653: The early years, particularly on album and EP releases, Richard also recorded ballads backed by the Norrie Paramor Orchestra with Tony Meehan (and later Brian Bennett) as a session drummer. His first such single without the Shadows was " When the Girl in Your Arms Is the Girl in Your Heart " in 1961, and he continued to release one or two per year, including covers of " It's All in the Game " in 1963 and " Constantly " in 1964,

11985-621: The family embarked on a three-week sea voyage to Tilbury , Essex , England, aboard the SS ; Ranchi . The Webbs moved from comparative wealth in India, where they lived in a company-supplied flat at Howrah near Calcutta , to a semi-detached house in Carshalton , north Surrey . Harry Webb attended a local primary school, Stanley Park Juniors, in Carshalton. In 1949, his father obtained employment in

12126-549: The father of his fiancée, Paula, to investigate. Paula's father is Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group – "the rocket man!", as one of Dillon's troops puts it. Quatermass and the Rocket Group, now including Paula and mathematical genius Dr. Leo Pugh, are recovering from the news that one of the two nuclear Quatermass II rockets has exploded during a ground test in Australia, killing hundreds of staff and ending their project to build permanent bases on

12267-612: The first Quatermass serial, the two men had collaborated on the literary adaptations Wuthering Heights (1953) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954), and on Kneale's abominable snowman play The Creature (1955). Quatermass II comprised six half-hour episodes, transmitted live from Studio G at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios in London. The episodes – individually subtitled "The Bolts", "The Mark", "The Food", "The Coming", "The Frenzy" and "The Destroyers" – were shown every Saturday night at 8 p.m. from 22 October to 26 November 1955; because of

12408-451: The first decade of the 21st century, changes in provincial tax legislation prompted many production companies to move from Toronto to Vancouver . Recent popular series produced in Vancouver include The Dead Zone , Smallville , Andromeda , Stargate Atlantis , Stargate Universe , The 4400 , Sanctuary and the reimagined Battlestar Galactica . Because of the small size of

12549-420: The inquiry, then returns with Fowler to find that Broadhead has been 'marked' and now claims there is no problem with the project. Fowler takes Quatermass to meet with civil servant Rupert Ward, who has the authority to inspect the plant. Back at the Rocket Group, Leo and Paula deduce and discover with a radio telescope that an asteroid is orbiting the Earth invisibly and discharging the meteorites when it reaches

12690-470: The last Hot 100 of 1980 ("A Little in Love", "Dreamin'", and "Suddenly"). In the UK, meanwhile, "Carrie" reached No. 4 and "Dreamin'" peaked at No. 8. In a retrospective review of "Carrie", AllMusic journalist Dave Thompson praised "Carrie" as being "an enthrallingly atmospheric number. One of the most electrifying of all Cliff Richard's recordings." In 1980, Richard officially changed his name, by deed poll , from Harry Rodger Webb to Cliff Richard. At

12831-466: The late-1990s, Richard had sold more than 250 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time . He has never achieved the same popularity in the United States despite eight US Top 40 singles, including the million-selling " Devil Woman " and " We Don't Talk Anymore ". In Canada, he had a successful period in the early 1960s, the late 1970s and early 1980s, with some releases certified gold and platinum. He has remained

12972-485: The letter was a journalistic trick to uncover advance story details, Kneale eventually decided that it was genuine, and allowed Cartier to send a reply outlining the storyline's conclusion. Following episode six, some viewers wrote in to the BBC concerned at Quatermass's survival, as he had not been seen to definitely return to Earth in the experimental rocket ship. The BBC's own website regarded Quatermass II unfavourably when reviewing its DVD release in 2005: "The script

13113-417: The live album Cliff in Japan in 1967. In 1968, Richard sang the UK's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest , " Congratulations ", written and composed by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter ; it lost, however, by one point to Spain's " La La La ". According to John Kennedy O'Connor 's The Eurovision Song Contest—The Official History , this was the closest result yet in the contest, and Richard locked himself in

13254-501: The live nature of the performances, most of the episodes overran their allotted half-hour slots slightly. Each episode was rehearsed on the Monday to Friday before transmission at Mansergh Woodall Boys Club in St John's Wood , London, and then camera rehearsed in studio for most of the day on the Saturday. Not every scene was performed live; because of the increased budget – £7,552 was spent on

13395-428: The live versions in the Monday night repeats. Quatermass II was one of the first BBC drama productions to be repeated from a telerecording, rather than having the production re-performed live for any second showing as had been the norm in the past. Episode three, "The Food", was repeated in a slightly edited form on BBC 2 on 26 August 1991 as part of The Lime Grove Story . This was a day of programming to commemorate

13536-448: The long-running Mr. Squiggle , Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left , Ocean Girl , Crash Zone , Watch This Space and Spellbinder . Other series like Time Trax , Roar , and Space: Above and Beyond were filmed in Australia, but used mostly US crew and actors. Japan has a long history of producing science fiction series for television. Some of the most famous are anime such as Osamu Tezuka 's Astro Boy ,

13677-413: The majority of science fiction media fandom has been represented by males of all ages and for most of its modern existence, a fairly diverse racial demographic. The most highly publicized demographic for science fiction fans is the male adolescent; roughly the same demographic for American comic books . Female fans, while always present, were far fewer in number and less conspicuously present in fandom. With

13818-425: The meteorites being discovered in fields, and in the boiler rooms of the under-construction BBC Television Centre in London for scenes set inside the factory. The location film sequences were the most ambitious that had then been attempted in British television drama, which was usually predominantly studio-bound. Each episode of Quatermass II was telerecorded onto 35 mm film during its live transmission, for

13959-581: The mid-1960s. He also was amassing a string of top ten albums, including I'm No Hero , Wired for Sound , Now You See Me, Now You Don't , a live album he recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra titled Dressed for the Occasion , and Silver , marking his 25th year in show business in 1983. In 1986, Richard reached No. 1 by teaming up with the case of the comedy series The Young Ones to re-record his smash hit " Living Doll " for

14100-416: The near point, 400 000 miles over Southern England every 14 hours. Quatermass deduces that an alien life-form which comes from one of the moons of Saturn , which lives on ammonia, hydrogen and methane, but to which oxygen is a deadly poison, travels to earth in the meteorites, and in the few seconds they spend out of their shells before dying they possess human minds, and transmit knowledge to each other in

14241-454: The network to demand the show remain on the air. Network executives were overwhelmed by an unprecedented wave of correspondence, and they kept the show on the air. Although the series continued to receive low ratings and was canceled a year later, the enduring popularity of the series resulted in Paramount creating a set of movies, and then a new series Star Trek: The Next Generation , which by

14382-423: The other three played with the later and better known Shadows , although Samwell wrote songs for Richard's later career. Agent George Ganjou saw the group perform in London, and recommended them to Norrie Paramor for an audition. For Richard's debut session, Paramor provided him with "Schoolboy Crush", a song previously recorded by American Bobby Helms . Richard was permitted to record one of his own songs for

14523-436: The plant and a prefab town for the construction workers. At the prefab town, Quatermass sees that 'the mark' and strange behaviour are associated with those who find the fallen meteorites, but before he can find out more the community police order him away. As he tries to investigate further, Quatermass finds that other figures in high levels of government have gained 'the mark' after coming across meteorites. Quatermass leaves

14664-470: The pop hit single " We Don't Talk Anymore ", written and composed by Alan Tarney , which hit No. 1 in the UK and No. 7 in the US. Bryan Ferry added hummed backing vocals to the song. The record made Richard the first act to reach the Hot 100's top 40 in the 1980s who had also been there in each of the three previous decades. The song was quickly added onto the end of his latest album Rock 'n' Roll Juvenile , which

14805-478: The production team before the transmission of episode five came from a woman in Haverfordwest who was concerned that she would never find out what happened in the end as the week before the final episode's transmission she was due to move to Ireland to spend the rest of her life in a convent ; she wondered if the BBC could possibly write to her and let her know how the story resolved. After some debate as to whether

14946-578: The reusability of props, models, effects, or animation techniques made it easier to keep using them. The combination of high initial cost and lower maintenance cost pushed producers into building these techniques into the basic concept of a series, influencing all the artistic choices. By the late 1990s, improved technology and more training and cross-training within the industry made all of these techniques easier to use, so that directors of individual episodes could make decisions to use one or more methods, so such artistic choices no longer needed to be baked into

15087-404: The rising popularity of fanfiction , a large majority of which is categorized as slash fanfiction . Female fans comprise the majority of fanfiction writers. U.S. television science fiction has produced Lost In Space , Star Trek , The Twilight Zone , and The X-Files , among others. British television science fiction began in 1938 when the broadcast medium was in its infancy with

15228-424: The rising popularity of fanzines, female fans became increasingly vocal. Starting in the 2000s (decade), genre series began to offer more prominent female characters. Many series featured women as the main characters with males as supporting characters. True Blood is an example. Also, such shows premises moved away from heroic action-adventure and focused more on characters and their relationships. This has caused

15369-463: The rocker who had been called a "crude exhibitionist" and "too sexy for TV". Richard intended at first to "reform his ways" and become a teacher, but evangelical Christian friends advised him not to abandon his career. Soon after, Richard re-emerged, performing with Christian groups and recording some overtly Christian material. He still recorded secular songs with the Shadows, but devoted a lot of his time to Christian based work, including appearances with

15510-575: The same time, he received, from the Queen, the award of Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to music and charity. In 1981, the single " Wired for Sound " hit No. 4 in the UK and also became Richard's biggest hit in Australia since the early 1960s. To finish the year, "Daddy's Home" hit No. 2 in the UK. On the singles chart, Richard was having his most consistent period of top twenty hits since

15651-534: The sample had watched at least five episodes of the production. Quatermass II received positive newspaper reviews in the Daily Mail and the Daily Express , although the BBC's Radio Times listings magazine published letters of both praise and criticism for the serial. The serial was also criticised internally at the BBC by Cecil McGivern , who felt it to be not as good as the original. One letter received by

15792-482: The school vocal harmony group The Quintones, before singing in the Dick Teague Skiffle Group. Harry Webb became lead singer of a rock and roll group, the Drifters (distinct from the US group of the same name ). The 1950s entrepreneur Harry Greatorex wanted the up-and-coming rock 'n' roll singer to change his name . The name Cliff was adopted as it sounded like "cliff face", which suggested "Rock". It

15933-455: The second highest total for an artist (behind Presley). He holds the record, with Presley, as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its first six decades (1950s–2000s). He has achieved 14 UK No. 1 singles, and is the only singer to have had a No. 1 single in the UK in each of five consecutive decades. He also had four UK Christmas No. 1 singles , two of which were as a solo artist; " Mistletoe and Wine " and " Saviour's Day ". By

16074-596: The serial, nearly double the amount spent on The Quatermass Experiment – Cartier was able to include a larger proportion of pre-filmed inserts on 35 mm film , which were included during the live transmissions of each episode. Most of the pre-filmed material was shot on location at the Shell Haven oil refinery in Stanford-le-Hope , doubling for the factory where the alien creature is being grown on Earth. Filming also took place in rural Essex for material showing

16215-419: The series concept. Special effects (or "SPFX") have been an essential tool throughout the history of science fiction on television: small explosives to simulate the effects of various rayguns , squibs of blood and gruesome prosthetics to simulate the monsters and victims in horror series, and the wire-flying entrances and exits of George Reeves as Superman . The broad term "special effects" includes all

16356-407: The shooting of the location filming for Quatermass II began, and necessitated the casting of a replacement lead actor at short notice; John Robinson was chosen to fill the part. Robinson was an experienced actor from a range of different films and television programmes since the 1930s, but was uncomfortable about taking over from Tate, and had difficulty in learning some of the technical dialogue he

16497-574: The show, Richard said: "I'm lucky to be here". He said that his seatbelt had prevented him from flying through the windscreen. In October 1986, " All I Ask of You ", a duet that Richard recorded with Sarah Brightman from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical version of The Phantom of the Opera reached No. 3 in the UK singles chart. 1987 saw the release of his Always Guaranteed album, which became his best-selling album of all-new material, and included

16638-545: The small role of Frankie, later worked in several films with Cliff Richard and starred in the BBC sitcom " It Ain't Half Hot Mum ". Nigel Kneale not only wrote the serial but, previously an actor, had two speaking parts. He played the voice heard over the factory loudspeaker system in episode five, and narrated the recaps at the beginning of episodes two, three, four and six. Kneale went on to write feature film screenplays such as Look Back in Anger (1958) and First Men in

16779-411: The techniques here, but more commonly there are two categories of effects. Visual effects ("VFX") involve photographic or digital manipulation of the onscreen image, usually done in post-production . Mechanical or physical effects involve props, pyrotechnics, and other physical methods used during principal photography itself. Some effects involved a combination of techniques; a ray gun might require

16920-504: The title character of 1960s TV series Maigret , based on Georges Simenon 's novels. Roger Delgado , who found fame in the 1970s as the Master in Doctor Who (1971–73), played a journalist who helps Quatermass before falling victim to "the mark" in episode four. Wilfrid Brambell , later star of the sitcom Steptoe and Son (1962–74), appeared as a tramp . and Melvyn Hayes , who played

17061-490: The toilet to avoid the nerves of the voting. In May 2008, a Reuters news report claimed that voting in the competition had been fixed by the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco , to ensure that the Spanish entry won, thus allowing them to host the contest the following year (1969). It was claimed that Spanish TVE television executives offered to buy programmes in exchange for votes, as well as contract unknown-artists. The story

17202-521: The top of the chart. It was the best-selling UK single of 1988, shifting 750,000 copies. The album was certified quadruple platinum, becoming Richard's first to be certified multi-platinum by the BPI since it had introduced multi-platinum awards in February 1987. In May 1989, Richard released his 100th single, " The Best of Me ", becoming the first British artist to achieve the feat. The single peaked at No. 2 in

17343-512: The top stream, he stayed on beyond the minimum leaving age to take GCE Ordinary Level examinations and gained a pass in English literature . He then started work as a filing clerk for Atlas Lamps. A development of retirement flats, Cliff Richard Court, has been named after him in Cheshunt. Harry Webb became interested in skiffle . When he was 16, his father bought him a guitar, and in 1957, he formed

17484-455: The transmission of a partial adaptation of Karel Čapek 's play R.U.R. . Despite an occasionally chequered history, programmes in the genre have been produced by both the BBC and the largest commercial channel, ITV . Nigel Kneale 's The Quatermass Experiment (1953) and its sequels have been called "one of BBC Television's earliest audience successes" and Kneale became "one of the most influential television and film writers to emerge in

17625-441: The two top-10 hit singles " My Pretty One " and " Some People ". Richard concluded his thirtieth year in music by achieving a UK Christmas No. 1 single in 1988 with " Mistletoe and Wine ", while simultaneously holding the No. 1 positions on the album and video charts with the compilation Private Collection , which collected his biggest hits from 1979 to 1988. "Mistletoe and Wine" was Richard's 99th UK single and spent four weeks at

17766-556: Was " Move It " writer Ian Samwell who suggested the surname "Richard" as a tribute to Webb's musical hero Little Richard . Before their first large-scale appearance, at the Regal Ballroom in Ripley, Derbyshire in 1958, they adopted the name "Cliff Richard and the Drifters". The four members were Harry Webb (by then going under the stage name "Cliff Richard"), Ian Samwell on guitar, Terry Smart on drums and Norman Mitham on guitar. None of

17907-409: Was chosen by BBC management rather than the production team, as she was the wife of the BBC's head of radio drama , Val Gielgud . As Hugh Griffith also had problems with some of his technical dialogue, Grey learned his lines as well as her own, in case she needed to step in and assist him during the live performance. Dillon was played by John Stone ; Stone too had a long career as a supporting actor in

18048-564: Was getting back into the heavier rock in which he had begun his career. Notwithstanding this, Richard continued to release albums with contemporary Christian music content in parallel with his rock and pop albums, for example: Small Corners from 1978 contained the single "Yes He Lives". On 31 December 1976, he performed his latest single, "Hey, Mr. Dream Maker", on BBC1's A Jubilee of Music , celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II 's impending Silver Jubilee . In 1979, Richard teamed up once again with producer Bruce Welch for

18189-588: Was in the form of video showings of popular anime, untranslated and often low quality VHS bootlegs. Starting in the 1990s, anime fans began organizing conventions. These quickly grew to sizes much larger than other science fiction and media conventions in the same communities; many cities now have anime conventions attracting five to ten thousand attendees. Many anime conventions are a hybrid between non-profit and commercial events, with volunteer organizers handling large revenue streams and dealing with commercial suppliers and professional marketing campaigns. For decades,

18330-409: Was invited to write for The X-Files during the 1990s, but declined the offer. Other genre productions that have been compared with the serial include the 1970 Doctor Who story Spearhead from Space . This serial features an alien entity falling to Earth in a meteorite shower; a factory taken over for the growth of the alien creature, and governmental institutions being infiltrated by servants of

18471-528: Was of half Welsh and half Spanish descent, born of a Spanish great-great-grandmother named Emiline Joseph Rebeiro. The Webb family lived in a modest home in Maqbara, near the main shopping centre of Hazratganj . Dorothy's mother served as the dormitory matron at the La Martiniere Girls' School . Richard had three sisters, Joan and Jacqui, plus Donna (1942–2016). In 1948, following Indian independence ,

18612-526: Was possessed by the ammonids. On 22 September 1955 the ITV network was launched in the UK, bringing commercial television to Britain for the first time and ending the BBC 's broadcasting monopoly in the country. The new network's creation had been established by the Television Act 1954 , and the BBC had known in advance that it would need programmes to combat the new rival for television audiences. Referring to

18753-531: Was praised for its allegorical concerns of the damaging effects of industrialisation and the corruption of governments by big business . It is described on the British Film Institute 's Screenonline website as "compulsive viewing". Reginald Tate , who had played the title role in The Quatermass Experiment , collapsed and died on 23 August 1955, aged 58. This was less than a month before

18894-608: Was produced by the CBC as early as the 1950s. In the 1970s, CTV produced The Starlost . In the 1980s, Canadian animation studios including Nelvana , began producing a growing proportion of the world market in animation. In the 1990s, Canada became an important player in live action speculative fiction on television, with dozens of series like Forever Knight , Robocop , and most notably The X-Files and Stargate SG-1 . Many series have been produced for youth and children's markets, including Deepwater Black and MythQuest . In

19035-642: Was re-titled We Don't Talk Anymore for its release in the United States. It was his first time at the top of the UK singles chart in over ten years, and the song would become his biggest-selling single worldwide, selling almost five million copies throughout the world. Later in 1979, Richard performed with Kate Bush at the London Symphony Orchestra 's 75th anniversary celebration at the Royal Albert Hall . With "We Don't Talk Anymore" in 1979, Richard finally began to receive some extended success in

19176-676: Was required to deliver. Robinson's delivery of his lines has been criticised by some later reviewers. Appearing as Quatermass's chief assistant Dr Leo Pugh was Welsh actor Hugh Griffith , who had been an actor on stage and screen since the 1930s, but gained his highest profile roles after Quatermass II ; he went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Sheikh Ilderim in Ben-Hur (1959). He also appeared in Lucky Jim (1957) and Oliver! (1968). Monica Grey played Paula Quatermass; she

19317-561: Was specifically commissioned to write a sequel to The Quatermass Experiment in early 1955 to challenge the new ITV network. Kneale was inspired by contemporary fears over secret UK Ministry of Defence research establishments such as Porton Down , and also by being required, as a BBC staff member, to sign the Official Secrets Act . As with The Quatermass Experiment , Quatermass II was produced and directed by Rudolph Cartier ; he and Kneale particularly enjoyed working together. Since

19458-473: Was the first to cost more than $ 1 million per episode. One of the earliest forms of media fandom was Star Trek fandom . Fans of the series became known to each other through the science fiction fandom . In 1968, NBC decided to cancel Star Trek . Bjo Trimble wrote letters to contacts in the National Fantasy Fan Foundation, asking people to organize their local friends to write to

19599-501: Was the perfect cold-war drama". Some science fiction fans have speculated that the Quatermass serials in general, and Quatermass II in particular – with its elements including a conspiracy of silence in the government concerning extraterrestrial life, secret government facilities for alien use, and the silencing of any critic who opposes the government's plans – influenced the successful American series The X-Files (1993–2002). Kneale

19740-516: Was then part of British India . His parents were Rodger Oscar Webb, a manager for a catering contractor that serviced the Indian Railways , and the former Dorothy Marie Dazely. His parents also spent some years in Howrah, West Bengal . After the violence of Direct Action Day , they decided to relocate to Britain permanently. Richard is primarily of English heritage, but he had one great-grandmother who

19881-463: Was widely covered and featured on UK's Channel 4 News as a main story on 7 May 2008, with Jon Snow interviewing author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor about the matter. However, the allegations turned out to be untrue, as it was a widely repeated rumour instigated by TVE. Nevertheless, "Congratulations" was a huge hit throughout Europe and Australia, and yet another UK No. 1 in April 1968. After

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