The Quatermass Experiment - science fiction doesn’t have to be nerdy

Feels like a repeat post … and it is! Back in December 2006 I mentioned watching a repeat of The Quatermass Experiment on BBC Four. Originally broadcast in 2005 as a hundred minute live drama, it featured David Tennant as a doctor, it mixed together space, science and the unknown, and brought back memories of reading (all but the last page of) Quatermass and the Pit when I was still at school.

I caught another repeat of The Quatermass Experiment on iPlayer a few weeks ago, and watched it before it timed out last night. Despite the original story being written and broadcast as six half hour episodes in 1953, with the slight revisions added as part of the abridged 2005 version, it was still an engaging drama.

Also helps show that science fiction doesn’t have to be nerdy, minority and full of shiny space suit shoulder pads, but can break out and be intelligent, accessible and relevant.

Though I’m now struggling to think of many examples of other sci-fi that “breaks out” other than The Last Enemy, Superstorm Primeval or Torchwood. Any suggestions?