BY THE CREATOR OF QUATERMASS Three of Nigel Kneale’s science-fantasy plays for television are here published for the first time. Author of the pioneering “Quatermass” serials, Mr. Kneale shows here the same mastery of suspense and unrivalled ability at employing science fiction and supernatural themes in TV drama. “The Road” is set in 1770 and concerns the conflict between an early scientific investigator and a philosopher as they come face to face with terrifying supernatural phenomena in a haunted wood. “The Stone Tape”, surely one of the finest of 20th century ghost stories, also concerns the scientific investigation of a haunting, this time by a modern electronics research team at their newly acquired headquarters, an ugly Victorian mansion built on even older foundations . . . The title play, in sharp contrast, is concerned entirely with the future and, in particular, that of television. Mr. Kneale envisages a “cosy and comfy” highly automated society when the problems of war and over-population have been successfully overcome by “Apathy Control”. “Low-drive” people (the bulk of the world’s population) spend their waking hours watching TV and such shows as Sportsex and the Hungry-Angry Show, produced by the “high-drive” personnel of “Output”. With relentless build-up of suspense, “The Year of the Sex Olympics” describes the discovery of a new breakthrough towards better apathy control. A controversial play when first shown in 1969, its underlying thesis—the addictive power of TV—is still being hotly debated and it remains a most vital contribution to the literature of modern communications.

IN SPACE the Russians and Americans squander billions on pointless projects. ON EARTH there is anarchy. Civilisation is breaking down. Gangs of killers roam the rubbish-strewn streets. Fuel and food shortages have made the population desperate. Through the countryside bands of mystics calling themselves the Planet People chant their crazed beliefs. Professor Bernard Quatermass, once a space pioneer himself, is an old man now. Disgusted and appalled by the state of the world, he has one final mission—to find and save his young granddaughter. She may have joined the Planet People. He follows as thousands of them converge on the ancient stone circle of Ringstone Round. It is there that he witnesses an event that defies all sanity. For Quatermass it is the beginning of a long horror—a terrifying paranormal power has begun to afflict the Earth.