The army are conducting training in radiation detection when a fissure opens up in the ground and a radioactive explosion occurs. Dr Royston (Dean Jagger) a scientist specialising in atomic energy is called in to investigate. Later that night a child dies of radiation poisoning whilst playing in the nearby woods. Various other people then start coming down with the same symptoms. Dr Royston starts to believe that an unknown and amorphous radioactive entity is wandering the area, feeding off whatever radioactive energy it can. Obviously the army is less inclined to believe this and prefer to just concrete over the fissure, and just as obviously, this doesn't work! But if Dr Royston is right, how do you destroy something that feeds on energy? A low key, realistic, and sometimes suspenseful horror, tapping into the fear the public had about radioactivity. Following hammer's success with Quatermass they rushed out this. They had wanted it to be another Quatermass, but Kneale refused permission for his character. So Quatermass became Royston. Comic relief throughout is provided by various soldiers left to guard the fissure, most notably a young Anthony Newley in full cheeky cockney mode and his mate played by Ian MacNaughton, who went on to produce and direct Monty Python.
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