Tony Keen ‘Invasion narratives in British television Science Fiction’ ‘Went the Day of the Daleks well?’ An investigation into the role of invasion narratives in shaping 1950s and 1960s British television Science Fiction, as shown in Quater- mass, Doctor Who and UFO If the function of art is to hold a mirror up to society, then science fiction (sf), through the distorted reflection it offers, allows the examination of aspects of society that might otherwise be too uncomfortable to confront. This essay aims to look at how invasion narratives, stories concerned with the invasion of Britain from outside, shaped three British science fiction series, and how those series interro- gated the narratives. The series will primarily be examined through aesthetic and social ap- proaches. Particular areas to be explored include the embracing and subverting of common assumptions about Britain’s attitude to invasion, and the differing attitudes to the military displayed. Introduction As an island nation, the prospect of invasion has always occupied a prominent place in the British popular imagination. According to Sellar and Yeatman, the two memorable dates in history are 55 BC and 1066, the dates of the invasions of Julius Caesar and William the Con- queror.1 Subsequent events such as the Spanish Armada of 1588 are also well-known mo- ments in history. It is inevitable that the prospect of invasion should produce speculative literature. Some works appeared around the time of Napoleon’s threatened invasion of 1803,2 but ‘invasion literature’ as a literary genre emerged out of the growing market for novels and short-story magazines, and is generally considered to have begun with the appearance of George Tomp- kyns Chesney’s 1871 story ‘The Battle of Dorking’,3 a story of the German conquest of Eng- land, prompted by the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871. Such counterfac- tual future speculations could be considered to be science fiction stories in their own right. But the most famous science fictional invasion stories are those which deal with alien inva- sions. The first of these was H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel The War of the Worlds, which translat- ed much of the material of ‘The Battle of Dorking’ (Wells begins his Martian invasion in the same part of Surrey) into a form in which the invaders, instead of Germans, were Martians. War of the Worlds establishes many of the features of the British sf invasion story, though it does not contain all of them. The invasion takes place in Britain, usually south-east Eng- land. The aliens are usually massively technologically superior, and overrun the defences. There is a significant role played by the British military, who are presented as (in general) brave and professional, if often lacking the imagination to fight the aliens successfully. De- feat of the invasion comes about through unconventional means, often promoted by a scien- 1 Sellar and Yeatman, pp.1, 17. 2 See Clarke, ‘Introduction’, p.8. 3 Clarke, ‘Future war stories’. 1 Tony Keen ‘Invasion narratives in British television Science Fiction’ tist figure who exists somewhat outside the establishment.4 Sometimes (though not in War of the Worlds) the invasion involves, at least in its initial stages, infiltration. One of the most important features is the juxtaposition of the strange with the familiar; in the case of War of the Worlds, the Martian war machines destroying familiar suburbs of London such as Woking and Weybridge. This is meant to unsettle the reader, and make them feel uncomfortable, in a way that they find thrilling, and causes them to come back to similar stories. Chapman writes (in reference to the use of the motif in Doctor Who): The invasion narrative reflects a contradictory sense of national awareness. On the one hand, it expresses a sense of paranoia and insecurity: the nation is vulnerable to alien (for which read foreign) invasion and proves unable to resist a technologically superior force until it is saved by the advanced scientific knowledge of the Doctor. On the other hand, it also suggests a perverse sense of national self-importance and prestige: as long as alien invaders deem it necessary to take over the British Isles as a prelude to their conquest of the Earth, the illusion of Britain as a great power is maintained.5 Invasion literature was, of course, given a major boost by the events of the Second World War. From the Fall of France in June 1940 through to D-Day four years later, the population of Britain were constantly aware of the possibility of German invasion.6 The threat of inva- sion to the British way of life was central to the film Went the Day Well?, in which German infiltrators pretended to be British troops and occupied an English village.7 Went the Day Well? is not itself science fiction, but it shares many resonances with sf in portrayal of Eng- lish country life as strange and alien.8 It does not seem too fanciful to suggest that this film influenced the next wave of sf invasion narratives. The chief exponent of this was John Wyndham. Three of his novels in particular are worth noting. In The Day of the Triffids Britain is overwhelmed by intelligent killer plants. In The Midwich Cuckoos alien children infiltrate an English village. In The Kraken Wakes, aliens establish themselves in the ocean depths, and then attack humanity; this last novel broadens its horizons, describing a world-wide assault, but it is told through the eyes of an English journalist. The Quatermass serials (1953-1959) The Quatermass serials, written by Nigel Kneale, are recognized as important moments in the history of television science fiction, and indeed of British television overall.9 The Quater- 4 Such a figure in absent from The War of the Worlds, though Wells had already provided the pro- totype in The Time Machine. 5 Chapman, Inside the TARDIS, p.5. 6 In practical terms, this threat was never very real; the Royal Navy was never reduced to a suffi- cient degree to make invasion feasible. But for this argument all that matters is that the threat was believe to be real. 7 The basic idea was revived for Jack Higgins novel The Eagle Has Landed and the subsequent film. 8 McGrath identifies the film as science fictional. 9 Chapman, ‘The science fiction series’, p.169. 2 Tony Keen ‘Invasion narratives in British television Science Fiction’ mass Experiment was the first original (rather than adapted) adult science fiction series on British television. It was preceded by single-play adaptations of Karel Capek’s RUR and Wells’ The Time Machine, and the children’s series Stranger from Space,10 but none of these constituted invasion narratives. From its opening sequence The Quatermass Experiment conjured up resonances of the Second World War. The theme music chosen was Gustav Holst’s ‘Mars, bringer of war’, and the first shot, ostensibly of Professor Quatermass’ space- rocket, is actually of a V-2, the missile used by the Germans to attack London in 1944 and 1945. The Quatermass Experiment appeared at a time when perceptions of Britain’s role in the world were shifting. The empire was shrinking; India had become independent in 1947, Burma and Ceylon the following year (when the British also withdrew from Palestine). But it was still credible in the popular imagination that Britain was a world power,11 and so might be at the forefront of space exploration. The Quatermass Experiment tells the story of three astronauts who encounter alien life on their mission. On their return, they are absorbed into a single alien plant with the potential to destroy life on Earth. It is not quite a full British invasion narrative12 – the plant is not delib- erately trying to take over the earth through conquering the UK. However, many of the fea- tures are displayed, such as the involvement of the army in fighting the menace, and the un- conventional means used to destroy it (Quatermass appeals to the consciousnesses of the three astronauts within the creature). Quatermass II, two years later, was a more convention- al invasion/infiltration narrative; aliens are infiltrating the British government, and have their prime invasion base in the south-east of England (though it is conceded that there are other bases across the world that will be activated later). The military presence, however, is toned down. By the time the final serial, Quatermass and the Pit, was broadcast in 1958-59, Britain’s delusions of world importance had been shattered by the Suez crisis.13 The serial has a less cosy relationship with the military and authority than the previous two. Quatermass is re- placed as commander of the British Experimental Rocket Group by the narrow-minded Colo- nel Breen. The story has a variation on the invasion narrative. The invasion has in fact taken place millions of years before, when Martians landed and genetically modified certain mem- bers of humanity. But there is still a threat to be resisted – there is a danger that those hu- mans with strong alien genes will wipe out those in whom the genes are weak. This climax of the serial seems influenced by the Notting Hill race riots of August and September 1958 (the series went into production in November). But resonances of the Second World War still remain; some footage of London burning due to Martian-inspired riots is in fact footage of the city after German bombing. Kneale took many of the concerns of Wyndham and other contemporary sf writers, and transferred them to the television screen. Because he was not doing anything particularly 10 See Hockley, p.28, cited in Chapman, ‘The science fiction series’, pp.168-9.