Thomas Nigel Kneale 18 April 1922 29 October 2006 was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay Predominantly a writer of thrillers that used sciencefiction and horror elements he was best known for the creation of the character Professor Bernard Quatermass Kneale wrote original scripts and successfully adapted works by writers such as George Orwell John Osborne H G Wells and Susan Hill Kneale was most active in television joining BBC Television in 1951 his final script was transmitted on ITV in 1997 He wrote wellreceived television dramas such as The Year of the Sex Olympics 1968 The Stone Tape 1972 and Beasts 1976 in addition to the Quatermass serials He has been described as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century and as having invented popular TV From Wikipedia