A classic BBC TV series was Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass and the Pit, broadcast in the winter of 1958–59. The main setting for the series was a studio-constructed building site, whereas the film version (1967) was set mainly around a fictional Underground station, ‘Hobbs End’. In the film, workers discover what they believe to be an unexploded Second World War bomb near the station platform during the extension of what was supposed to be the Victoria Line. As they gradually begin to uncover the mysterious object it turns out to be a spacecraft, millions of years old, bearing the fossilized bodies of dead aliens. Professor Bernard Quatermass, a brilliant but unconventional scientist, is brought in to shed light on this disturbing discovery which turns out to have unforeseen effects on the local populace. Quatermass discovers that people living in the area have experienced ghostly manifestations and poltergeist outbreaks since the building of ‘Hobbs End’ Underground station in 1927. In one scene Quatermass looks at two street signs. The older sign is spelt Hob’s End. Quatermass is then informed that ‘Hob’ is an old name for the Devil.
The story weaves all the ingredients of a supernatural story: aliens, superstition, archaeological excavation, possession, haunted houses, science, ghosts and horror. The changing of the location from a building site on the TV series to an Underground station for the film was an inspired one. Construction of the actual Victoria Line was started in the early 1960s, some five years before the film. When the line was extended south of the Thames to Brixton, engineers encountered various problems including the finding of fossils and a number of human remains from an old plague pit. The disruption to the pit soon prompted reports of a ghostly presence haunting the area.
Other TV series with a supernatural element featured on the Underground include Doctor Who – The Dalek Invasion of the Earth (1964) which made extensive use of the derelict ‘Wood Lane’ station; The Web of Fear (1968) in which several scenes were shot in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel (although the film-makers mainly used a studio set); Mysterious Planet (1986); Blakes 7: Ultraworld (1980) and more recently Primeval (2007). The Primeval episode, as with almost all films featuring the London Underground, was filmed at Aldwych. This closed Underground station has also been the location for spooky films such as Death Line (1972), Ghost Story (1974), Creep (2004) and the TV series Most Haunted (September 2002). Lifeforce (filmed in 1985 at Chancery Lane) also deals with alien forces taking possession of London, although this time turning the population into zombies.
The most interesting documentary to be made around the theme was Ghosts of the Underground, shown on Channel 5 in October 2006. The programme drew on the experience of people who had spent most of their working lives on the Underground. It was a credit to the programme that it did not sensationalise but allowed a number of employees simply to talk about experiences that they had had at work for which there did not seem to be any simple explanation. This rather understated approach brought a real sense of eeriness to the programme while at the same time making the accounts of the witnesses sound very believable.
Neverwhere was a six-part television serial first shown in 1996. Based on the book by Neil Gaiman, it tells the surreal tale of a sinister world known as ‘London Below’. Set in modern-day London (London above), the series uses the Underground to reflect an uncongenial city that has been left behind. The central character, Richard Mayhew, an average sort of man, stumbles into the murky world of London Below, which consists of a city of monsters, murderers, monks and angels. Familiar names take on a new significance in London Below. The Angel, Islington, is a real angel, the Black Friars are dark priests, and Old Bailey is a character who wears clothing made of feathers. The closed Down Street Station on the Piccadilly Line, which had been converted for use as a secret command centre during the Second World War, was used for the banquet scene in the serial. The station, which was close to Hyde Park Corner tube station, closed in 1932, but its bulls’ blood-red faience tiling is still visible at street level.