Quatermass may best be known as the surname of the title character

Bernard Quatermass

Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading up the British Experimental Rocket Group...

 of a British science fiction franchise of several television serials and films, and a radio production. Other notable uses of the word were inspired by this franchise.

Quatermass franchise

Professor Bernard Quatermass

Bernard Quatermass

Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading up the British Experimental Rocket Group...

 is a fictional scientist created by the writer Nigel Kneale, who appeared in several British dramatized productions:

Television serials

• The Quatermass Experiment
  The Quatermass Experiment
  The Quatermass Experiment is a British science-fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television in the summer of 1953 and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells the story of the first manned flight into space, overseen by...
  
  (BBC Television, 1953)
• Quatermass II
  Quatermass II
  Quatermass II is a British science-fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the Quatermass series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the first of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives...
  
  (BBC Television, 1955)
• Quatermass and the Pit
  Quatermass and the Pit
  Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the character would reappear in a 1979 ITV production simply entitled Quatermass...
  
  (BBC Television, 1958–59)
• Quatermass (TV serial)
  Quatermass (TV serial)
  Quatermass is a British television science fiction serial produced by Euston Films for Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. Like its three predecessors, Quatermass was written by Nigel Kneale...
  
   (Thames Television, 1979), also edited for international distribution as a cinematic release titled The Quatermass Conclusion
• The Quatermass Experiment (2005)
  The Quatermass Experiment (2005)
  The Quatermass Experiment was a 2005 live remake of the 1953 TV series of the same name by Nigel Kneale.-Production:The remake was commissioned as part of a "TV on Trial" season being run by BBC Four, examining past television trends and productions...
  
   (BBC Four, 2005), a live broadcast remake of the original serial

Film

• The Quatermass Xperiment
  The Quatermass Xperiment
  The Quatermass Xperiment is a 1955 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions, it was based on the 1953 BBC Television serial The Quatermass Experiment written by Nigel Kneale. It was directed by Val Guest and stars Brian Donlevy as the eponymous Professor Bernard...
  
  (Hammer Film Productions, 1955), released in the USA as The Creeping Unknown or Shock!!
• Quatermass 2
  Quatermass 2
  Quatermass 2 is a 1957 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions, it is a sequel to an earlier Hammer film The Quatermass Xperiment. Like its predecessor, it is based on a BBC Television serial – Quatermass II – written by Nigel Kneale...
  
  (Hammer Film Productions, 1957), released in the USA as The Enemy from Space
• Quatermass and the Pit
  Quatermass and the Pit (film)
  Quatermass and the Pit is a 1967 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions it is a sequel to the earlier Hammer films The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2. Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television serial – Quatermass and the Pit – written by Nigel Kneale...
  
   (Hammer Film Productions, 1967), released in the USA as Five Million Years to Earth

Other uses

• Quatermass (band)
  Quatermass (band)
  Quatermass was a British progressive rock band formed in London, England in September 1969. Lauded as a band of the future on the release of their debut album and supplementing single, "Black Sheep of the Family", major commercial success eluded the band throughout its brief duration.-Career:The...
  
  , a British band
  • Quatermass (album)
    Quatermass (album)
    Quatermass is an album by British progressive rock band, Quatermass, first released in May 1970. It has been described as "a keyboard dominated chunk of heavy progressive rock.....
    
    , their self-titled album
• Martin Quatermass, a pseudonym used by film director John Carpenter
  John Carpenter
  John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
  
  as writer of the screenplay for the film 'Prince of Darkness'