The Pit and the Pendulum Charles III and Charles IV only four persons were condemned. The Inquisition was, however, abolished during the period of French intervention (1808–13). The original source of the pendulum torture method is one paragraph in the preface of the 1826 book "The history of the Inquisition of Spain " by the Spanish priest, historian, and activist, Juan Antonio Llorente. relating a second-hand account by a single prisoner released from the Inquisition's Madrid dungeon in 1820, who purportedly described the pendulum torture method. Most modern sources dismiss this as fantasy. One theory is that Llorente misunderstood the account he heard; the prisoner
Quatermass and the Pit August 1997. The BBC made "Quatermass and the Pit" available to buy on VHS videotape in the mid-80s, edited into a two-part compilation format. This was a new compilation made from the episodic film recordings, which had optical sound and telecined film inserts. This was re-released on VHS by Paradox Films, Total Home Entertainment and Revelation Films in 1995, and subsequently on DVD by Revelation Films in 2000. The full, unedited, episodic version of the serial was released on DVD by BBC Worldwide in 2005, as part of "The Quatermass Collection" box set. Also included were the surviving two episodes