I was annoyed by his claim that his only duty was to himself and the story, which is ridiculous as he is a writer for hire whose duty is plainly to the producers, the broadcasters, and to the audience (as, in this case, licence fee payers.)

Also, if his claim was true, he would not have been annoyed by the audience reaction - after all, he claimed he had no duty towards them.

It may have had elements of the (worst) Quatermass about it (the non-BBC one) but these writers do not have Kneale's originality or his brilliance in creating realistic characters.