It wouldn't be claiming too much to say that George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 is one of the key books of post-war Britain and its influence is still with us today. Big Brother, newspeak, double-think, thought police, are all concepts used in politics and social media. However, the book might not have broken into the mainstream without the help of a BBC television adaptation in 1954. It created controversy in the newspapers and even the Houses of Parliament, whilst gripping the nation at a time when the BBC was still the sole broadcaster in the UK.

The story is set in a futuristic world where the government is led by IngSoc, headed by a man known as Big Brother. The Party seeks to control every aspect of people's lives, including their thoughts, emotions, and behaviour. Winston Smith (Peter Cushing) is a low-ranking member of the Party who works in the Ministry of Truth, where he is responsible for altering historical records to conform to the Party's version of reality. Despite being a loyal member of the Party, Winston is secretly unhappy with the oppressive regime and begins to rebel against it. He begins a secret affair with Julia (Yvonne Mitchell), a party member from the Fiction department. Together they become involved with a group known as the Brotherhood, which is rumoured to be a group of rebels who are plotting against the Party. However the Brotherhood is actually a myth created by the Party to lure out and eliminate any potential dissenters.

Despite his efforts to rebel against the Party, Winston is ultimately unable to escape their control and is captured and tortured until he fully conforms to their ideology. The novel ends with Winston being released back into society, fully loyal to the Party and completely brainwashed.

Written by Nigel Kneale and produced by Rudolph Cartier, using everything they had learnt from their previous hit drama The Quatermass Experiment, the play translated Orwell's cautionary tale into a grim, futuristic drama that stretched the resources of the drama department to new frontiers. The result is a production which still has power today, as evidenced by the 2022 BFI bluray release.

Writers Andrew Scott Roe-Crines and John Isles return to the show to join Gareth Preston in discussing the messages of the book and strengths of this television play. Find out about what the papers said, how the Ingsoc party operates and the nightmare of Newspeak.



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