Nineteen Eighty-Four (TV programme)

Nineteen Eighty-Four was a British television adaptation of the novel of the same name by George Orwell, originally broadcast on BBC Television in the winter of 1954. The production proved to be hugely controversial, with questions asked in Parliament and many viewer complaints over its supposed subversive nature and horrific content. In a 2000 poll of industry experts conducted by the British Film Institute to determine the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four was ranked in seventy-third position.

Cast and crew

The leading role of Winston Smith was taken by the young Peter Cushing, in one of his first major roles. Cartier cast him after having been impressed with his performance in a BBC production of Anastasia the previous year. Cushing would later go on to become a major star of the cinema, as would his fellow Nineteen Eighty-Four actor Donald Pleasence, who played the role of Syme in this production. Pleasence was the only member of the cast to also be present in the 1956 feature film adaptation of the story, albeit as Parsons rather than Syme.

Related Topics:
Winston Smith - Peter Cushing - Anastasia - Cinema - Donald Pleasence - 1956

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Other cast members included the actress Yvonne Mitchell as Julia, who had starred in the Kneale / Cartier Wuthering Heights, and André Morell as O'Brien. Wilfrid Brambell, later famous for his role in the 1960s sitcom Steptoe and Son, appeared in two roles, as the old man Winston speaks with in the pub, and as a prisoner later on when Winston is imprisoned. Nigel Kneale, who had briefly been an actor in the 1940s before turning to scriptwriting, had a small voice-over role as an announcer. The face of Big Brother was in fact that of Roy Oxley, a member of the BBC design department whose inclusion was something of an in-joke on the part of the production team.

Related Topics:
Yvonne Mitchell - André Morell - O'Brien - Wilfrid Brambell - 1960s - Sitcom - Steptoe and Son - 1940s - Big Brother - Roy Oxley

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The composer of the incidental music for the serial was John Hotchkis, who insisted on a bigger than usual orchestra to perform the incidental music for the piece. As well as this, Kneale hated music off disc, so the score was conducted live to the performance by Hotchkis from Lime Grove Studio E, next door to where the play was being acted out, with Hotchkis and his orchestra following the action on a closed-circuit screen to synchronise their own performance.

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