1984

BBC Version
1954

Universally acknowledged as the best version of George Orwell's book yet to be made.

"There is very little which can touch this programme. Made with extremely limited resources, given the extra strain of being performed mostly live with just a few filmed inserts, Nineteen Eighty-Four had a profound effect on television at the time."
 
"This version stays truest to the novel and is actually better than the John Hurt/Richard Burton version from the eighties."

"All in all this is a legend of television based upon a legendary novel."

When first screened by the BBC there were numerous public complaints and these led to questions being asked in the House of Commons. Following remarks by the Duke of Edinburgh that he and the Queen had "thoroughly enjoyed" the broadcast, the live repeat, four days later, attracted the largest television audience since the Coronation.

When the importance of this production of Nineteen Eighty-Four was realised, it was arranged for the second performance to be telerecorded onto 35mm film, as the first was shown live, seen only by those who were watching. Videotape recording was still in development and television images could only be preserved on film by using a special recording apparatus (known as "telerecording" in the UK and "kinescoping" in the USA) but was used sparingly in Britain for preservation and not for pre-recording. It is thus the second performance that survives in the BBC archives, one of the earliest surviving British television dramas.

PLOT:
In a futuristic, state-run society controlled by "Big Brother" in which love is outlawed, employee of the state Winston Smith falls for Julia, and is tortured and brainwashed for his crime.

CAST:
Peter Cushing ... Winston Smith
André Morell ... O'Brien (as Andre Morell)
Yvonne Mitchell ... Julia
Donald Pleasence ... Syme
Arnold Diamond ... Emmanuel Goldstein
Campbell Gray ... Parsons
Hilda Fenemore ... Mrs. Parsons
Pamela Grant ... Parsons Girl
Keith Davis ... Parsons Boy
Janet Barrow ... Woman Supervisor
Norman Osborne ... First Youth
Tony Lyons ... Second Youth
Malcolm Knight ... Third Youth
John Baker ... First Man
Victor Platt ... Second Man
Van Boolen ... Barman
Wilfrid Brambell ... Old Man / Thin Prisoner
Leonard Sachs ... Mr. Charrington
Sydney Bromley ... Waiter
Janet Joye ... Canteen Woman
Harry Lane ... Guard
Richard Williams ... Narrator
Nigel Kneale ... The Telescreen Announcer (voice)
Roy Oxley ... Big Brother

Directed by Rudolph Cartier

RUNNING TIME: 120 MIN