1965: NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR - the Controversial 1954 BBC adaptation | Making of | BBC Archive
Late Night Line-Up looks back on the 1954 BBC television adaptation of George Orwell's "1984", starring Peter Cushing, Yvonne Mitchell, Donald Pleasance and André Morell.
The television play was performed live on the evening of Sunday 12th December and proved to be extremely controversial, drawing both intense criticism and praise from sections of the press and an unprecedented number of viewer complaints. Such was the strength of feeling that the play was even the subject of several Early Day Motions in Parliament.
In spite of the furore, the BBC proceeded with a repeat performance on Thursday 16th December, which - perhaps because of all the controversy surrounding it - drew the highest viewing figures of any BBC television broadcast since the Coronation.
Michael Dean discusses the play with its director Rudolph Cartier and scriptwriter Nigel Kneale, who had previously worked together successfully on The Quatermass Experiment. Were they taken aback by the audience's response to 1984? Dean also speaks to cast members Peter Cushing, Yvonne Mitchell and Andre Morell about how they felt having to do the repeat performance, knowing the extreme reaction the original broadcast had elicited, and level of scrutiny that they would face. Did they feel that the BBC was right to go ahead with the repeat?
Clip taken from Late Night Line-Up, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 27 November, 1965.
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