George Orwell: A BBC Radio Drama Collection
A BBC Radio anthology of George Orwell's finest novels and memoirs, plus four biographical dramas. Visionary author and journalist George Orwell was the man behind two of the best loved and most influential novels of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. This collection celebrating his life and work features dramatisations of both these classic books, along with other works including Down and Out in Paris and London, Homage to Catalonia, Coming Up For Air and Keep the Aspidistra Flying. The collection is completed by four biographical radio plays by Mike Walker and Jonathan Holloway - Burma, Dreaming, Loving and Jura - which explore key episodes in Orwell's fascinating life and show the disconnection between the man who was Eric Blair and the writer who was George Orwell. Nineteen Eighty-Four Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth. Sick and separated from his wife, he lives alone in a one-room flat in Victory Mansions in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities... George Orwell's cautionary dystopian tale was first published in 1949, becoming one of the 20th century's most influential novels. Winston Smith...Christopher Eccleston Julia...Pippa Nixon O'Brien...Tim Pigott-Smith Parsons...Kim Wall Charrington ...Robert Blythe Syme ...Sam Alexander Prostitute...Susie Riddell With Christine Absalom, Don Gilet, Joe Sims and Joshua Swinney Dramatised by Jonathan Holloway Directed by Jeremy Mortimer. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013. Animal Farm One night, on an English farm, Major the boar recounts his vision of an utopia where his fellow creatures own the land along with the means of production and are no longer the slaves of humans. Before long, his dream comes true and for a short while all animals really are equal. But the clever pigs educate themselves and soon learn how to extend their own power, inevitably at the expense of the rest of the community. Narrator ..... Tamsin Greig Napoleon .....Nicky Henson Squealer ..... Toby Jones Snowball ..... Patrick Brennan Boxer ..... Ralph Ineson Clover ..... Liza Sadovy Major ..... Robert Blythe Benjamin ..... Paul Stonehouse Muriel ..... Sarah Thom Mollie ..... Lizzy Watts With Eleanor Crooks, Ben Crowe, Will Howard, Gerard McDermott, Adam Nagaitis and Stephanie Racine. Musical director ..... Neil Brand Adapted from his own novel by George Orwell Director ..... Alison Hindell First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013 Coming Up For Air An overweight, married, middle-aged insurance salesman surveys his life while reflecting on the country he finds himself living in. Written in 1939, Coming Up For Air was published just before the outbreak of the Second World War and offers premonitions of the impending conflict with images of an idyllic Thames-side Edwardian-era childhood at the same time as taking a rather dim view of capitalism and its effects on the best of rural England. Read by Tim McInnerny Abridged by Ellin Stein. Produced by Clive Brill First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2020 Homage to Catalonia In 1936 Eric and Eileen Blair were making ends meet by running a small village shop in Wallington and growing vegetables. But when news came from Spain that Franco's Nationalists had risen up against the elected Republican government, Eric decides to go to Spain - not just to record the struggle but to fight the Fascists. It was a decision that would nearly cost him his life, and produce one of the most vivid accounts of the Spanish Civil War. Eric Blair ...... Joseph Millson Eileen Blair ...... Lyndsey Marshal Georges Kopp ...... Ewan Bailey Spanish volunteer ...... Javier Marzan Jack Hywel ...... John Henry Miller ...... Richard Laing John McNair ...... John McAndrew Benjamin ...... Jon Lolis Idris ...... Ben McGregor Tom Gallagher ...... Gareth Pierce Fascist soldier ...... Asier Newman Adapted by Mike Walker Directed by Kate McAll First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2013 Keep the Aspidistra Flying In the streets of 1930's London, Gordon Comstock wages war on the money god. He aims to drift below ambition and shake off those friends who want him to make something of himself. But is he strong enough to resist the call of the aspidistra? George Orwell's socially critical novel - first published in 1936. Gordon Comstock ...... Jonathan Tafler Julia Comstock ...... Polly James Rosemary Waterlow ...... Victoria Carling Mr Clew/Clerk ...... Michael Deacon Philip Ravelston ...... Valentine Pelka Hermione Slater ...... Emily Richard Bookseller/Waiter/Tramp ...... William Simons Dramatised by Sam McBratney Directed by Jeremy Mortimer First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1988. Down and Out in Paris and London Orwell's vivid memoir of his time living among the poor in Europe's two great cities. Read by Joseph Millson Adapted and Produced by PG Morgan First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2007 The Real George Orwell - Burma After an undistinguished academic career at Eton, Eric and sets sail for Burma to join the colonial police. His experiences there will affect him profoundly and provide him with material for essays such as 'A Hanging' and 'Shooting An Elephant', and his first novel, 'Burmese Days' - and they will begin to shape his political thinking. Eric Blair . . . Joseph Millson Jacintha Buddicom . . . Sophie Roberts Wilson . . . Joseph Kloska Inspector d'Souza . . . Ernest Ignatius Burmese youth . . . Armaan Kirmani Man on Train . . . Derek Riddell Ted . . . Alun Raglan Written by Mike Walker Directed by Kate McAll First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2013 The Real George Orwell - Dreaming In September 1938, Eric and Eileen Blair leave London for Marrakech. He is hoping that the climate will be good for his health, and that he will be able to complete 'Coming Up for Air' a novel that examines the nature of England. But the bruising reception he received for 'Homage to Catalonia' is troubling him. Eric Blair... Joseph Millson Eileen Blair... Lyndsey Marshal Georges Kopp... Ewan Bailey Tommy... Paul Stonehouse With Ben Crowe and Will HowardWritten by Mike Walker Directed by Jeremy Mortimer First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013 The Real George Orwell - Loving Eric Blair's relationship with the opposite sex could be a distraught one; over the course of his lifetime he made several awkward marriage proposals to different women. But his relationship with Eileen O'Shaugnessy, whom he married in 1935, had a huge influence both on his life and his writing. This drama explores the nine years of their relationship. Eric Blair . . . Joseph Millson Eileen O'Shaugnessy/Blair . . . Lyndsey Marshal Dorothy . . . Isabella Marshall Lydia Jackson . . . Vera Filatova Inspector Summerfield . . . Dick Bradnum Len . . . Alun Raglan Written by By Jonathan Holloway Directed by Kate McAll First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013 The Real George Orwell - Jura In 1947, the year after Eileen's death, Eric leaves London and moves to Jura, with his sister Avril, and his three year old son. He is suffering from tuberculosis but is determined to finish Nineteen Eighty-Four, his final book. Eric Blair..Joseph Millson Avril Blair...Liza Sadovy David Holbrook... Adam Nagaitis Sonia Orwell ...Stephanie Racine Ricky Blair...James Foster Henry...Will Howard Lucy...Alexandra Guelff Jane...Lizzie Watts Written by By Jonathan Holloway Directed by Jeremy Mortimer First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013
