Adaptations of Nineteen Eighty-Four

• The first feature-length adaptation, 1984, was directed by Michael Anderson and was released in 1956. It starred Edmond O'Brien as protagonist Winston Smith with Donald Pleasence as Mr Parsons, Jan Sterling as Julia, and Michael Redgrave as O'Brien (renamed O'Connor).

• The second feature-length adaptation, Nineteen Eighty-Four, was directed by Michael Radford and was released in 1984. It is a reasonably faithful adaptation of the novel and was critically acclaimed. Many of the film's scenes were shot on the actual dates mentioned in the novel. For example, the scene in which Winston Smith writes the date "April 4, 1984" in his diary was filmed on April 4, 1984. The film's soundtrack was performed by the band Eurythmics and a single from it, "Sexcrime (1984)", was a hit in several countries. The film is notable for containing Richard Burton's last performance.

Me and the Big Guy is a 1999 short film by Matt Nix that parodies Nineteen Eighty-Four.

In March 2012 it was announced that a consortium of Hollywood production companies including Imagine Entertainment was set to reboot and make another feature film based on the novel.[1][2] Reportedly the consortium has secured rights from Orwell's estate. However, no further developments were revealed for some time. In November 2015, Paul Greengrass was attached to direct with Scott Rudin and Gina Rosenblum producing and James Graham writing the screenplay. Rudin and Greengrass had also previously worked together on Captain Phillips. Michael De Luca will oversee production of the upcoming 1984 film for the studio.[3]

In 2017, Graham began a rewrite of the film in response to the 2016 United States presidential election and Donald Trump's presidency, which had increased interest in the book. He claimed that the film would be released by 2019.[4][5] In 2020, Graham confirmed that the project had been postponed after they had difficulty writing a script, saying “Paul and I got very excited about it and then [we realized] it’s a difficult project. The book is just so bloody perfect, we started going: ‘Let’s just pause for a second.’ The world of surveillance and tech moves on so quickly, we just needed to have a broader view of it.”[6]

The first television version of Nineteen Eighty-Four appeared in CBS's Studio One series in 1953. In it American actor Eddie Albert played Winston Smith and Canadian Lorne Greene played O'Brien.[7]

The second television version was adapted by Nigel Kneale for the BBC as a Sunday Night Play in 1954 featuring Peter Cushing as "Smith", André Morell as "O'Brien", Yvonne Mitchell as "Julia" and Donald Pleasence as Syme. The same script was remade in 1965 for the BBC 2's Theatre 625 series.

Kneale's 1954 adaptation was produced again by the BBC, with some modifications in 1965, directed by Christopher Morahan. Starring David Buck, Joseph O'Conor, Jane Merrow and Cyril Shaps, it was broadcast in BBC2's Theatre 625 anthology series as part of a season of Orwell adaptations sub-titled The World of George Orwell, on 28 November 1965. Long believed lost, on 12 September 2010 it was announced in various media outlets that a copy had been located at the American Library of Congress, although an approximately seven-minute segment in the middle was unrecoverable from the NTSC video tape recording. It was recovered amongst a hoard of over 80 lost British television episodes dating from 1957 to 1970.

The first radio broadcast of Nineteen Eighty-Four was a one-hour adaptation transmitted by the United States' NBC radio network at 9pm. on August 27, 1949 as number 55 in the series NBC University Theater, which adapted the world's great novels for broadcast; it starred David Niven as Smith.

Another broadcast on the NBC radio network was made by The Theatre Guild on The Air on Sunday April 26, 1953 for The United States Steel Hour starring Richard Widmark as "Smith" and Marian Seldes as "Julia".[8]

Vincent Price starred in an Australian radio adaptation produced on the Lux Radio Theatre by the Major Broadcasting Network in Sydney, Australia.[9]

In the United Kingdom, the BBC Home Service produced a 90-minute version with Patrick Troughton and Sylvia Syms in the lead roles, first broadcast on October 11, 1965.

Between January 2 and February 7, 1975, the book was read over the air in its entirety by blacklisted writer and Pacifica Radio host Charles Morgan and legendary voiceover artist June Foray, with bridge music and some sound effects.[10] On June 27, 2017, the original recordings were simultaneously rebroadcast in a 15-hour marathon over all five Pacifica-owned stations.[11][12]

In April and May 2005, BBC Radio 2 broadcast a reading of the novel in eight weekly parts.

As part of the 2013 The Real George Orwell season, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a two-part adaptation starring Christopher Eccleston as "Smith", Pippa Nixon as "Julia" and Tim Pigott-Smith as "O'Brien" on February 10 and 17.