George Orwell is one of the greatest writers England has produced. Tonight and for the next four nights Arena presents a unique full-scale portrait of this remarkable man, filmed in the places where he lived and worked and told in his own words and the words of those who knew him.
The first programme traces Orwell upbringing in a sedate middle-class home near Henley, his horrific experiences at preparatory school, his years at Eton and as a military policeman in Burma - and closes with his sudden and dramatic emergence as a writer with Down and Out in London and Paris, a book drawn from his experiences among vagrants, tramps and outcasts. Among those appearing are Jacintha Buddicon, Sir John Grotrion, Malcolm Muggeridge, Cyril Connolly and Professor Bernard Crick.