GEORGE ORWELL’S PRESCIENT political satire Nineteen Eighty-Four is widely regarded as one of the most important novels of the 20th century. Winston Smith’s struggle for freedom continues to make a cultural impact: even those who haven’t read the book are familiar with the name of its paternal figurehead Big Brother, and the word “Orwellian” has long since become a catch-all description for any dystopian nightmare.
BBC producer Rudolph Cartier had first-hand experience of the type of totalitarian state depicted in Orwell’s book. Cartier was born in Vienna in 1904, and studied with Max Reinhardt at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He moved to Berlin in 1929, but interrupted a promising career as a scriptwriter when Hitler seized power. Along with colleagues such as Fritz Lang and Billy Wilder, Cartier left Germany in 1933. He returned to Vienna, but the rise of fascism compelled him to move to England, which he made his home in 1936. His career languished until a chance meeting with a literary agent led to an appointment with Michael Barry, BBC Television’s Head of Drama. “Arrow To The Heart”, Cartier’s adaptation of a German novel, was transmitted in July 1952, and marked the beginning of 23 years of continuous employment for the Corporation.
In 1953 Cartier produced and directed the original television version of The Quatermass Experiment. This was his first collaboration with BBC staff writer Nigel Kneale. Born on the Isle of Man in 1922, Kneale attended RADA before the Somerset Maugham Award for his 1949 short story collection Tomato Cain secured his future as a writer. He joined the BBC in 1951.
This story is from the May 2022 edition of SFX.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2022 edition of SFX.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Spooks Ghouls & Freaks Fools
WITH ITS ECLECTIC cast, broad comedy and supernatural farce, Rentaghost was a mainstay of BBC children’s TV from the late ’70s to the mid-’80s and like nothing else.
LOST IN THE SHADOWS
THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS OF INTERDIEW WITH THE DAMPIRE DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF LESTAT, LOUIS, CLAUDIA AND WHERE THE ANNE RICE UNIVERSE IS HEADING
NINE LIVES
ON SET FOR THE FINAL SERIES OF INSIDE NO 9. STEVE PEMBERTON AND REECE SHEARSMITH REFLECT ON THE TYRANNY OF THE TWIST
NOA'S ARC
CAESAR'S STORY MAY BE DONE AND DUSTED, BUT AS HIS CREATORS RICK JAFFA AND AMANDA SILVER TELL US, THERE'S STILL PLENTY OF TERRAIN TO EXPLORE IN - KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
TICKET TO RIDE
DIRECTOR BEN CHESSELL TAKES THE TARDIS BACK IN TIME IN HIS TWO EPISODES
SERVING FACE
HAIR AND MAKE-UP DESIGNER CLAIRE WILLIAMS ON NEW LOOKS
BABY BOOM
The TARDIS lands on a spaceship. It was very, very hard to shoot. We used real babies! I like to do things that I’ve never done before and sometimes that’s quite hard, with such a long career as mine.
BOXING CLEVER
DOCTOR WHO IS BACK AND THIS TIME IT'S TAKING OVER THE PLANET
WELCOME HOME
THE CREATIVE MINDS BEHIND THE LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATION OF THE FALLOUT GAME SERIES EXPLAIN THEIR ORIGINAL TAKE ON BETHESDA'S POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD
MONSTERS INC
THE TITANS UNITE IN HOT COLLAB GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE