George Orwell - the pen name of Eric Blair - was a writer and political commentator who is very hard to pin down. He is a complex mass of confusions - an anti-establishment, pro-English, ex-Etonian, ex-policeman, and socialist, who was ardently anti-authoritarian. He was as anti-fascist as he was anti-communist, a former Spanish Civil War soldier who was anti-war but pro the Second World War.
This BBC Radio dramatisation - the first in a series of four plays - explores the disjuncture between the man who was Eric Blair and the writer who was George Orwell, telling the story of Orwell's days as a young Imperial policeman in Burma. Written by Mike Walker. Starring Joseph Millson. Produced by Kate McAll.