Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four was a book by George Orwell. (PROSE: The Eleventh Tiger)

In 1969, Justin, having read the novel, knew what the Tenth Doctor was talking about when the Doctor insinuated what might happen afterwards, if a country using the alien species' gifts could rule the world and be able to destroy cities, when "there are no more people to conquer". (PROSE: Blue Moon) Upon arriving at InterCom's Studio City, resembling a giant theme park with towering skyscrapers and a ninety-foot-high representation of the company logo, Mark Barrington could not help but think of Nineteen Eighty-Four. (PROSE: The King of Terror)

The Sixth Doctor, upon arriving in the year, claimed that 1984 was "never as good as the book". He later compared the Cybermen's ideal civilisation to the novel's dystopian setting. (AUDIO: The Reaping) He had acquired a first edition of the book from a classified ad. (PROSE: Business Unusual)

Behind the scenes

The novel is spelled Nineteen Eighty-Four in The King of Terror and The Eleventh Tiger, but as Nineteen Eighty-four in Blue Moon.

The novel The Winning Side was a crossover between Doctor Who and the real-life novel, depicting the universe of Nineteen Eighty-Four as an alternate timeline in the Doctor Who universe.

Peter Cushing, later cast as Dr. Who, played the part of Winston Smith in a 1954 BBC Television adaptation of the novel. John Hurt, later cast as the "War" incarnation of the Doctor, played the part of Winston Smith in a notorious 1984 film adaptation of the novel. Jonathan Morris revealed on Twitter in 2020 that back when AUDIO: The Lords of Terror was supposed to be a War Doctor rather than Eighth Doctor story, the premise was intended to be a play on this earlier role of Hurt's, with the actor "finding himself back in Nineteen Eighty-Four" — or, rather, in circumstances reminiscent of Orwell's dystopia.