Brave New World

A gripping BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Aldous Huxley-s classic dystopian novel It-s 2116, and Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson are token rebels in an irretrievably corrupted society where promiscuity is the norm, eugenics a respectable science, and morality turned upside down. There is no poverty, crime or sickness - but no creativity, art or culture either. Human beings are merely docile citizens: divided into castes, brainwashed and controlled by the state and dependent on the drug soma for superficial gratification. Into this sterile society comes an outsider, John - a man born into squalor and suffering, but raised on The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, a book which has shaped his entire life. When he discovers that treasured ideals such as love mean nothing in this `brave new world-, where romance is ridiculous, marriage shocking and parenthood shameful, John-s world is shattered - and his reaction will show Bernard and Helmholtz what rebellion really means... Based on Aldous Huxley-s 1932 masterpiece, widely considered one of the greatest novels of all time, this chilling dramatisation set in a futuristic totalitarian society stars Jonathan Coy, Justin Salinger, Milton Lopes and Anton Lesser. Running time: 2 hours

Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963) was an English writer, novelist, philosopher and a prominent member of the Huxley family. He was best known for his novels including Brave New World, set in a dystopian London, and for non-fiction books, such as The Doors of Perception, which recalls experiences when taking a psychedelic drug, and a wide-ranging output of essays. He spent the later part of his life in the U.S., living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. Huxley was a humanist, pacifist, and satirist. By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the pre-eminent intellectuals of his time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in seven different years.