A Private Function Gilbert Chilvers (Michael Palin), who was encouraged to do so by his wife Joyce (Maggie Smith). Meanwhile a food inspector is determined to stop activities circumventing the food rationing. Three pigs were used in the filming of "A Private Function", all named Betty. Producer Mark Shivas was advised by Intellectual Animals UK that the pigs used should be female and six months old so as to not be too large or aggressive. However, the pigs were "unpredictable and often quite dangerous". During filming of one of the kitchen scenes, Maggie Smith was hemmed in by one of the pigs and
1984 (1956 film) was withdrawn from theatrical and TV distribution channels by Orwell's estate and has not been obtainable legally for many years. In 1954, Peter Cushing and Andre Morell starred in a BBC-TV made-for-TV adaptation which was extremely popular with British audiences, leading to the production of the 1956 O'Brien theatrical film version. Pleasence had also appeared in the BBC television version, playing the character of Syme, which for the film was amalgamated with that of Parsons. Like the earlier film adaption of "Animal Farm", "1984" was secretly funded by the Central Intelligence Agency. A voice-over narrator explains that in the mid-1950s,