Alan Turing: the Enigma

Notes by the author, Andrew Hodges

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A R T S and M E D I A I am represented by Zeno Agency for questions concerning artistic rights. This is a selected list of developments where I have had some direct connection. There are of course countless other productions, documentary and fictional, which refer to Alan Turing's life and work.
Music: the Pet Shop Boys On 23 July 2014, the Pet Shop Boys (Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe) premiered a new work, A man from the future, based on Alan Turing: the Enigma. The text was drawn from my book, edited by Neil Tennant and myself, and narrated by Juliet Stevenson. This was the final piece in a Late Night Prom in the BBC 2014 series of Promenade Concerts, at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Interpretation and analysis by Wayne Studer. See the Pet Shop Boys website for further news.
Stage and Television Play Alan Turing: the Enigma was the basis for the 1986 play Breaking the Code by Hugh Whitemore, which first played in London and New York, starring Sir Derek Jacobi. It has been frequently performed by professional and amateur companies across the world since then. Performing rights are held by Alan Brodie Representation and Concord Theatricals (Samuel French). A 2025 production at Oxford included an epilogue by Neil Bartlett marking the change over 40 years. In 1996 it was adapted as a television film and video, also featuring Derek Jacobi.
Television documentary The television film The Strange Life and Death of Dr Turing was made for the BBC Horizon series in December 1991, and first shown on 9 March 1992. It was notable for the first-hand testimony of people who knew Alan Turing, such as Joan Clarke, Donald Bayley, Robin Gandy and Norman Routledge. I also appeared in the film to speak at various locations. The film-maker was Christopher Sykes.
Art work Alan Turing: the Enigma inspired the late artist and sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. Paolozzi's Turing prints, completed in 2000, include quotations from my work. A complete set was acquired by Edinburgh University and I saw them displayed in June 2016 when I had the honour of being admitted to an honorary D. Sc. degree.
Film Film rights in Alan Turing: the Enigma are no longer available as they were acquired for the American production The Imitation Game (2014).

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