In the late summer of 1942 whilst working for the BBC, George Orwell initiated an experiment in which five authors would take up the baton from each other to complete a serialised story. 

Orwell wrote the opening before passing the work to the next author along the line. Whilst not being entirely satisfied with the intermediate results, he saw that the concluding instalment was completed by E. M. Forster and saw the loose ends tied up.

I propose to repeat this experiment, and I know an established playwright who will read contributing instalments independently of any bias that I might have before deciding what we might publish here. The rules are simple: the context must be of direct relevance to some aspect of Islington's history or populace; and no contributor should leave his or her successor with an insoluble difficulty such as having leading characters killed off almost as soon as they have appeared. These rules are in tune with the spirit of those proposed by Orwell. The instalments as broadcast were scheduled for 13 minutes each, which is around 1,500 words of prose each time, and so in print we should stick with that. I must emphasise that this is an invitation for new work and not re-writes. The first instalment has been received; and the remaining four parts should appear once a month to conclude over the new year. Click on the left-hand menu to see part one.