A New World: A Life of Thomas Paine

Trevor Griffiths fills this moving story of the life and loves of the author of 'The Rights of Man' with songs, music and the huge carnival spirit of a world turned upside down. It is the late 18th Century and on both sides of the Atlantic the world seems filled with exciting new possibilities for humanity: old yokes can at last be cast off, ancient hierarchies dissolved. Chief among those lighting the fire is the English radical Thomas Paine, a man of great compassion, brutal honesty and a political writer of genius. Whether answering the call of an America chafing under the tyranny of the British crown, riding the storm of revolutionary France, or challenging a conservative backlash in Britain, Paine is at the heart of things, ardent in his search for love, passionate in his pursuit of liberty.