"The British are coming!"
So cried screenwriter Colin Welland when Chariots of Fire won the 1981 Best Picture Oscar - an optimistic
outburst that heralded a rollercoaster decade, with steep highs and deep lows. Despite the high-profile likes of
Gandhi, A Passage to India and The Last Emperor, it was more noted for films made by smaller-scale
companies like HandMade (Withnail & I), Palace (The Company of Wolves), Merchant-Ivory
(A Room with a View) and Working Title (My Beautiful Laundrette, pictured).
It was also a time that saw unprecedented advances by women and ethnic minorities thanks to funding opportunities offered
by Channel 4, which also helped create a truly symbiotic relationship between the big and small screen.
British Film in the 1980s
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