 Notoriously waving his Oscar for the screenplay of Chariots of Fire (d. Hugh Hudson, 1981) aloft, Colin Welland announced "The British are coming!" In the ensuing years, it must often have seemed as if they - and Welland - had lost their way. Nothing in his subsequent career, much on TV, has matched Chariots' eloquent, nostalgic hymn to British achievement: there were the South African-set A Dry White Season (US, d. Euzhan Palcy, 1989) and The War of the Buttons (UK/France, d. John Roberts, 1994), but neither found audiences. He has always maintained an acting career as well, but, again, his first film role, as the sympathetic English teacher in Kes (d. Ken Loach, 1969) remains his best. On TV, he was in Z Cars (BBC, 1963-65) and Bramwell (ITV, 1995-98). Brian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of British Film
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FILM & TV CREDITS
