COLIN WELLAND

(4 July 1934 - 2 November 2015)

The teacher turned actor and writer began his acting career in the BBC’s Z Cars series in 1962. This was in direct contrast to the likes of Dixon of Dock Green with its cosy plots and aging star Jack Warner. Like Z Cars, in his writing for Play for Today, Welland portrayed everyday lives in realistic plays that dealt with the people he knew in the north of England. As an actor he won a BAFTA in Ken Loach’s Kes (1969) and featured in films such as Villain, Straw Dogs and the big screen version of TV’s The Sweeney. His first film screenplay was John Schlesinger’s Yanks (1979) starring Richard Gere and Vanessa Redgrave. This was a preamble to Chariots of Fire (1981) for which he won an Oscar, announcing famously at the Academy Awards that “The British are coming!” He wrote more films and acted in others, but nothing ever matched Chariots of Fire.

MICHAEL DARVELL