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In the summer of 1981, the landmark British film Chariots of Fire was released and went on to win an astonishing four Oscars. It told the story of two runners, Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, from very different backgrounds triumphing in the 1924 Olympics. It made stars of the then unknown actors who played the athletes: Ian Charleson, Ben Cross and Nigel Havers and established David Puttnam as one of Britain鈥檚 leading producers. It was also the directorial debut of Hugh Hudson and gave Colin Welland an Oscar for Best original screenplay. Ian Charleson died of AIDS in 1990 but Sue MacGregor brings together the key players from this unique creative team and hears about how they produced a British cinema classic.

Ben Cross recalls the pain of the strict training regime he put himself through, and the exhaustion of filming the famous beach running scenes in St Andrews. 鈥淲e had to run barefoot in icy cold water for what seemed like hours鈥�. Nigel Havers admits to breaking his wrist as he jumped the hurdles but carrying on filming for fear of being fired. 鈥淚 just thought this sort of film doesn鈥檛 come along twice in a career, so I had to grin and bear it鈥�. David Puttnam recalls the funding nightmare of getting the money together and the moment when he won the Oscar for Best Film. 鈥淚 got up from my seat and just felt my knees buckle鈥� Hugh Hudson talks about his anger at being snubbed by the Cambridge authorities who were concerned that they were being portrayed as anti-Semitic. 鈥淭hey were totally bigoted and totally wrong.鈥�
Colin Welland talks about the exuberant moment when he yelled 鈥淭he British are coming鈥�, and the criticism that followed it.

Producer: David Prest
Series Producer: David Prest
The Reunion is a Whistledown Production for 麻豆社 Radio 4