Colin Welland, RIP

**pastoralguy** · 03-11-15, 18:11

I remember him in 'Kes' as the sympathetic English teacher. A very sad film.

**cloughie** · 03-11-15, 18:34

A very good playwright and actor. I remember 'Roll on 4 O'clock' as a combination of humour and social comment in a an inner city school. RIP Colin.

**Lat-Literal** · 03-11-15, 19:31

.........and he was the screenwriter for 'Chariots of Fire' (1981) for which he won an Academy Award.

**Stillhomewardbound** · 04-11-15, 03:05

'Colin doesn't give a damn about the camera', said my father, admiringly, when we were watching Colin Welland in a TV play, sometime in the late 70s.

He was alluding to Welland's innate naturalism and he was envious of the lack of theatrical baggage such as sometimes informed his own career (TP McKenna).

This quality even become the theme of another television play in which Welland was a grocery story manager, as I recall, who relieves one of his assistants on the till when along comes a customer who is the doyenne of the local drama society.

'STOP!', she orders him. DON'T move. You're a natural!!!'

Welland's character hardly knows where to put himself, apparently confronted by someone with a tile loose.

She reveals her purpose and finally persuades him to accept a small, but crucial part in her next production as an overly inquisitive copper.

Welland's everyman is utterly flummoxed at first but then warms to the idea of the acting lark, but not for a moment does he get above himself. However, he does cause a stir at the drama society creating a certain air of resentment among the long established players. So much so that come the performance, whether by ineptness or design, no doubt the latter, they manage to jump ahead three pages of the script, thus cutting his scene.

He takes it on the chin and exits the theatre/town hall, his hopes mildly dashed, but still in his police tunic that he's grown comfortable with.

His humiliation quickly shaken off he sets off down the road just in time to be on the scene when a drunk driver crashes into a junction lamp post.

Said driver is, in fact, his boss, if I remember rightly, and Welland's character has the last laugh as his tunicked torso appears at the car window with it's shiny buttons to the terror of the driver who thinks he's been nicked.

In other words, he gets to play the part at the end of the day.

If that sounds a touch corny or naieve, it wasn't. It was a simple, human drama and and with such a good actor it was a joy to watch.

Having checked it out on IMDB I see now that it was part of a strand called 'The Cost of Loving' produced by Yorkshire Television and written by Stan Barstow, best known for 'A Kind of Loving'.

As I suggest, it was something of an allegory for his natural and easy way as an actor that we were to enjoy in the likes of 'Kes', 'Villain' and, of course, 'Z Cars'. Not to mention the astonishing Blue Remembered Hills.

About that famous 'Oscar' speech and 'the British are coming!' quip which, although meant in full irony, became something of a millstone around his neck, his greater regret was that as soon as his name was announced he shot out of his seat and ran down to the stage. Only later did he realise he should have turned to his beloved wife, Pat, and given her a kiss which would have been picked up by the camera and gone all around the world.

Colin, TP's in Heaven's Green Room and waiting with a large glass of whatever you require!

(written first in the comments section of his Guardian obituary)

Colin Welland, RIP

Colin Welland, RIP

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