Colin Welland

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Colin Welland (born 4 July 1934 in Newton-le-Willows, St Helens, Lancashire) is an English actor and screenwriter, writer.

He appeared as PC David Graham in the BBC television series Z Cars, and in films, including Kes (1969), before concentrating on writing. In Kes he played an English school-teacher, a job which (like fellow Kes actor Brian Glover and its writer Barry Hines) he had had in real life. Colin Welland taught 'art' at Manchester Road Secondary Modern school in Leigh, Lancashire. He was known there as 'Ted' because of his curly hair that wore combed forward like the teddy-boys of the late 1950s.

He made a famous speech including the quotation from Paul Revere, "the British are coming", at the 1982 Academy Awards, where he was accepting the award for Best Original Screenplay for Chariots of Fire. In the film the sign outside the Church of Scotland in Paris shows the preacher to be "CM Welland".

His other writing credits include the 1979 film Yanks, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Richard Gere, and directed by John Schlesinger..