Back in 1990-91 it seemed that there were a number of companies competing to make a film or TV production based on Richard Hillary’s “The Last Enemy. As I understand it ,ITV’s “Perfect Hero” starring Nigel Havers was loosely based on “The Last Enemy” but had an all-new script with different character names etc. Was this because they didn’t have the rights to Hillary’s book?
Around this time it was reported that the BBC were going to film “The Last Enemy” as a film for television. What happened to this project? Also what happened to the proposed cinema film of the book around this time?
Interestingly when I trawled through the IMDB I discovered that ITV made a version of “The Last Enemy” in 1956. Apparently it was filmed at Wembley Stadium(!) Does anyone remember this production?
Best Wishes,
Colin
By: DazDaMan - 19th April 2006 at 20:32
I think “Perfect Hero” was based on something else – a treatment of the story, rather than the actual story. Somewhere in David Ross’s excellent Hillary biography there is a brief note about the various adaptations. I think the title of the short story it is based on was called “The Long-Haired Boys”? :confused:
I actually considered my own script based on the book and certain aspects of Ross’s biog, but I gathered from David himself that the Hillary family is none too keen on people, Hollywood or otherwise, adapting the story for film.
By: alertken - 19th April 2006 at 19:11
The DJ Pete Murray took the lead and was unimpressive. He appeared to have been chosen because he too had suffered facial scars. It was a studio-set production concentrating on dedicated nurses falling for him. No real aero content.
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April 18, 2006 at 8:53 am