British Council Logo UK Films Database
Project Detail

The Best of Men

Synopsis

Towards the end of the second world war Dr Ludwig Guttmann, a brisk refugee from Nazi Germany, arrives at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire and is appalled to find the partially paralysed spinal patients heavily sedated and left to rot with bed sores. He immediately begins a new regime,disposing of old equipment and sedatives, bringing him into conflict with stern Sister Edwards and pompous consultant Cowan, as well as the patients. However the sister backs him when she realises he is treating her charges as people, not patients, talking to them and involving them in musical entertainments and sporting activity. Soon Whitehall are sending him all their spinal patients and, with visits to the pub and wheelchair sports taught by an army sergeant, he becomes the men's hero. With the war over Ludwig organizes national wheelchair sports competitions which will in turn lead to the establishment of the Paralympic games. An end title informs that in 1966, now a British citizen, Dr Guttmann was deservedly knighted for his part in bringing hope to the hopeless.

Details

Year
2012
Type of project
Features
Running time
90 mins
Director
Tim Whitby
Producer
Harriet Davison
Executive Producer
Matthew Read
Editor
David Thrasher
Screenwriter
Lucy Gannon
Director of Photography
Matt Gray
Production Designer
Sarah Hauldren
Composer
Mark Russell
Principal cast
Eddie Marsan, Ben Owen-Jones, Rob Brydon, George MacKay, Bee Bee Sanders, Leigh Quinn

Genre

Sport Disabilities Drama

Categories

Fiction

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Whitby Davison Productions Ltd.

Tel: 44 (0)117 973 9121

British Broadcasting Corporation

BBC Television Centre
Wood Lane
London
W12 7RJ
UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 8743 8000

Sales Company

British Broadcasting Corporation

BBC Television Centre
Wood Lane
London
W12 7RJ
UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 8743 8000

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

About an Intimate Matter About an Intimate Matter

Director: Sandeep Kumar Paul

Year: 2026

Science teacher Swarna and her partner Driti move to a suburban town for a fresh start. When a student leaks intimate photos of Swarna online, school authorities turn her private life into a disciplinary issue. Official Selection Busan International Film Festival 2026 - World premiere

Drama Romance
Denzel Baidoo as Marcus, forlorn at the dinner table. Clocks

Director: Yv Shells

Year: 2026

When Arlo arrives to find Marcus has cooked someone else’s favourite meal, a single question begins to unravel an evening that refuses to stay in the present. Through a fractured timeline set entirely within one dining room, we move between Marcus and Arlo and the relationship that came before, with Una, the woman he met at a late-night bus stop and once talked about marrying. The same table, the same chairs, the same arguments about trust, honesty and what it means to truly see someone. As the timelines bleed together, it becomes clear that Marcus has never fully left the past, and that Una’s ghost sits at every table he sets. When Arlo asks what her own favourite meal is and he cannot answer, the film’s quiet devastation lands completely. CLOCKS is a portrait of a man who loves generously but sees poorly, and the women who carry the cost. It asks what we owe the person in front of us while we are still in love with someone we lost, and whether a feeling ever truly ends.

Drama Romance
Skintown Skintown

Director: Kieron J. Walsh

Year: 2026

1994. As Northern Ireland takes its first steps towards peace, best friends Vinny and Jonty are about to jump start their futures with the most reckless trip of their lives. Official Selection Busan International Film Festival 2026

Comedy Crime Drama