As part of the celebrations for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, the BBC produced the film ''Bert and Dickie'' (also called ''Going For Gold: The '48 Games''), depicting

Dickie Burnell Richard Desborough Burnell (26 July 1917 – 29 January 1995) was an English rower who won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics alongside Bert Bushnell in the double sculls. He and his father Charles are the only father and son in Olympic history ...

and

Bert Bushnell Bertram Harold Thomas Bushnell (3 September 1921 – 10 January 2010) was a Great Britain, British Rowing (sport), rower who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal alongside Dickie Burnell in the sculling, double sculls, ...

's achievement at the 1948 Games.

Plot

Thrown together just five weeks before the final of the 1948 London Olympics, Bert Bushnell and Dickie Burnell row to victory in the double sculls.

Cast

* Sam Hoare as

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...

Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to: Politicians * Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicestershire *Geoffrey Pa ...

Charles Burnell Charles Desborough 'Don' Burnell, (13 January 1876 – 3 October 1969) was a British rower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics. Biography Burnell was born at Beckenham, then in Kent. He was educated at Eton College and Magdalen Coll ...

James Frain James Dominic Frain is an English stage and screen actor. His best known television roles include Thomas Cromwell in the Showtime/ CBC historical drama ''The Tudors'' (2007–2009), Franklin Mott in the HBO drama ''True Blood'' (2010), Warwi ...

Jack Beresford Jack Beresford, CBE (1 January 1899 – 3 December 1977), born Jack Beresford-Wiszniewski, was a British rower who won five medals at five Olympic Games in succession. This record in Olympic rowing was not matched until 2000 when Sir Steve Red ...

Douglas Hodge Douglas Hodge is an English actor, director, and musician who has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as television and film where he has appeared in '' Robin Hood'' (2010), '' Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return'' and '' Diana'' (2013), '' ...

as John Bushnell *

Anastasia Hille Anastasia Hille (born 1965) is an English film, television and theatre actress, and ceramicist. Born in London, she was a student at London's Drama Centre and won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards in 1994 (the first prize was awarded to ...

as Lena Bushnell *

Alexandra Moen Alexandra Moen (born 1978) is an English actress, known for her roles as Emily James in the drama series '' Hotel Babylon'', Tamsin in the drama series ''Tripping Over'', and Lucy Saxon in the science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. Early life Moe ...

as Rosalind Burnell

Reception

Paddy Shennan of the Liverpool Echo said Bert and Dickie is ''thoroughly absorbing and uplifting'' and ''a winning drama about a winning team.'' James Watson of The Telegraph highlighted the performances of Douglas Hodge and Geoffrey Palmer: ''Douglas Hodge brilliantly conveyed John Bushnell’s almost embarrassed desperation for Bert to succeed where he’d failed. Playing Charles Burnell, Geoffrey Palmer was, as ever, hard to beat for lugubrious gruffness.'' and concluded his review with ''anybody whose eyes didn’t join Bushnell Snr’s in filling with tears is stronger than me. ''

Awards and nominations

The following is a table listing the awards and nominations received by Bert and Dickie:

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=2075121, title=Bert & Dickie
BBC page for Bert and Dickie
1948 Summer Olympics British biographical dictionaries 2012 biographical drama films 2012 films British sports drama films Films set in 1948 Films set in England Films about the 1948 Summer Olympics Sports films based on actual events 2010s sports drama films 2012 television films Films directed by David Blair (director) 2010s English-language films 2010s British films British drama television films