Munich air tragedy remembered in TV drama
The true story of Manchester United’s famous ‘Busby Babes’ and the 1958 plane crash in Munich that claimed eight of their lives is recreated in new BBC film United.
We report from the set of the TV drama, in which Dougray Scott appears as manager Matt Busby and David Tennant plays coach Jimmy Murphy.
On a park in east London, a group of young men are spending a very chilly Monday morning playing football.
It might be any friendly kickabout, were it not for the heavy leather ball, their old-fashioned kits and the cameras filming them do it.
“The ball is not yours, it’s the team’s!” exhorts a tall onlooker in a blue tracksuit. “The ball is round to go around!”
The accent might sound Welsh but the features are unmistakably Gallifreyan, belonging as they do to former Doctor Who star David Tennant.
Scott plays Matt Busby to Tennant’s Jimmy Murphy in the drama
On the touchline stands another figure in a brown Trilby and tan overcoat. On closer inspection, he is revealed to be the Scottish actor Dougray Scott.
For the purposes of today, though, he is Matt Busby – the legendary Manchester United manager who will be forever synonymous with the players who perished in the Munich air disaster of February 1958.
At the time of the accident his team were on their way home from a European Cup match against Red Star Belgrade.
After a stop-off in Munich to refuel, the Ambassador prop-plane skidded off the runway on its third attempt to get airborne for the onward flight.
The crash, which resulted in 23 fatalities, remains the most tragic and emotive episode in the club’s history.
Small wonder, then, that the makers of United insist they took pains to depict the event both tactfully and sensitively in their 90-minute drama.
“We’ve made every endeavour to be as accurate and truthful as possible in spirit and intention,” says director James Strong.
via BBC News.
