Clive Tulloh, the son of distance running legend Bruce, says this summer’s Channel 4 programmes about British Olympians and Paralympians will hopefully enjoy a further series
The executive producer of the Path to Paris: The Hunt for Gold documentary on Channel 4 this weekend (July 20-21) believes its success could inspire more programmes in future about the lives of leading British athletes.
Clive Tulloh from Burning Bright Productions has overseen the two-part series with the first episode this weekend focusing on Keely Hodgkinson, Josh Kerr, Morgan Lake and Jake Wightman and the second set to come out closer to the Paralympics – also on Channel 4 – featuring Hannah Cockroft, Zak Skinner, Funmi Oduwaiye and Nathan Maguire.
The documentaries have received funding from the National Lottery and, if they prove popular, could lead to more. “There are so many stories in athletics, we could have got a 10-part series done,” says Tulloh.
“Once every four years everybody gets excited about athletics and then it’s all forgotten again,” he adds. “Not enough people know how phenomenal Josh Kerr or Keely Hodgkinson are.”
The Channel 4 documentaries aside, this summer has also seen Netflix bringing out a docu-series about sprinters, while BBC1 has broadcast a 90-minute life story on decathlon legend Daley Thompson with a further lengthy programme about Linford Christie due out later this summer.
Keely Hodgkinson (Getty)
The 62-year-old Tulloh has enjoyed a successful career producing documentaries and entertainment programmes. But as a former runner himself, the sport is close to his heart.
What’s more, he is the son of Bruce Tulloh, the 1962 European 5000m champion and one of the most iconic distance runners in history. Distance runners and coaches with long memories will also remember his sisters, Katherine and Jo-Jo, who won English Schools titles in the 1980s.
At the 1987 English Schools in Portsmouth they even beat a young Kelly Holmes into third place as they finished one-two in the inter girls 1500m with Katherine clocking 4:25.5 for gold.
However, as they ran barefoot just like their father, who was widely known as “Barefoot Bruce”, they were likened to Zola Budd and found the whole experience quite pressurised – even once appearing on Blue Peter as promising young runners – and they stopped taking running seriously soon after their teenage triumphs.
Clive believes the sport is currently not as high profile as it was during the…
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