England’s World Cup heroics of 1966 are to be immortalised in glorious colour.
The black and white footage of the entire 90 minutes plus extra time will be restored and colourised by the team behind the acclaimed First World War film They Shall Not Grow Old.
It will provide millions of fans with the chance to see the whole game in colour for the first time — and it will preserve a televisual treasure for future generations at a time when the stars of Sir Alf Ramsey’s team are reaching the ends of their lives.
Nobby Stiles and Jack Charlton died this year and only four of the players who appeared in the final at Wembley are alive — Sir Bobby Charlton, 83, Roger Hunt, 82, George Cohen, 81, and Sir Geoff Hurst, 78.
Hurst, the hat-trick hero of the 4-2 win against West Germany, is backing the new crowdfunded project #fullcolour66, which launches on Tuesday.
The project will be led by Final Replay, the company behind the Channel 4 watch-along show Final Replay ’66, screened during the first lockdown. More than 180,000 frames of the original black and white film will be digitally enhanced and colourised, using memorabilia, such as the original shirts and ball in the National Football Museum, for guidance.
The process will be done by West Wing Studios, who were nominated for a visual effects BAFTA for work on the TV series World War II in Colour, and Park Road Post Production in New Zealand, who worked with Sir Peter Jackson on Lord of the Rings and They Shall Not Grow Old.
If all goes to plan, the footage will be ready by May, close to the 55th anniversary. Fans can pledge £7, £19 or £66 to stream the final in colour, or to have permanent copies in souvenir cases or special editions signed by Sir Geoff.
The crowdfunding target is to raise £700,000, of which £35,000 will be donated to partners the Alzheimer’s Society and their new Sport Against Dementia campaign. Four of the 1966 team — Stiles, Jack Charlton, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson — died after living with dementia and last month Sir Bobby Charlton revealed he had been diagnosed with the disease.