Khartoum (film) at the fate of Gordon finally forced the British to re-invade the Sudan ten years later, where they recaptured Khartoum in 1898. Roger Delgado, George Pastell and Jerome Willis also had parts. They all later played a villain in "Doctor Who". Robert Ardrey wrote the script at the encouragement of producer Julius Blaustein. Ardrey says it took him three years "on and off" but once he did it he sold it for $150,000. The film took a number of years to obtain financing. It was originally meant to be made with Laurence Olivier, Burt Lancaster and director Lewis Gilbert but
Khartoum of them diplomats. The US ambassador, the US deputy ambassador, and the Belgian "chargé d'affaires" were murdered. The remaining hostages were released. A 1973 United States Department of State document, declassified in 2006, concluded: "The Khartoum operation was planned and carried out with the full knowledge and personal approval of Yasser Arafat." In 1977, the first oil pipeline between Khartoum and the Port of Sudan was completed. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Khartoum was the destination for hundreds of thousands refugees fleeing conflicts in neighboring nations such as Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Many Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees assimilated into