Watership Down political sensibilities of the 1990s when it was published. In 1978 Martin Rosen wrote and directed an animated film adaptation of "Watership Down". The voice cast included John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne, and Roy Kinnear. The film featured the song "Bright Eyes", sung by Art Garfunkel. Released as a single, the song became a UK number one hit. Although the essentials of the plot remained relatively unchanged, the film omitted several side plots. Though the Watership Down warren eventually grew to seventeen rabbits, with the additions of Strawberry, Holly, Bluebell, and three hutch rabbits liberated
Watership Down of other people have seen their histories in that book...some people see it as an allegory for struggles against the Cold War, fascism, extremism...a protest against materialism, against the corporate state. "Watership Down" can be Ireland after the famine, Rwanda after the massacres." Kadish has praised both the fantasy genre and "Watership Down" for its "motifs [that] hit home in every culture...all passersby are welcome to bring their own subplots and plug into the archetype." Adams won the 1972 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. He also won the annual