Welland won the award for Best Original Screenplay for "Chariots of Fire" (1981) at the 1982 Academy Awards, and his acceptance speech included the phrase: "The British are coming!" (a quotation from Paul Revere). In the film "Chariots of Fire", the sign outside the Church of Scotland in Paris shows the preacher for the 9 am worship to be "C.M. Welland"; he had played a vicar in "Straw Dogs" (1971). Following "Chariots of Fire", he was again commissioned by David Puttnam to write the screenplay for "War of the Buttons" (1994).