Did You Know?
The backgrounds and locations - especially Efrafa and the nearby railway - are near-perfect matches to the diagrams and maps in Richard Adams's book.
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Was originally directed by John Hubley, who died in 1977. He and his wife Faith's work can still be found in the film, most notably in the "fable" scene.
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Most of the locations in this movie either exist or were based on real places in Hampshire, England and surrounding areas.
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This was the first film to feature both John Hurt and Nigel Hawthorne. Both would later star together in two other animated features, The Plague Dogs (which was also based on a Richard Adams book), and The Black Cauldron.
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John Hurt and Richard Briers (who played Hazel and Fiver, respectively, in the film) would later return to voice General Woundwort and the new character, Captain Broom, respectively in Watership Down, a TV series remake of the film.
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The British Board of Film Classification is still receiving complaints about this film 33 years after it was made.
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In December 2011, property developers announced that they were planning to develop Sandleford Park, near Newbury, Berkshire, in a real-life parallel to the fictitious development of this area which prompted the rabbits to leave the warren in the book and film of Watership Down. Richard Adams, the author of the book, plans to organise stiff opposition to the development. "I'm going to oppose it tooth and nail. It's a beautiful piece of open country and the most beautiful area south of Newbury. The very idea of building on it makes your gorge rise."
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