Trivia

Since the premiere in 1982, this movie has been broadcast on Swedish television on January first almost every year. It's now considered a tradition.

In Sweden, where it first aired on TV 1 on December 31, 1982, this movie's airing annually around Christmas and New Year has become a tradition. Sam Neill said in an interview that the Swedes are very rational, but once every year they go crazy because of this, though Neill also states in his autobiography that he considers this role one of the best performances he ever delivered in film.

This was the only time that Sam Neill appeared on film with his mentor, James Mason. Mason had seen some of Neill's Australian movie and theater work and helped him to get work in Europe and America.

Julian Glover previously played King Richard the Lionheart in the Doctor Who (1963) episodes The Lion (1965), The Knight of Jaffa (1965), The Wheel of Fortune (1965) and The Warlords (1965), which were also directed by Douglas Camfield.

This is the first of two "Ivanhoe" television productions in which Ronald Pickup (Prince John) appeared. The second was Ivanhoe (1997), in which he played Waldemar Fitzurse.