‘You lied to us’: did the real-life saga behind Free Willy change the story for orcas in captivity?

Thirty years after the film highlighted their plight, thousands of whales and dolphins remain performing in entertainment parks

Anyone who grew up in the 1990s may well remember this movie scene: a 3.6-tonne orca leaping to freedom over a harbour wall and swimming off into the sunset with his family. It was the closing scene of Free Willy, a film that captured the hearts of a generation, telling the story of an orphaned boy racing against time to free a killer whale from captivity before the creature is destroyed.

It was 30 years ago this month that the film was released in the UK and it went on to spawn three sequels and a TV series. But it also helped to expose the dark side of orcas in captivity - not least the real-life story of Keiko, the whale who played Willy. Rescuing him took many years and millions of dollars - and even then the ending was not one that would have made the movie screens.