Working Class Heroes

Ken Loach’s perceptive, personal, and moving debut feature film tells the story of a young mother’s struggles while her husband is in jail.

Bob Hoskins charms as a London mob boss brokering a development deal with the American mafia – but somebody wants to see him dead.

Neil Jordan's gritty thriller stars Bob Hoskins as a gangster recently released from prison who falls in love with the prostitute he is supposed to be protecting.

Paddy Considine directs and stars with Jodie Whittaker in this emotional knockout - the story of a boxer rebuilding his life after a near-fatal injury.

A young couple whose relationship has divided a community are forced on the run through the streets and moors of nocturnal Yorkshire.

Michael Caine’s storming return to an action role finds him as a retired marine confronting local hoodlums on his housing estate.

Mike Leigh’s acclaimed story of a selfless woman who performs unlawful abortions in 1950s Britain; both an affecting drama and vital social history.

In this spiky and stylish debut from novelist Helen Walsh, two girls from different backgrounds form an unlikely bond, setting off on a dangerous course.

A young British squaddie is caught behind enemy lines in bomb-torn Belfast, in Yann Demange’s riveting suspense thriller.

Aliens wage war on a tower block after one of their number is bludgeoned by a street gang in this witty, action-packed feature debut by Joe Cornish.

In the wake of the London riots, teenager Jamie (Letitia Wright) finds herself at a crossroads; until music offers an unexpected path to salvation.

Peter O’Toole in one of his last, finest performances in this story about an aging actor who thought he’d seen it all – until he met her.

The life story of Ian Curtis, the tortured singer of Joy Division who suffered epilepsy and crippling self-doubt, filmed in stunning monochrome.

Avid Stone Roses fan Shane Meadows records the reunion of the pivotal 1990s rock band, in this heartfelt and inspiring documentary

Relive the stratospheric rise of the kings of Britpop in this rousing nostalgic trip from the producers of Amy.

Deeply moving mining drama that provided the legendary American singer/actor Paul Robeson with his best British film role.

Mike Leigh’s Cannes-winning account of the later years of J. M. W. Turner, brilliantly played by Timothy Spall.

Paddy Considine’s powerful feature debut, featuring astonishingly strong performances from Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan.

Sean Connery stars as the man who marries a kleptomaniac who has some strange psychological problems, played by Tippi Hedren.

Gary Oldman leads an all-star cast, including Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy, in this acclaimed adaptation of John Le Carré's esteemed spy novel.

Ken Loach’s powerful, Palme d’Or-winning invective against welfare injustice captured the mood of modern Britain and became his biggest box office success.

Ken Loach's intense drama boasts a majestic performance from Peter Mullan as a recovering alcoholic in Glasgow, struggling with his feelings for a local health worker.

Peter Mullan's forceful drama about a boy who becomes embroiled in gangland life in 1970s Glasgow, peppered throughout with a rich vein of black humour.

Peter Mullan steps behind the camera for this pitch-black comedy surrounding a family who reunite for their mother’s funeral.

Samantha Morton plays the enigmatic title character in Lynne Ramsay’s dreamy and atmospheric road movie.

Ewan McGregor and Danny Boyle burst onto the scene with this dark crime caper about three friends and their rich, dead flatmate.

Noel Clarke and Menhaj Huda’s explosive youth film follows the drug, sex and crime-fuelled antics of a group of West London teens over the course of a single day.

After being released from prison following a murder charge, Sam Peel (Noel Clarke) attempts to reboot his life and seek redemption.

A decade after the release of Adulthood, Sam (Noel Clarke) is trying to keep his family safe while simmering old grudges threaten to resurface.

A married man seduces two teenage babysitters in Alan Clarke’s mix of bawdy comedy and social comment, based on Andrea Dunbar’s Bradford plays.

Pete Postlethwaite stars in this emotional drama about members of a colliery brass band who learn their mine may soon be closing.

Damien O'Donnell's charming comedy-drama about Zaheed Khan (Om Puri), the patriarch of a Pakistani-British family whose children begin to reject their heritage and embrace UK life.

Michael Caine takes us back to swinging London in this engaging documentary on the 1960s cultural revolution, featuring over 50 interviews with the key players.

Stephen Graham is the orthodox Jew tempted into a life of violence by his corrupt associate (Michael Smiley), in this riveting and complex crime drama.

Tim Roth, Phil Daniels and Gary Oldman star in Mike Leigh’s TV film about an East End family try to stay afloat during a recession.

Mike Leigh’s bittersweet comedy tells the story of Cyril (Philip Davis), an idealist who despairs at the societal changes of Thatcher’s Britain.

Tim Roth burst onto British screens with his coruscating performance as a teenage skinhead in this TV play from Alan Clarke and David Leland.

A group of Merseyside gardeners take umbrage to the arrival of some refugees, but they find common cause to resist a devious corporate takeover.

Danny Boyle's exhilarating, narcotic trip follows a group of heroin-addicted friends as they navigate their way through Glasgow's seedy 1990s drug culture.

Documentary portrait of the mercurial football genius who inspired the game’s modern renaissance while battling personal demons.

Glenda Jackson and Jon Finch play Welsh investigative journalists covering the Troubles in Northern Ireland only to unearth censorship and corruption back home.

Julie Walters and Rupert Graves are at the centre of a sordid love triangle in this pulpy melodrama about seedy shenanigans in 1950s suburbia.

Robert Carlyle plays a homeless construction worker who falls for an unemployed pop singer in Ken Loach's hilarious yet potent paean to working class London life.

The borstal drama – billed as the female Scum – features Amanda York and Kathy Burke as inmates of a ruthless women’s prison.

The ultimate Mods vs Rockers clash, based on The Who’s double-album rock opera, stars Phil Daniels as a mod on an odyssey to Brighton.

An alcoholic ex-special forces soldier (Jason Statham), down on his luck, assumes another man’s identity and pursues redemption.

Neeta and her crew rise to dancehall fame in North West London's Caribbean community, in the first Black British musical.

Barbara Windsor’s first starring role is a paean to East End life.

Bryan Forbes directs the Oscar-nominated story of a French woman (Leslie Caron) moving to London while unmarried, pregnant, and alone.

Shirley Anne Field stars in this stylish, highly enjoyable story of simmering tensions and sexual conflict in the work place.

John Schlesinger makes his feature film debut with this adaptation of Stan Barstow’s novel about a factory worker (Alan Bates) and his complicated relationship to a typist (June Ritchie) who he doesn’t fully love.

Richard Attenborough plays a factory worker who’s ostracised after refusing to support a strike, in this gritty industrial drama.

A tough and gritty drama detailing the turbulent life of hard-drinking Liverpudlian seamen, with Richard Burton in only his third film role.

Billie Whitelaw stars in this tough Tyneside-set crime drama about a gang of criminals who turn against each other following a payroll heist.

Lewis Gilbert’s shocking and controversial 1952 drama focuses on a gang of juvenile delinquents and their dangerous exploits in post-war London.

Earl Cameron plays a naive Jamaican sailor who's dragged into a botched diamond robbery when trying to help a friend.

Gordon Jackson stars in a seething tale of family conflict, murder and blackmail in Victorian Brighton.

The son of a Scottish farmer get a job in a shipyard and shows an unexpected flair for design, conceiving a revolutionary ship.

A stirring tale of love, music, and coalmining in Abergwynfi, South Wales.

The finest example of British wartime fictional propaganda follows a group of women who take on factory work to support the war effort.