Top 10 free films on BFI Player in 2015

Hundreds of free films were added to our award-winning BFI Player in 2015, including our hugely popular Britain on Film collection, bringing together hidden histories and forgotten stories of people and places from the UK’s key film and TV archives.

Adam Buxton explores an eclectic array of music videos with typical wit and verve, the Clangers embrace democracy as the Soup Dragon stands for government, and a host of quirky Britain on Film documentaries and travelogues dominate the rest of the top 10.

Top place goes to a film showing “the most exciting thing going on in Europe, if not the world”, according to the narrator. You may be surprised to see where he is talking about.

10. BUG featuring Adam Buxton: Episode 1

Watch free and exclusive on BFI Player the first episode of a specially commissioned programme. Host Adam Buxton casts an irreverent eye over the best new music videos.

9. Vote for Froglet (1974)

As the general election is held in the UK, it’s polling day for the Clangers on a small blue planet far away.

8. Introducing Scotland (1958)

Take a whirlwind tartan tour of 1950s Scotland in this educational colour film, with fun facts about fishing, transport, coal, shipbuilding, steelworks, farming and tourism.

7. Liverpool 8 (1972)

Jonathan Dimbleby investigates racial tension on Liverpool’s housing estates for This Week.

6. Not So Much a Facelift… (1976)

An enjoyably odd public information film shot on the streets of Blackburn, Norwich and Oxford.

5. Telford (1977)

Six Shropshire villages combine and the new town of Telford is born.

4. Wolverhampton into the Seventies (1970)

Bricks and mortar make way for concrete and reinforced steel as Wolverhampton sweeps the past aside in a modernist town planning utopia.

3. Portsmouth’s Charlotte Street Market (1977)

The colourful bustle of Portsmouth’s oldest street market features in this 1977 film. Traders and shoppers mix under the brooding presence of the infamous Tricorn Centre.

This film does not have a soundtrack.

2. Elland Road Football Control (1976)

Back to the bad old days of skinners, as worn by these Man United troublemakers, being escorted by police dogs along that perilous walk from Elland Road to Leeds railway station.

This film does not have a soundtrack.

1. Milton Keynes – A Village City (1973)

“The most exciting thing going on in Europe, if not the world”: welcome to Milton Keynes circa 1973.