All Mediatheque films
The following is a list of titles currently available to view in the Mediatheque. A number of additional titles are currently unavailable, and will be restored as soon as possible.
Please note that a very small number of titles, marked with an asterisk (*), are currently available to view only in our London Mediatheque due to rights issues. We hope to make these available in all BFI Mediatheques in the future.
1984
1955 | 89 mins
Rarely-seen 50s feature 'freely adapted' from George Orwell's classic novel.
Collection: The Book Group
"Uppies and Downies"
1926 | 1 mins
Thrilling sport or hideous brawl? Medieval football, the Ashbourne way.
Collection: Heartlands
1984: Designing a Nightmare
1984 | 25 mins
Join Christopher Frayling on the set of the 1984 film version of Orwell's classic novel.
Collection: The Book Group
28 Up
1984 | 160 mins
The children first interviewed when they were 7 in 1964 are revisited at the age of 28.
Collection: Essentially British
3 Non-Blondes
2003 | 30 mins
'Candid Camera' with attitude featuring the soon-to-be Little Miss Jocelyn.
Collection: Black Britain
The 39 Steps
1935 | 87 mins
A boy's own adventure from London to Scotland. Hitchcock's best British film?
Collection: Essentially British
4D Special Agents
1981 | 60 mins
A group of East End kids track down a gang of jewel thieves. To the helicopter, everyone!
Collection: Box of Delights
600-Year-Old Custom
1927 | 1 mins
An eccentric sport courtesy of East Midlands tradition.
Collection: Heartlands
617: The Last Days of a Vulcan Squadron
1982 | 40 mins
The final days of the 'Dam Busters' squadron.
Collection: Heartlands
64 Day Hero: A Boxer's Tale
1985 | 92 mins
The turbulent life and death of championship boxer Randolph Turpin.
Collection: Black Britain
84 Charing Cross Road
1975 | 75 mins
Love among the second hand books.
Collection: Play for Today
ABC Xmas and New Year Greetings
1946 | 3 mins
Santa doles out the pressies courtesy of Associated British Cinemas.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Abigail's Party
1977 | 100 mins
Beverly hands out the brickbats with the 'little cheesy pineapple ones'.
Collection: Play for Today
Above Us the Earth
1977 | 85 mins
The closure of Ogilvie Colliery by the National Coal Board, shown through a mixture of documentary footage and dramatisation.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Absolutely Fabulous
1992 | 30 mins
Sweetie darling! Edina's putting on a charity fashion show, and things aren't going to plan...
Collection: Brit Chic
The Acrobatic Fly
1910 | 3 mins
Roll up, roll up! The fly circus is in town!
Collection: Pandora's Box
Adeste Fideles
1941 | 13 mins
The spirit of Christmas is alive and well in wartime Britain.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Adventures of Robin Hood
1958 | 30 mins
Richard Greene plays Nottingham's infamous outlaw in a mythical Sherwood Forest.
Collection: Heartlands
The African Trade
1997 | 50 mins
The story of the African man who was one of the true leaders of the abolitionist movement.
Collection: Exodus: Remembering Slavery
Age of Dissent
1994 | 51 mins
Will Parry and Hugo Greenhalgh campaign to lower the age of consent for gay men from 21 to 16.
Collection: Beautiful Things
AIDS: Iceberg / Monolith
1985 | 2 mins
Don’t die of ignorance - the government's infamous AIDS awareness campaign.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
Alexandra Day in Peckham
1913 | 4 mins
Flower sellers raise money for charity in Peckham and Camberwell.
Collection: Beautiful South
Alfalfa
1987 | 9 mins
The queer alphabet - from AC/DC to Zipper.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Alice in Wonderland
1903 | 8 mins
Cinema's first trip down the rabbit hole.
Collection: Essentially British
The Alien Sky
1956 | 98 mins
Colonial chaos on the cusp of Indian Independence in this early TV drama from Paul Scott's novel.
Collection: Before Midnight
All Good Men
1974 | 63 mins
The relationship between a labour politician and his Marxist son falters when a television crew visits.
Collection: Play for Today
All in Good Time
1965 | 25 mins
Look out for a fresh-faced Richard Briers in Guinness' curious experiment in product placement.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Amelia and the Angel
1958 | 30 mins
Ken Russell's magical fantasy about an angel who loses her wings.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Andy the Furniture Maker
1986 | 60 mins
An unlikely star of the 1980s art world is given a suitably unconventional profile.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Angela Carter (Off the Page)
1987 | 23 mins
The Magic Toyshop author reads from her work and admits that writing 'chose' her - not the other way around.
Collection: The Book Group
Angela Carter's Curious Room
1992 | 50 mins
Omnibus profile, poignantly filmed shortly before the author's death.
Collection: The Book Group
The Angelic Conversation
1985 | 81 mins
Derek Jarman's queer reading of 14 Shakespeare sonnets addressed to a young man, narrated by Judi Dench.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Angels are so Few
1970 | 65 mins
A potentially malevolent angel visits suburbia in Dennis Potter's sinister drama.
Collection: Play for Today
The Anniversary
1967 | 95 mins
Bette Davis stars as a domineering mother who will stop at nothing to keep her family together.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Annual Inspection of the Bodyguard by His Excellency the Lord Lytton
1925 | 5 mins
Lord Lytton and family - on and off duty.
Collection: Before Midnight
Another Case of Poisoning
1949 | 14 mins
Coughs and sneezes spread diseases - some sanitary warnings to the wise...
Collection: Pandora's Box
Another Country
1984 | 88 mins
The fictionalised schooldays of future Cambridge spy Guy Burgess.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Another Flip for Dominick
1982 | 85 mins
More time-travelling adventures in this sequel to the much-loved 'Flipside of Dominick Hide'.
Collection: Play for Today
Another Sky
1955 | 83 mins
A young Englishwoman travels to Morocco and falls in love with a street musician.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Another World by Sean Connery
1962 | 5 mins
A slightly awkward Sean Connery makes an appeal on behalf of the RNIB.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Any Evening After Work
1930 | 22 mins
The British Social Hygiene Council comes to the rescue of a young man who catches something nasty.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
Any Man’s Kingdom
1956 | 22 mins
The lure of Northumberland as portrayed by British Transport Films.
Collection: Reality Bites
Any Man's Kingdom
1956 | 22 mins
The lure of Northumberland as portrayed by British Transport Films.
Collection: Reality Bites
The Apprentices
1988 | 25 mins
Two young apprentices based in Derby learn the basics of driving a train.
Collection: Heartlands
Aquatic Frolics
1926 | 1 mins
Bathing beauties in Blackpool.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Architecture or Revolution
1966 | 30 mins
Televised student debate on the future of architecture.
Collection: The Promised Land
Are You Being Served?
1973 | 30 mins
Mr Humphries: dreadful stereotype or national hero?
Collection: Beautiful Things
Arrival of Mah H.R.H. Jind
1911 | 1 mins
Royalty arrives by train.
Collection: Before Midnight
Arrival of the Earl of Lytton at Calcutta
1922 | 7 mins
Lord Lytton comes to take up the post of Governor of Bengal.
Collection: Before Midnight
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery
1940 | 84 mins
When a death occurs during a charity football match, Scotland Yard are called in.
Collection: London Calling
Aspects of Kirkwall: Some Changes
1981 | 20 mins
Margaret Tait's portrait of her hometown in the Orkneys.
Collection: British Islands
At Home With Larry Grayson
1983 | 25 mins
Janet Street-Porter presents a not-quite-intimate portrait of the entertainer as he celebrates his 60th birthday.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Attendant
1993 | 8 mins
A museum attandant indulges his sado-masochistic fantasies.
Collection: Beautiful Things
ATV Today: Brian Clough
1968 | 4 mins
A brief insight into the early management days of a football legend.
Collection: Heartlands
ATV Today: Derby Clocks
1968 | 8 mins
How do Smith of Derby keep their clocks ticking on time?
Collection: Heartlands
ATV Today: The Lost Villages of Derwent and Ashopton
1966 | 10 mins
Gwyn Richards reports on the history of two Derbyshire villages flooded for the Ladybower Reservoir in the 1940s.
Collection: Heartlands
ATV Today: Women in Love
1968 | 11 mins
On location during the filming of Ken Russell's Women in Love.
Collection: Heartlands
Audrey Hepburn Test
1952 | 5 mins
Early silent colour footage of the future Holly Golightly.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Aunt Sally
1933 | 80 mins
Slapstick meets the Folies Bergère in this Cicely Courtneidge vehicle.
Collection: Funny Girls
Ave You Got a Male Assistant Please Miss?
1973 | 5 mins
Students have sex.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
B.D. Women
1994 | 20 mins
The hidden histories of black lesbians.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Baby Blues
1973 | 75 mins
A mother's feelings towards her newborn baby begin to turn dangerous.
Collection: Play for Today
Babylon
1980 | 95 mins
Brinsley Forde stars as a young rapper in one of the first British features to explore black youth culture.
Collection: Black Britain
Baby's Toilet
1905 | 3 mins
Nothing to do with potties... Baby gets a good wash.
Collection: Reality Bites
Badger
1989 | 25 mins
The cruelty of badger-baiting threatens to ruin a girl's birthday.
Collection: Heartlands
Bar Mitzvah Boy
1976 | 75 mins
Much-loved bittersweet Jewish family comedy from Jack Rosenthal.
Collection: Play for Today
The Battle of Kinder Scout
1970 | 20 mins
The history of the famous mass trespass in the Peak District.
Collection: Heartlands
Battling Bruisers: Some Boxing Buffoonery
1925 | mins
Effeminate fisticuffs from the French in this boxing-themed send-up of foreign stereotypes.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Beautiful Thing
1996 | 87 mins
Two teenage boys fall in love in South East London to the songs of the Mamas and the Papas.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Bed
1963 | 28 mins
Thora Hird hones her battleaxe persona in the pilot for the long-running sitcom 'Meet the Wife'.
Collection: Funny Girls
Bed Among the Lentils, A (Talking Heads) (tx03/05/1988)
1988 | 30 mins
Can a fling with an Indian grocer rescue a vicar's wife from fetes and flower-arranging?
Collection: Essentially British
Bedelia
1946 | 90 mins
Margaret Lockwood strikes again as a surprisingly sympathetic poisoner.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Before the Fringe
1967 | 7 mins
Dora Bryan plays an unlikely killer in this hilarious sketch.
Collection: Funny Girls
Bellamira
1975 | 54 mins
Helen Mirren dons her finest wig as Bellamira - Restoration mistress and occasional masked robber.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
The Belles of St. Trinians
1954 | 91 mins
Ronald Searle's devils-in-gymslips receive their first big screen outing.
Collection: Essentially British
Bermondsey
1972 | 35 mins
'Brokeback Mountain' in a pub in South East LondonÖ
Collection: Beautiful Things
Bermondsey Boy
1991 | 40 mins
A South London wide boy awaits trial for GBH.
Collection: Beautiful South
Bernard Braden Collection: Quentin Crisp
1968 | 11 mins
Previously unseen footage of Quentin Crisp before he was famous.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Beryl Reid Says...Good Evening
1968 | mins
Rarely seen comedy sketch show starring the versatile Beryl Reid.
Collection: Funny Girls
The Best of British Fashion
1978 | 52 mins
Highlights from the 1979 Spring collections, with leisurewear a-plenty.
Collection: Brit Chic
Betcher
1971 | 13 mins
A very young Keith Chegwin shows off his cycling prowess.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Beyond Image
1969 | 17 mins
Psychedelia without the illegal drugs.
Collection: Pandora's Box
LesBicyclettes de Belsize
1968 | 29 mins
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Hampstead-style.
Collection: London Calling
Big Brother
2002 | 65 mins
Highlights show from series 3 of the omnipresent reality TV show, which made Jade Goody a household name.
Collection: The Book Group
The Big Meeting
1963 | 24 mins
The Durham Miners' Gala - one of the world’s largest annual gatherings of miners and their families.
Collection: Reality Bites
Bikaner - Secrets of India
1934 | 8 mins
A portrait of the city in Rajasthan.
Collection: Before Midnight
Billy Merson singing 'Desdemona'
1927 | 3 mins
The great music hall performer sings, dances and skips with a lyre.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Birds of a Feather
1992 | 30 mins
The most famous episode of the long-running sitcom - the one where Dorian sings "Like a Virgin".
Collection: Funny Girls
Birth of a Dress
1954 | 12 mins
Mass-production offers a taste of couture to the commoners.
Collection: Brit Chic
Birthday Procession of a Maharajah
1904 | 1 mins
Royalty on elephantback.
Collection: Before Midnight
ABit of Scarlet
1996 | 75 mins
A history of British gay cinema, described as 'a kind of post-modern queer soap opera for Britain in the nineties'.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Black Christmas
1977 | 50 mins
As Christmas approaches, Gertrude gathers her family around her. But the perfect Christmas Day that she dreams of seems destined to turn to disaster.
Collection: Black Britain
Black Joy
1977 | 95 mins
A naïve Guyanan immigrant learns some tough lessons on the streets of Brixton.
Collection: Beautiful South
Black on Black
1982 | 52 mins
Channel 4's pioneering magazine show made for Britain's black communities.
Collection: Black Britain
Black Peoples of the Americas
1997 | 20 mins
A young Briton explores the history of the British slave trade and its aftermath in his search for his roots.
Collection: Exodus: Remembering Slavery
Black Silk
1985 | 50 mins
Rudolph Walker stars as a barrister with political ambitions and strong links to his local community.
Collection: Black Britain
The Black Stuff
1980 | 110 mins
A first outing for Yosser Hughes and co in Alan Bleasdale's 'Boys From...' forerunner.
Collection: Play for Today
Blackfriars Bridge
1896 | 1 mins
Top-hatted Victorians and horse-drawn traffic cross Blackfriars Bridge.
Collection: London Calling
Blackmail
1929 | 82 mins
Manslaughter, blackmail and an epic chase through the British Museum. Sound and silent versions of the early Hitchcock classic.
Collection: London Calling
Blackmail Test Take
1929 | 1 mins
Hitchcock gets dirty with his leading lady.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Blasphemy at the Old Bailey
1977 | 75 mins
Gay News vs. Mary Whitehouse - one of the most controversial trials of modern times.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Blight
1997 | 30 mins
An East End community voices its anger as homes are demolished to make way for the M11 road link.
Collection: London Calling
Blithe Spirit
1945 | 93 mins
A harmless séance summons up an unwanted ghost in this Noel Coward play, starring Margaret Rutherford as a gung-ho medium.
Collection: Funny Girls
The Block
1972 | 75 mins
Hard-hitting documentary from Paul Watson examining the plight of people living below the poverty line in Southwark.
Collection: Beautiful South
Blood Ah Goh Run
1982 | 20 mins
The demonstrations following 1981's infamous New Cross Fire in which 13 young black people died.
Collection: Black Britain
Bloody Sunday
2002 | 120 mins
Award-winning drama about the civil rights protest march that ended in massacre. From the director of 'United 93'.
Collection: Essentially British
Blooming Youth
1973 | 75 mins
Student love, life and squalor at a London 'poly'.
Collection: Play for Today
Blue Black Permanent
1992 | 84 mins
A woman (Celia Imrie) reflects on memories of her Orcadian poet mother.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
The Blue Lamp
1949 | 84 mins
Police drama that spawned the hugely successful series Dixon of Dock Green.
Collection: London Calling
Blue Peter Countryside Special
1985 | 30 mins
'Blue Peter' takes to the countryside - a year on a farm in the Peak District of Derbyshire.
Collection: Heartlands
Blue Remembered Hills
1979 | 75 mins
Helen Mirren dons ankle socks in Dennis Potter's tragic evocation of childhood.
Collection: Play for Today
The Body Beautiful
1990 | 23 mins
Ngozi Onwurah's powerful and poetic portrait of her relationship with her mother.
Collection: Black Britain
The Body Show
1982 | 30 mins
Legwarmers at the ready for Yvonne Ocampo's exercise regime.
Collection: Channel 4 Anniversary
Book Four
1982 | 30 mins
Fay Weldon and Len Deighton lock horns in Channel 4's first book programme.
Collection: Channel 4 Anniversary
Borderline
2005 | 4 mins
London as seen through the eyes of Escher.
Collection: London Calling
Bow Bells
1955 | 14 mins
A nostalgic traipse through the East End accompanied by music-hall numbers.
Collection: London Calling
Boy and Bicycle
1965 | 25 mins
Ridley Scott's directorial debut: a day in the life of a schoolboy truant.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Boy Who Turned Yellow, The
1972 | 55 mins
The London Underground turns yellow in Michael Powell's charming Children's Film Foundation entry.
Collection: London Calling
Boyfriends
1996 | 81 mins
Seven men spend a weekend in the country - gay sex, love and relationships in the 1990s
Collection: Beautiful Things
Boys
2000 | 25 mins
Sex and 16 year old boys.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
Bradford Coronation Procession
1902 | 2 mins
A procession celebrating the coronation of King Edward VII.
Collection: Essentially British
Breakfast with Frost
1998 | 64 mins
News, politics and historic interviews - all over breakfast.
Collection: Frost/Mediatheque
Breeze Anstey
1972 | 60 mins
A rural romance from H.E. Bates.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Brief City
1952 | 19 mins
How the Festival of Britain transformed the South Bank into a post-war wonderland.
Collection: London Calling
Brief Encounter
1945 | 86 mins
Repressed emotions, steam trains and a fateful bit of grit in the eye.
Collection: Essentially British
Brimstone and Treacle
1976 | 75 mins
Satan pays a visit in this long-banned Dennis Potter play.
Collection: Play for Today
British Fashion Awards 1989
1989 | 52 mins
Princess Diana dishes out the first ever British Fashion Awards.
Collection: Brit Chic
The British in India
1998 | 47 mins
Precicely what was and is Britain's legacy in India?
Collection: Before Midnight
British India - Voices from an Imperial Past
1981 | 90 mins
British accounts of life during the Raj.
Collection: Before Midnight
The British Policeman
1959 | 17 mins
A day in the life of a British Bobby in Leicester.
Collection: Heartlands
Brixton Black
1984 | mins
A former delinquent explains how he turned his life around.
Collection: Beautiful South
Broken Blossoms
1919 | 107 mins
London's Limehouse Chinatown recreated in Hollywood.
Collection: London Calling
Bronco Bullfrog
1969 | 86 mins
Youth culture in not-so-swinging Stratford.
Collection: London Calling
The Brontë Business
1977 | 30 mins
Joan Bakewell joins Brontë Country's lucrative tourist trail.
Collection: The Book Group
The Brontë Connection
1979 | 30 mins
Who were the real-life figures behind Heathcliff and Co?
Collection: The Book Group
The Brontës Lived Here
1973 | 15 mins
Margaret Drabble examines the role of childhood games in the literary legacy of the Brontës.
Collection: The Book Group
Brookside
1982 | 30 mins
The first ever episode of Channel 4's long-running soap, starring The Royle Family's Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston.
Collection: Channel 4 Anniversary
The Buddha of Suburbia
1993 | 60 mins
Gay sex, mysticism and family strife: revisit this four-part TV adaptation of Kureishi's debut novel.
Collection: The Book Group
Bullet Boy
2004 | 100 mins
A young black man struggles to avoid a life of crime after being released from jail.
Collection: London Calling
The Burning
1967 | 30 mins
Early short film from Stephen Frears set in apartheid South Africa.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Burning an Illusion
1981 | 101 mins
Pioneering black British feature in which a woman begins to question her attitude to life, love and marriage.
Collection: Black Britain
Buxton Skyline
1901 | 2 mins
Mitchell & Kenyon's panorama of the Derbyshire town at the end of the Victorian era.
Collection: Heartlands
Buxton Well Dressing
1904 | 7 mins
Early film footage of the Derbyshire ceremonies giving thanks for fresh water.
Collection: Heartlands
By Leafy Ways - A Garden Memorabilia
1971 | 4 mins
Ivor Abraham's poignant portfolio of photographic stills and illustrations, taking the viewer into the world of suburban gardening.
Collection: British Islands
By the Fireside
1945 | 2 mins
An idyllic fireside scene slips seamlessly into an advert for Maypole Tea.
Collection: Housewives' Choice
Byker Wall
1988 | 10 mins
Beatrix Campbell explores a 20th century 'walled city'.
Collection: The Promised Land
C O D - A Mellow Drama
1929 | 10 mins
Mischievous experimental short made by moonlighting film studio technicians.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine
1927 | 5 mins
The conditions that provide a breeding ground for the parasitic disease, kala azar.
Collection: Before Midnight
Calcutta Topical No.1
1925 | 6 mins
Fashionably attired folk attend the races.
Collection: Before Midnight
Calling Blighty
1944 | 10 mins
Armed forces personnel from Leicestershire send messages home to their loved ones from India.
Collection: Heartlands
Camberwell - Dedication of the Borough Mace at the Licensed Victualers Asylum Chapel, Asylum Road, S.E.
1918 | 2 mins
Mayors, bishops and clergymen march through Camberwell to the asylum, better known today as Caroline Gardens.
Collection: Beautiful South
Came Out, It Rained, Went Back in Again
1991 | 10 mins
A girl comes out and treks to London. But will the Big Smoke offer her the lesbian bliss she seeks?
Collection: Beautiful Things
ACanterbury Tale
1944 | 125 mins
Magical and unsetting evocation of rural Britain as seen through the eyes of WWII's modern pilgrims.
Collection: Essentially British
Captain Busby
1967 | 15 mins
Quentin Crisp's acting debut - in a bizarre film that includes some entertainingly surreal interplay with a carrot at a railway station.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Captain Zip Video Trip
1978 | 74 mins
Amateur films of the punk scene in London, 1978-81.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
Caravaggio
1986 | 89 mins
Derek Jarman's portrait of the Renaissance painter.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Carnaby Street Fashions
1968 | 4 mins
Join the hipsters (and Sophia Loren) at the epicentre of Swinging London.
Collection: Brit Chic
Carry On Camping
1969 | 88 mins
The Carry On team go camping - in all senses of the word.
Collection: Essentially British
Carry on Christmas
1969 | 51 mins
Festive frolics with the Carry On gang, with a guest appearance from Frankie Howerd.
Collection: Santa's Grotto
Carry On Constable
1960 | 86 mins
Williams, Hawtrey and co. dole out the Carry On treatment to Dixon of Dock Green.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Carry on up the Khyber
1968 | 88 mins
The Burpas are revolting! The Carry On take on the Raj.
Collection: Before Midnight
Cavalcade of Variety
1941 | 59 mins
Ventriloquism, tap dancing and drag acts a go-go. That's variety!
Collection: Pandora's Box
Central Figure
1978 | 5 mins
Martin Hearne's camera explores the relationship between human movement and the environment.
Collection: British Islands
The Centre
1947 | 21 mins
Extraordinary docu-drama filmed at the Pioneer Health Centre, Peckham.
Collection: Beautiful South
Chance Encounter
1978 | 17 mins
David Lean discusses his involvement with the Indian charity, Raphael.
Collection: Raphael
The Changing Face of Camberwell
1963 | 30 mins
The post-war architecture of the London Borough of Camberwell.
Collection: Beautiful South
Charades
1977 | 55 mins
The Lady of the Manor becomes increasingly intimidated by her maid in this female take on Harold Pinter's 'The Servant.'
Collection: Play for Today
Charley in New Town
1948 | 8 mins
Suburban utopia explained in this animated guide for townies.
Collection: The Promised Land
The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil
1974 | 90 mins
A radical history of Scotland in 90 minutes.
Collection: Play for Today
Chief Guide at Hyderabad Rally
1937 | 3 mins
Girl guides on parade.
Collection: Before Midnight
Childhood Days
1929 | 1 mins
The 20s equivalent of Little Miss Congeniality is crowned in Walworth, Southwark.
Collection: Beautiful South
Children Learning by Experience
1947 | 32 mins
Margaret Thomson's observational study of Britain's post-war nippers.
Collection: Reality Bites
Children of the Jungle
1939 | 17 mins
Documentary about the Bhil tribal people of central India.
Collection: Before Midnight
Christmas and New Years Announcements Compilation aka Merry Christmas 1949
1946 | 8 mins
Snowy idylls, animated toys and an exploding Father Time - a selection of trailers shown in cinemas from 1946-1950.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Christmas at Work in the Open
1920 | 1 mins
Children make their own Christmas decorations at the Great Northern Hospital.
Collection: Pandora's Box
AChristmas Carol
1977 | 60 mins
Bah, humbug! Michael Hordern stars as Scrooge in this BBC adaptation of Dickens' Christmas classic.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Christmas Day in the Workhouse
1914 | 15 mins
Festive misery.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Christmas Greetings Trailers 1937 and 1938
1937 | 5 mins
Star-studded cinema trailers wish the audience a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Christmas is Coming
1951 | 2 mins
Post early for Christmas! Santa threatens to strike in Lotte Reiniger's animation.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Christmas Merry
2005 | 3 mins
Julia and Jim are dreaming of a white Christmas.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Christmas Message From Mr Oscar Deutsch
1939 | 4 mins
The founder of Odeon cinemas makes an appeal for the War Comforts Fund.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Christmas Under Fire
1941 | 10 mins
This year Christmas trees are cut short to fit in the shelters. Propaganda of the most moving kind.
Collection: Essentially British
Cilla
1974 | 44 mins
The Liverpudlian lovely is joined by David Essex and the Wombles for a special Boxing Day broadcast.
Collection: Santa's Grotto
Cinghalese Dances
1910 | 3 mins
Snapshots of life in Ceylon.
Collection: Before Midnight
The Citadel
1992 | 14 mins
National and world events are imagined by a woman gazing across London.
Collection: London Calling
The Claims of Metaphysics
1976 | 47 mins
Tax those brain cells with this rarely-seen interview with influential British philosopher Sir Alfred Ayer.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Clapham Junction
2007 | 120 mins
The most controversial gay drama since 'Queer as Folk'.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Clarmont Skrine's Home Movies
1940 | 13 mins
Vivid colour home movies featuring the great Kathakali dancer Guru Gopinath and scenes in Bundi, Rajasthan.
Collection: Before Midnight
Climbing Mount Everest
1933 | 32 mins
Hugh Ruttledge's attempt to conquer Everest via Tibet.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Climbing Mt Everest
1922 | 73 mins
The second British Everest expedition, led by Brigadier General C.G. Bruce.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
The Clothes Show
1986 | 30 mins
Shoulder pads at the ready: Selina Scott and Jeff Banks present the first episode of the long-running fashion show.
Collection: Brit Chic
Club for Fighting Men
1916 | 1 mins
The Lord Mayor distributes mugs of tea at the opening of the new Service Club in Waterloo.
Collection: Beautiful South
Collecting Postcards
1909 | 4 mins
Adulterers, take warning: never admit. Or go into postcard shops...
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Colony
1964 | 60 mins
From the Caribbean to Birmingham - immigrants tell of their experiences.
Collection: Essentially British
Colour Capers
1957 | 3 mins
Colours dance and caper in these two shorts demonstrating the effects of painting directly on to film.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Colour on the Thames
1935 | 8 mins
A rare glimpse of 1930s London in colour. The Thames has never looked lovelier.
Collection: London Calling
Come Dancing
1969 | 15 mins
Two men meet on a Southend pier in this early short from Bill Douglas - but is it a gay pick-up, or something more sinister?
Collection: Beautiful Things
Comedians
1979 | 95 mins
A young Jonathan Pryce stars in an angry attack on the popular comedy scene, as six budding comedians hope for their big break.
Collection: Play for Today
Comic Strip Presents…Five Go Mad in Dorset
1982 | 30 mins
The Famous Five receive the Comic Strip treatment.
Collection: Channel 4 Anniversary
Coming Out
1979 | 75 mins
A closeted gay author causes a stir after writing an anonymous gay article - is it time to come out?
Collection: Beautiful Things
Coming Through
1985 | 80 mins
Kenenth Branagh and Helen Mirren star in the romance between D.H. Lawrence and Frieda Weekly.
Collection: Heartlands
Commissioner Higgins Visits Ahmedabad Girls School
1904 | 2 mins
A visit from the Salvation Army.
Collection: Before Midnight
The Complainers
1997 | 50 mins
British consumers get their revenge in this 'docusoap' lesson in the art of moaning.
Collection: Reality Bites
Completing the Vision?
1989 | 38 mins
South Bank arts folk debate 1989's ill-fated plans for a major regeneration of the complex.
Collection: Building the South Bank
The Concrete Garden
1994 | 23 mins
11-year-old Marcia leaves Jamaica to join her parents in the bleak, racist London of the 1950s.
Collection: Black Britain
Condition of Illusion
1975 | 31 mins
Structuralist film examining illusions of continuity and senses of linear time.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Connie
1979 | 55 mins
Connie has an eye for the other women in the factory.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Connoisseur
1966 | 75 mins
Clandestine gay relationships cause tension at a boys' public school.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Consenting Adults 1 - The Men
1967 | 30 mins
Gay men's lives on the eve of the Sexual Offences Act.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Consenting Adults 2: The Women
1967 | 30 mins
Lesbians talk about their feelings prior to the enactment of the 1967 Sexual Offences Bill.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Continental Drift
2005 | 16 mins
William Raban's film of Dover harbour shows how Britain is defined by its complex relationship with Europe.
Collection: British Islands
Contrasts: Joseph Wright of Derby - The Spectacle of Light
1990 | 25 mins
Profile of the Derby-born artist Joseph Wright (1734 - 1797).
Collection: Heartlands
Coping with Cupid
1991 | 18 mins
A trio of platinum blonde aliens lands in Soho to investigate our romantic foibles.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Coronation Durbar at Delhi
1903 | 2 mins
Pomp and circumstance marking the coronation of King Edward VII as Emperor of India.
Collection: Before Midnight
Coronation Street
1965 | 25 mins
Ena Sharples vs. Elsie Tanner in the great Mancunian soap.
Collection: Essentially British
Corridor Third
1949 | 42 mins
Detailed account of the design and construction of a Derby railway carriage.
Collection: Heartlands
Cosmopolitan London (Wonderful London)
1924 | 13 mins
Discover a 'hidden' London of the 1920s.
Collection: London Calling
ACottage on Dartmoor
1929 | 87 mins
A love triangle has terrifying consequences in Anthony Asquith's dark masterpiece.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Count Dracula
1977 | 150 mins
Be seduced by Louis Jourdan as Stoker's suave Count in the BBC's 1970s epic.
Collection: The Book Group
Countdown
1982 | 25 mins
The long-running gameshow cuts its teeth. Will this week's Countdown Conundrum be crucial?
Collection: Channel 4 Anniversary
Country Town
1945 | 15 mins
Life and industry in a Lincolnshire town.
Collection: Heartlands
The Countrywomen
1941 | 14 mins
Jam and Jerusalem - the Women's Institute goes to war.
Collection: Essentially British
Coves and Caves
1920 | 12 mins
Magical travelogue of Cornwall from the director of The Open Road.
Collection: Essentially British
The Crane
1992 | 15 mins
And introducing... Jude Law!
Collection: Pandora's Box
Cranford
2007 | 300 mins
Dame Judi, Dame Eileen and the cream of British talent star in this superb five-part adaptation from 2007.
Collection: The Book Group
Cranford
1976 | 60 mins
A 1976 adaptation with a twist. Give those vocal chords a work out - it’s sing-along-a-Cranford time!
Collection: The Book Group
Cranford
1972 | 180 mins
Gabrielle Hamilton and Pat Coombs star in this little-seen 1972 adaptation of Mrs. Gaskell's novel.
Collection: The Book Group
Crazy Gang's Party
1957 | 24 mins
The Gang's all here for festive frolics in the hugely popular show devised by Bud Flanagan.
Collection: Santa's Grotto
Crewe Hospital Procession
1900 | 11 mins
Blackface performers, cross-dressers and dancing bears in Crewe.
Collection: Out of the Archive
Cricket
1951 | 18 mins
The sweet sound of leather on willow.
Collection: Essentially British
Cries From the Watchtower
1979 | 75 mins
Can a Nottingham watchmaker survive the Silicon Revolution?
Collection: Heartlands
The Crippendales
2007 | 30 mins
A group of strippers make their Brighton debut.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Crossing the Great Sagrada
1924 | 15 mins
Three intrepid explorers embark on a journey to Sagrada in this humorous spoof travelogue.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Crown Derby
1949 | 42 mins
Warm, genial, and thoroughly English - The story of Royal Crown Derby Bone China.
Collection: Heartlands
Crystal Gazing
1982 | 86 mins
Experimental drama set in London during the Thatcher administration.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
The Crystal Spirit: Orwell on Jura
1983 | 90 mins
Superb dramatised account of George Orwell's life on the remote Scottish island where he completed 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'.
Collection: The Book Group
Cubs
2006 | 10 mins
A very cunning twist on a very British sport.
Collection: Essentially British
Culloden
1964 | 70 mins
Mock-documentary of the 1746 Battle of Culloden seen from the perspective of a TV crew.
Collection: Essentially British
Cumbernauld, Town for Tomorrow
1970 | 8 mins
Colourful 1970s promo for the postwar Scottish 'utopia' and its infamous town centre.
Collection: The Promised Land
Cut it Out: A Day in the Life of a Censor
1925 | 20 mins
A very annoying film censor attempts to disrupt a film shoot.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Cuttack Leper Asylum
1930 | 5 mins
Amateur film featuring scenes at the leper colony.
Collection: Before Midnight
Cutting Up Rough: Alexander McQueen
1997 | 30 mins
An unlikely new British fashion genius is born...
Collection: Brit Chic
Cycling the Channel
1929 | 1 mins
Dover to Calais by hydrocycle.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Dad's Army
1970 | 29 mins
Britain's 'last line of defence' at their best.
Collection: Essentially British
Daisy Doodad’s Dial
1914 | 6 mins
A face-pulling competition between husband and wife - can Daisy pull it off?
Collection: Pandora's Box
Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
1966 | 84 mins
Exterminate! Can Dr. Who and Bernard Cribbins save the Earth?
Collection: Box of Delights
Dam Busters, The
1955 | 124 mins
Classic yarn featuring stiff upper lips, an immortal score and the bouncing bomb.
Collection: Heartlands
Dance Festival
1969 | 22 mins
What is a 20 foot inflatable phallus doing at the Roundhouse?
Collection: Pandora's Box
Dance Lexie Dance
1996 | 15 mins
Billy Elliot meets Riverdance.
Collection: Essentially British
Dance of the Harvest
1935 | 8 mins
Life in rural Sri Lanka.
Collection: Before Midnight
Daphne du Maurier - A Loving Spirit
1997 | 60 mins
Documentary marking the launch of the du Maurier Festival in Fowey, Cornwall.
Collection: The Book Group
Daphne du Maurier – The Loving Spirit
1993 | 52 mins
Documentary shedding light on the author's complex relationships with men and women.
Collection: The Book Group
Darling, Do You Love Me?
1968 | 4 mins
Germaine Greer gets amorous.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Date With A Dream
1948 | 53 mins
Hey, kids, let’s put on a show! Musical extravaganza featuring an array of pre-fame stars, including Terry-Thomas and Jeannie Carson.
Collection: Funny Girls
Date With Decimals, A
1970 | 15 mins
Discover how Tesco employees got to grips with new money on the eve of decimalisation.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Dating Game
1994 | 15 mins
Three disabled women talk about the difficulties they have encountered when trying to form relationships.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Daughter of Darkness
1948 | 91 mins
An Irish maid (Siobhan McKenna) with an irresistible attraction to men descends into psychopathy.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Daventry Calling
1925 | 2 mins
The 'world's greatest broadcasting station' makes its debut on the airwaves.
Collection: Heartlands
David
1951 | 36 mins
The life of a Welsh miner, from pits to poetry.
Collection: Essentially British
ADay in the Hayfields
1904 | 3 mins
Extraordinary early portrait of people caught up in the remorseless round of industrial production.
Collection: Essentially British
ADay in the Life of a Coal Miner
1910 | 10 mins
Extraordinary early portrait of people caught up in the remorseless round of industrial production.
Collection: Essentially British
ADay of One's Own
1956 | 20 mins
At last, Mum gets a well-earned break from cooking, cleaning and kids.
Collection: Housewives' Choice
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
1961 | 99 mins
The Thames has dried up. Climate change threatens the survival of the world in this smart, prophetic sci-fi thriller.
Collection: London Calling
Dead Man's Shoes
2004 | 90 mins
Rural Derbyshire has never seemed quite as unsettling as in Shane Meadows' masterly revenge thriller.
Collection: Heartlands
Dear Murderer
1947 | 94 mins
Eric Portman at his sinister best as a jealous husband in this pitch-black post-war thriller.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Dear Phone
1976 | 17 mins
Cast your minds back to the time before the mobile phone... Peter Greenaway on the bright red phone box.
Collection: Essentially British
Death in the Morning
1964 | 50 mins
Alan Whicker investigates the elite world of the Leicestershire Quorn Hunt.
Collection: Heartlands
Death May Be Your Santa Claus
1969 | 38 mins
Thought 'lost' for many years, 'Santa Claus' is an intriguing look at sex and politics from a black British perspective.
Collection: Black Britain
Delhi
1946 | 10 mins
Amateur 8mm film shot in the Indian capital.
Collection: Before Midnight
Delhi
1938 | 10 mins
Delhi as city of the future.
Collection: Before Midnight
ToDemonstrate How Spiders Fly
1909 | 1 mins
A mechanical spider takes to the air.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Denys Lasdun
1971 | 26 mins
The pioneering architect discusses his vision for the new National Theatre.
Collection: Building the South Bank
Derby Charter Celebrations
1954 | 60 mins
Glorious colour footage of the 800th anniversary of the Derby charter.
Collection: Heartlands
Derby Youth
1947 | 28 mins
The activities of Derby youth clubs in the 40s.
Collection: Heartlands
Design for Fashion
1954 | 24 mins
The creation of a 50s couture dress in Giuseppe Mattli's London atelier.
Collection: Brit Chic
Desmond's
1989 | 24 mins
The lives of Peckham barber shop proprietor Desmond Ambrose, his wife Sheila, three children and assorted locals and regulars.
Collection: Black Britain
ADesperate Case
1958 | 10 mins
How not to pack your suitcase - a guide from British Transport Films.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Destiny
1978 | 105 mins
A West Midlands by-election arouses strong feelings when an extreme right wing party begins to win support.
Collection: Play for Today
The Development of the English Town
1942 | 17 mins
Quirky educational film promoting the importance of intelligent town planning.
Collection: The Promised Land
Devonshire Hospital, Buxton
1916 | 2 mins
Returning WWI soldiers get more than they bargained for in Buxton's new-fangled thermal baths.
Collection: Heartlands
The Diaries of Ossie Clark
1998 | 52 mins
A tribute to the influential designer, filmed two years after his violent death.
Collection: Brit Chic
ADiary For Timothy
1946 | 38 mins
What does the future hold for Timothy, born on the fifth anniversary of the start of WWII?
Collection: Essentially British
Dick Henderson Singing 'Love Her All the More'
1926 | 5 mins
Music hall star Dick Henderson trills out a resounding ode to his beloved.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Dilip
1972 | 25 mins
The story of Dilip Kumar, a young man with leprosy.
Collection: Raphael
Dirty Filthy Love
2004 | 120 mins
A man with OCD and Tourette's Syndrome strikes up a rapport with the head of his support group.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Disablement
1977 | 26 mins
A married couple discuss the challenges they face in achieving a healthy sex life after an accident leaves the man in a wheelchair.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Distant Voices, Still Lives
1988 | 84 mins
A wedding and a christening evoke powerful memories for a working-class Liverpool family.
Collection: Essentially British
Do I Love You?
2002 | 72 mins
A London lesbian examines her life as her relationship crumbles - just why does she 'prefer taco to salami?'
Collection: Beautiful Things
Dog Years
2005 | 4 mins
Ben, 39, castrated mongrel, needs love. GSOH essential.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Don't Be Like Brenda!
1973 | 10 mins
Brenda makes a mistake and it's clearly all her own fault...
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
Don't Dilly Dally on the Way
1969 | 25 mins
Jimmy Edwards and Pat Coombs star in this classic Galton & Simpson farce.
Collection: Funny Girls
Don't Drop the Coffin
2003 | 30 mins
A glimpse into life and death in Bermondsey.
Collection: Beautiful South
Double Dare
1976 | 65 mins
Self-reflexive and surreal Dennis Potter play; the identities of a writer, an actress, a callgirl and her client overlap.
Collection: Play for Today
Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
1992 | 24 mins
A mix of documentary and drama exploring the lives of lesbians and gay men with disabilities.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Down Town
1965 | 9 mins
Perfect precincts: Britain goes shopping centre crazy.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Dr Smith: Indian Films
1920 | 25 mins
Amateur silent footage from Peshawar and Kashmir.
Collection: Before Midnight
Dracula
1958 | 82 mins
Lee and Cushing battle it out in Hammer's landmark adaptation, newly restored by the BFI.
Collection: The Book Group
Dracula
2006 | 90 mins
A blood-curdling Christmas special and the most recent TV reworking of Stoker's novel.
Collection: The Book Group
Dracula (Mystery & Imagination)
1968 | 80 mins
Denholm Elliott stars in this effective small screen adaptation from 1968.
Collection: The Book Group
Dracula (Nightmare: The Birth of Horror)
1996 | 50 mins
Christopher Frayling examines the many sources that inspired Stoker to pen his immortal novel.
Collection: The Book Group
Dracula (South Bank Show)
1993 | 50 mins
Melvyn Bragg profiles Bram Stoker and explores the legacy of his most famous work.
Collection: The Book Group
The Draughtsman's Contract
1982 | 104 mins
Peter Greenaway's breakthrough film: a draughtsman enters into a dangerous game of wits.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Dream House
1953 | 3 mins
Meena Kumari and Ashok Kumar extol the virtues of Dunlopillo.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Dream of Gerontius (Part II)
1979 | 60 mins
TV coverage of the performance of the second part of Elgar's choral work, by The Hallé Orchestra at Huddersfield Town Hall.
Collection: Hope and Glory
Dreams of Leaving
1980 | 60 mins
A young Bill Nighy stars as a disillusioned journalist in Swinging London.
Collection: Play for Today
Drifters
1929 | 60 mins
The story of the North Sea herring fisheries, filmed at Derwick, in the Shetlands, Lowestoft and Yarmouth.
Collection: Reality Bites
Drinking for England
1998 | 50 mins
A national pastime exposed - Britain's turbulent relationship with the bottle.
Collection: Reality Bites
Drum, The
1937 | 104 mins
Controversial flagwaver starring Sabu as a young prince loyal to the Raj.
Collection: Before Midnight
Dry Hands
1964 | 8 mins
The (lack of) thrills and spills in a self-service laundrette.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Duke of Connaught’s Indian Tour
1921 | 3 mins
The Duke goes hunting.
Collection: Before Midnight
Dulwich College and Village
1960 | 10 mins
Glorious colour footage of the famous Lambeth college, used as a location for the Harry Potter films.
Collection: Beautiful South
E. H. Hunt's Amateur Films of the Rafai Fakirs
1929 | 8 mins
An amateur record of the self-mutilation of fakirs in Hyderabad.
Collection: Before Midnight
Early Struggles
1976 | 60 mins
A young, single father (Paul Nicholas) struggles to bring up his baby. Stephen Frears directs.
Collection: Play for Today
East is East
1917 | 70 mins
A Cockney girl unexpectedly inherits a fortune, but will she forget about her old East End sweetheart?
Collection: London Calling
EastEnders
1987 | 30 mins
Dot and Ethel reminisce about good times and bad.
Collection: London Calling
EastEnders [Tavernier Family arrival]
1990 | 30 mins
The Tavernier family moves into Albert Square.
Collection: Black Britain
Eating High
1966 | 10 mins
Cordon bleu at the top of the Post Office (BT) Tower.
Collection: London Calling
Echoes of the Raj
2000 | 50 mins
Personal testimonies and home movies tell the story of the last years of the Raj.
Collection: Before Midnight
Edna, The Inebriate Woman
1971 | 90 mins
A BAFTA-winning Patricia Hayes stars as a homeless drunk.
Collection: Play for Today
The Educative Community
1974 | 23 mins
Residents of Peckham discuss social problems and their effects on the education system.
Collection: Beautiful South
Edward II
1971 | 125 mins
Ian McKellen stars in Marlowe's masterpiece.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Eleanor
1974 | 65 mins
'Birds of a Feather'’s Pauline Quirke stars as a misfit at a girls' day school.
Collection: Play for Today
The Elephant Boy
1937 | 84 mins
Sabu makes his debut in this adventure, based on a story by Rudyard Kipling.
Collection: Before Midnight
The Elephant Man
1980 | 124 mins
Poignant, humanist true-life tale of the man who was displayed as a freak in Victorian London.
Collection: London Calling
The Elephant Will Never Forget
1953 | 10 mins
A fond and tearful farewell to London's trams.
Collection: London Calling
Elgar
1962 | 55 mins
Ken Russell's rhapsodic docu-drama about the great British composer.
Collection: Essentially British
Elgar - Fantasy on a Composer on a Bicycle
2002 | 50 mins
Ken Russell revisits Elgar’s work forty years after his original film, this time for 'The South Bank Show'.
Collection: Hope and Glory
Elgar and Shaw - 1929-32
1932 | 12 mins
Home movie footage of Elgar, literary and musical friends and, of course, his dogs.
Collection: Hope and Glory
Elgar's Tenth Muse
1996 | 50 mins
Drama about the ageing Elgar's brief but intoxicating relationship with a young violinist.
Collection: Hope and Glory
Elmina's Kitchen
2004 | 90 mins
Kwame Kwei-Armah's Hackney-set story of gun crime, racism and a difficult father-son relationship.
Collection: Black Britain
Elphida
1987 | 60 mins
Angela Wynter stars as a young woman who needs to make major changes in her life.
Collection: Black Britain
Emily Brontë at Howarth – A Personal Impression
1973 | 25 mins
Beryl Bainbridge reflects on the triumphs and tragedies which shaped the novelist's short life.
Collection: The Book Group
The Empire Pays Back
2005 | 50 mins
A heated criticism of the British government's involvement in the slave trade, that argues that African and Afro-Caribbean communities should be compensated.
Collection: Exodus: Remembering Slavery
Empire Road
1978 | 28 mins
Day-to-day life among the West Indian community living in Birmingham's Empire Road
Collection: Black Britain
The Encyclopaedist
1961 | 30 mins
A pushy encyclopaedia salesman attempts to flog his wares in this TV drama written by John Mortimer.
Collection: Black Britain
The Ends
2005 | 9 mins
A shooting on an Elephant and Castle estate is not quite what it seems in this powerful short.
Collection: Beautiful South
Enginemen
1959 | 21 mins
Manchester railway workers discuss the end of the steam age.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
England Home and Beauty
1976 | 37 mins
Whimsical evocation of our 1930s design heyday.
Collection: The Promised Land
England Their England: Debauchery
1980 | 75 mins
Rock climbing at Matlock Bath in Derbyshire via the notoriously tricky Debauchery route.
Collection: Heartlands
England Their England: Ilkeston Advertiser
1980 | 25 mins
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The daily grind in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, as seen through the local newspaper.
Collection: Heartlands
England Their England: Sky High
1983 | 25 mins
Hatton School in Derbyshire express their views about an imminent open cast mine - through the language of song!
Collection: Heartlands
AnEnglishman's Home…
1946 | 2 mins
A salute to the calming influence of Horlicks.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Entertaining Mr Sloane
1968 | 80 mins
A sexy young murderer joins the household of a spinster and her brother - but who is manipulating whom?
Collection: Beautiful Things
Epic of Everest
1924 | 92 mins
Mallory and Irvine's ill-fated attempt to conquer Everest.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Epic of Joey
1924 | 1 mins
Follow that monkey! A pet ape makes a break for freedom in Camberwell.
Collection: Beautiful South
Erection of the Dome of Discovery, Festival of Britain, 1950/51
1951 | 48 mins
The Festival of Britain's radical centrepiece rises from the rubble of the South Bank.
Collection: Building the South Bank
Eton Wall Game
1921 | 1 mins
A young George Orwell takes part in an Eton institution - the notoriously perplexing Wall Game.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Everest
1933 | 16 mins
Wildlife is at the fore in this film of Hugh Ruttledge's Everest expedition.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Everest Expedition 1938
1938 | 59 mins
Vivid 8mm home movie record of an (unsuccessful) attempt to tame the famous peak.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Every Day
1929 | 17 mins
Experimental day in the life of London's office workers.
Collection: London Calling
Every Day Except Christmas
1957 | 40 mins
12 hours in the life of Covent Garden fruit and vegetable market.
Collection: London Calling
Everyday Something
2001 | 14 mins
A Home Truths-style guide to British eccentricity narrated by John Peel.
Collection: Essentially British
Expresso Bongo
1960 | 111 mins
Cliff Richard gyrates his way through Soho's strip clubs and coffee bars.
Collection: London Calling
Extraordinary (Zandra Rhodes)
1980 | 30 mins
All aboard the Extraordinary Express! Meet Zandra "with a zed".
Collection: Brit Chic
The F***ing Fulfords
2004 | 60 mins
Political incorrectness gone mad in a dilapidated Devon mansion.
Collection: Essentially British
Fable
1965 | 75 mins
Controversial and provocative TV drama imagining Britain under black rule.
Collection: Black Britain
The Face of Britain
1935 | 18 mins
How industrialisation has shaped and changed our landscape.
Collection: Essentially British
Face to Face: Derek Jarman
1993 | 40 mins
Derek Jarman, the great queer artist, discusses his life and work.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Factory (Schweppes Tonic Water ad with Benny Hill)
1959 | 1 mins
Benny Hill does his bit for the tonic water industry.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Facts and Fancies
1951 | 17 mins
Joan Collins gets to grips with the by-products of coal in her first screen appearance.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Fair City of Udaipur - Secrets of India
1934 | 9 mins
A tourist's-eye view of 'the Venice of the East'.
Collection: Before Midnight
Fairy of the Phone
1936 | 12 mins
A delirious ode to page 5 of the telephone directory, conducted by the fairy of the phone.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Family
1974 | 30 mins
The birth of reality TV?
Collection: Essentially British
The Far Pavilions
1984 | 315 mins
'Gone With the Wind', India-style.
Collection: Before Midnight
Fashion Fantasy
1946 | 35 mins
A glamour-starved Wren dreams of modelling for Norman Hartnell.
Collection: Brit Chic
Fat Man on a Bicycle aka W-H-O-R-K a la Pimple
1914 | 3 mins
Pimple attempts to teach a large friend to ride a bicycle, with disastrous results.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Father Christmas Union
1972 | 10 mins
The unions are revolting and Santa goes on strike.
Collection: Santa's Grotto
Fatty Issues
1990 | 5 mins
A wavering weight-watcher counts the calories.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Fawlty Towers
1975 | 30 mins
Basil! Hell hath no fury like Prunella Scales' Sybil Fawlty.
Collection: Funny Girls
Festival in London
1951 | 10 mins
Picture-postcard record of the Festival of Britain and its myriad attractions.
Collection: Building the South Bank
Festival of Britain London Exhibitions
1951 | 20 mins
Amateur colour footage of the Festival, shot along the South Bank.
Collection: Beautiful South
Fiddlers All: A Musical Test for Violin Lovers
1941 | 9 mins
Fiddle fans pay attention - can you name that tune?
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Fight Against Slavery
1975 | 300 mins
Major BBC dramatised documentary series about Britain's role in the slave trade.
Collection: Exodus: Remembering Slavery
Figures in a Landscape
1953 | 17 mins
The sculptures of Barbara Hepworth, and the Cornish landscapes that inspired them.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
The Films of E.J. Montgomery
1928 | 26 mins
An often playful record of the lives and duties of Lord and Lady Stephenson.
Collection: Before Midnight
Fingersmith
2005 | 60 mins
In the 1860s, a female pickpocket and an heiress enter into a relationship - but is the whole thing a con?
Collection: Beautiful Things
Finisterre
2003 | 57 mins
Snapshots of contemporary London form a vibrant backdrop to Saint Etienne's 2002 album.
Collection: London Calling
Finnegan's Chin
1981 | 82 mins
James Joyce-inspired exploration of order, logic, cause and effect.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Fires Were Started
1943 | 63 mins
Spend an eventful day and night with the National Fire Service during the Blitz of 1940-41.
Collection: London Calling
Fireworks Revisited
1994 | 9 mins
A sexy, girlie twist on Kenneth Anger's homoerotic classic, 'Fireworks'.
Collection: Beautiful Things
First a Girl
1935 | 93 mins
A hard-up girl pretends to be a female impersonator to make ends meet.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The First Born
1928 | 93 mins
Desire for a son and heir leads to marital strife between director/star Miles Mander and future 'Hitchcock blonde' Madeleine Carroll.
Collection: Silent Britain
Five Towns
1947 | 26 mins
Life and work in the Staffordshire Potteries.
Collection: Essentially British
Flame in the Streets
1961 | 93 mins
Domestic difficulties develop in a working-class family when their daughter falls in love with a Jamaican man.
Collection: Black Britain
Flames of Passion
1922 | 120 mins
The consequences of lust: an illegitimate child threatens ruin in this lavish 1920s society drama.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Flames of Passion
1989 | 18 mins
Ingenious gay homage to Brief Encounter.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Flight of the Swan
1994 | 12 mins
Can a young black girl hope to become a classical ballerina?
Collection: Black Britain
The Flipside of Dominick Hide
1980 | 95 mins
A time-traveller from 2130 attempts to track down his great-great-grandfather in 1980, but love complicates things…
Collection: Play for Today
Floating
1991 | 39 mins
A man becomes convinced a great flood is coming and sets about building an ark.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Flying The Foam and Some Fancy Diving
1906 | 2 mins
'Professor' Reddish demonstrates how to dive from Brighton Pier whilst riding a bicycle.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Focus on Northampton
1965 | 25 mins
Brian Connell introduces the town of Northampton.
Collection: Heartlands
Foothill Town, A: Darjeeling
1937 | 9 mins
Darjeeling - a portrait of the Raj hill station made for schools.
Collection: Before Midnight
For the Love of Ada
1970 | 25 mins
Irene Handl stars as an elderly widow who begins a love affair with a gravedigger in this gentle 70s sitcom.
Collection: Funny Girls
Forbidden Love
1992 | 26 mins
The older generation of disabled people discuss how theories of eugenics were often used to deny disabled people the opportunity to explore their sexuality.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Forbidden Pleasures
2000 | 50 mins
Documentary about the use of prostitutes by disabled people.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
The Fourth Everest Expedition
1933 | 49 mins
Hugh Ruttledge's failed attempt to conquer Everest - he got to a point just 1000 feet below the summit.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Framed Youth: Revenge of the Teenage Perverts
1983 | 50 mins
Queer teens discuss their experiences in Thatcher's Britain.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Freak Out
1999 | 25 mins
Welcome to Club Flesh, a disabled fetish club often frequented by able-bodied men and women.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Free Time
1972 | 9 mins
Lambeth at leisure.
Collection: Beautiful South
Freedom of the Hills
1930 | 1 mins
The hills are alive with the sound of protestors, fighting for the right to roam.
Collection: Heartlands
The Frock and Roll Years
2002 | 23 mins
A beginner's guide to post-war British fashion.
Collection: Brit Chic
From High Heels to Sensible Shoes
1997 | 30 mins
Former TV presenter Jackie Forster discusses the day that changed her life - when she had her first lesbian affair.
Collection: Beautiful Things
From the Four Corners
1941 | 15 mins
Why would Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders risk their lives for Britain?
Collection: Essentially British
The Frost Programme
1970 | 52 mins
Counterculture invades The Frost Programme as Jerry Rubin and the Yippies take over the stage.
Collection: Frost/Mediatheque
The Frost Report on Class
1966 | 25 mins
Classic sketches from Messrs Barker, Corbett, Cleese and Frost.
Collection: Frost/Mediatheque
The Frost Report on Elections
1966 | 25 mins
Satirical send ups of politicians – 'The Daily Show' circa 1966.
Collection: Frost/Mediatheque
The Fruit Machine
1988 | 108 mins
Fantastical gay buddy movie following two boys on the run from Liverpool to Brighton.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Fugitive Futurist
1924 | 11 mins
An oddball inventor startles Londoners with images of the city's future.
Collection: London Calling
The Funeral of Queen Victoria (Funeral Procession at Cowes)
1901 | 3 mins
The funeral of Britain's longest-reigning monarch.
Collection: Essentially British
Gallivant
1996 | 100 mins
A tour of Britain's coastline, with the director's grandmother and daughter in tow.
Collection: Essentially British
The Games
2007 | 15 mins
A surreal take on East London's Olympian future.
Collection: London Calling
Gangsters
1975 | 110 mins
The French Connection comes to Birmingham.
Collection: Play for Today
Gardens of the Orient
1936 | 10 mins
The gardens here are tea gardens, and the 'Orient' is India and Sri Lanka.
Collection: Before Midnight
Gay Life
1981 | 30 mins
British gay men's lives from the '30s to the '50s.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Gaytime TV
1995 | 35 mins
The gay magazine show cuts its teeth, presented by Rhona Cameron and Bert Tyler-Moore.
Collection: Beautiful Things
General Election
1946 | 19 mins
Can John Profumo hold onto his seat in Kettering?
Collection: Heartlands
General Sahib
1976 | 50 mins
A portrait of Major General Bakhshi, former chairman of the charity Raphael.
Collection: Raphael
Genevieve
1953 | 86 mins
Cheerful, and very British comedy set against the London to Brighton car rally.
Collection: Funny Girls
George Orwell - 1984 (Arena)
1984 | 50 mins
Fifth instalment in the major 'Arena' portrait of Orwell, focusing on his final work.
Collection: The Book Group
George Orwell: The Road to the Left
1973 | 60 mins
Documentary tracking Orwell's life in 1936, the year he married, set off for the Spanish Civil War and completed his first novel.
Collection: The Book Group
George Sherriff's Home Movies - Lhasa Films
1940 | 63 mins
These amateur films of Lhasa feature the current Dalai Lama and his family in the 1940s.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
George Sherriff's Home Movies - S.E. Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim Films
1934 | 155 mins
The vivid colours of Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim in the 1930s and 40s.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
George Sherriff's Home Movies - Tibetan Landscapes and Ceremonies
1938 | 51 mins
The Tibetan landscape, wildlife and religious ceremonies through the eyes of botanist George Sherriff.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Gert and Daisy's Weekend
1941 | 79 mins
The irrespressible Cockney pensioners take on a boisterous group of evacuee kids in this wartime comedy.
Collection: Funny Girls
The Gift
1997 | 16 mins
A man gives his disabled wife a video camera, and she begins to film their deteriorating relationship.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Ginger Nutt’s Christmas Circus
1949 | 7 mins
Disney-inspired animated mayhem at the circus.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Girl
1974 | 35 mins
Alison Steadman stars as a young army recruit.
Collection: Beautiful Things
AGirl Can't Always Have Everything (Tales of the Unexpected)
1980 | 25 mins
Two Collins' - Joan and Pauline - vie for the affections of a wealthy toy manufacturer.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Glimpses of India
1929 | 15 mins
Indian travelogue featuring the famous sights and rural life.
Collection: Before Midnight
Go Go Go Said the Bird
1966 | 55 mins
A trip through Swinging London with Marianne Faithfull, David Hockney, Twiggy and co.
Collection: London Calling
The Go-Between
1971 | 116 mins
Sex, class and cricket - the past as a not-so-foreign country.
Collection: Essentially British
God's Chillun
1938 | 10 mins
The history of the West Indies' slave trade, and the islands' development since emancipation.
Collection: Exodus: Remembering Slavery
Going Shopping with Elizabeth Allan
1955 | 8 mins
Brandy, teabags and 'Tupperware' are all on offer in London's most famous store.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Good Housewife ‘In Her Kitchen’
1949 | 9 mins
Make a refrigerator out of an old pot and a bit of cloth. Post-War survival for housewives.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Good Manners
1937 | 9 mins
Members of the Roston Youth Club debate the subject of good manners.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Goodbye
1975 | 80 mins
Scenes from a marriage on the rocks.
Collection: Play for Today
Good-Time Girl
1947 | 93 mins
A girl born on the wrong side of the tracks (Jean Kent) descends into ruin.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Gorrie Family Personal Films
1932 | 80 mins
The Gorrie family at home in Dehra Dun and on expedition in the Himalaya.
Collection: Before Midnight
Granny's Is
1989 | 48 mins
Avant-garde portrait of the director's grandmother.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
The Grassy Shires
1944 | 15 mins
'Pattern of Britain' film exploring the farmlands of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and beyond.
Collection: Heartlands
Great Crusade: The Story of a Million Homes
1936 | 17 mins
Patriotism and production lines: J.B. Priestley joins the 'crusade' for better housing.
Collection: The Promised Land
Great Crusade: The Story of a Million Homes
1936 | 17 mins
Patriotism and production lines: J.B. Priestley joins the crusade for better housing.
Collection: The Promised Land
Great Hucklow Jubilee Film May 5th 1935
1935 | 6 mins
Jubilee celebrations in a Derbyshire village.
Collection: Heartlands
Groove on a Stanley Knife
1997 | 41 mins
Two girls - a lesbian and a homophobe - go on the run from crack-dealers.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Grove Carnival
1981 | 19 mins
Kaleidoscopic celebration of the 1980 Notting Hill Carnival.
Collection: London Calling
Growing Girls
1951 | 12 mins
Mary discovers the minefield that it puberty.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
Gurkhas and Shillong Scenery
1930 | 13 mins
The festival of Dashian is celebrated - including scenes of animal sacrifice.
Collection: Before Midnight
Halcyon Days
1962 | 13 mins
Brushes at the ready - are you ready to paint the Halcyon way?
Collection: Heartlands
The Half Monty
1999 | 24 mins
The Full Monty with a twist.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Hanif Kureishi - 'Black and White in Colour' Interviews
1991 | 30 mins
'The Buddha of Suburbia' author offers his opinions on race in British film and TV.
Collection: The Book Group
Hanif Kureishi (Guardian Interview) AUDIO ONLY
1999 | mins
South Bank Show profile of the provocative writer.
Collection: The Book Group
Hanif Kureishi (South Bank Show)
2003 | 48 mins
Kureishi discusses his work at the NFT.
Collection: The Book Group
Happy Ever After
1974 | 30 mins
The popular sitcom that introduced the world to retired empty nesters Terry and June.
Collection: Funny Girls
Happy Families
1985 | 30 mins
Jennifer Saunders takes on five roles in this neglected Ben Elton sitcom, also starring Dawn French.
Collection: Funny Girls
Happy Family, The
1952 | 86 mins
A plucky South Bank family decide to fight back when building work for the Festival of Britain threatens their home.
Collection: Building the South Bank
Happy in the Morning: A Film Fantasy
1938 | 13 mins
A jolly showcase for Henry Hall's band, doubling up as a water heater commercial.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Happy Moorings
1964 | 52 mins
Comedy starring Millicent Martin as a prim lady apparently having an affair with her manservant. But is she?
Collection: Funny Girls
Hard Feelings
1984 | 85 mins
A group of Oxford graduates live in Brixton in 1980, oblivious to the rioting on the streets.
Collection: Beautiful South
Hard Labour
1973 | 70 mins
Mike Leigh's first TV drama, starring Liz Smith and Alison Steadman in a Salford-set snapshot of domestic drudgery.
Collection: Play for Today
Health and Clothing
1928 | 15 mins
Clothing tips from Bermondsey Borough Council.
Collection: Reality Bites
Heart of the Angel
1989 | 40 mins
Molly Dineen follows two chaotic days and a long night behind the scenes at Angel tube station.
Collection: Reality Bites
The Heart Within
1957 | 59 mins
A West Indian dockworker is suspected of the murder of a compatriot.
Collection: Black Britain
Hedging
1942 | 9 mins
How to cut back and lay a hedge with the aid of a trusty land girl.
Collection: Heartlands
Help for Russia
1941 | 9 mins
After the German invasion of Russia in 1941, Bermondsey locals do their bit to raise funds.
Collection: Beautiful South
Henry V
1944 | 137 mins
Shakespeare as WWII propaganda.
Collection: Essentially British
Hidden City
1987 | 108 mins
Stephen Poliakoff's unnerving thriller uncovers a dark, unseen side of the capital.
Collection: London Calling
Hi-De-Hi!: Peggy's Big Chance
1981 | 30 mins
Su Pollard made her mark as dizzy chalet maid Peggy in the long-running 50s holiday camp sitcom.
Collection: Funny Girls
The Higgler
1973 | 52 mins
Derbyshire-set adaptation of A.E. Coppard's story about a higgler town between two women.
Collection: Heartlands
High Living
1968 | 10 mins
The only way is up: the 1960s' answer to Britain's booming population.
Collection: The Promised Land
Hillmen Go to War
1944 | 10 mins
The contribution of the people of the Kullu Valley to the war effort.
Collection: Before Midnight
Hindle Wakes
1927 | 116 mins
Lancashire's cotton workers decamp to Blackpool for their annual taste of freedom.
Collection: Essentially British
Hints and Hobbies No.1
1926 | 14 mins
Want to know more about Persian cats, cardboard vases and treating fractured limbs?
Collection: Pandora's Box
Hints and Hobbies No.11
1926 | 14 mins
Jiu-jitsu for ladies, how to get ink off a white apron and other life essentials.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Hints and Hobbies No.12
1926 | 12 mins
Who needs an iron when you have a jam jar to hand?
Collection: Pandora's Box
Hints and Hobbies No.3
1926 | 5 mins
How to construct an efficient wireless set for just 1/10d. Although Mensa membership may be a prerequisite...
Collection: Pandora's Box
Hints and Hobbies No.7
1926 | 14 mins
How to remove dirt from your finest stole and enthral your guests with a few sugarlumps.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Hints and Hobbies No.8
1926 | 12 mins
Turn your dog into a burglar alarm and clean out that murky decanter - the Hints and Hobbies team are back.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Historic Mutiny Sites
1914 | 5 mins
Sixty years after the event, this travelogue indicates the continued potency of the Indian Mutiny to the British in India.
Collection: Before Midnight
History of the English Language
1943 | 15 mins
How did the mother tongue of 400 million people come into existence?
Collection: Pandora's Box
AHole in Babylon
1979 | 70 mins
Dramatisation of the 1975 Spaghetti House Siege.
Collection: Play for Today
Holiday
1957 | 18 mins
The kiss-me-quick pleasures of saucy Blackpool.
Collection: Essentially British
The Holly and the Ivy
1952 | 83 mins
An unfairly neglected Christmas tale starring Ralph Richardson and Celia Johnson.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Home Movies of H.A.N. Barlow
1945 | 20 mins
Gritty images of India's northerly frontiers contrast with vibrant colour scenes of Udaipur in these 8mm films.
Collection: Before Midnight
Home Movies of T. Burtt
1933 | 20 mins
Lahore, Rajasthan and Simla feature in Burtt's home movies.
Collection: Before Midnight
Homes for All (This Modern Age No.1)
1946 | 20 mins
A plug for the post-war housing policy of a new Labour government.
Collection: The Promised Land
Homes for the People
1945 | 23 mins
Housewives of Britain offer a weary insight into the dire state of their homes.
Collection: The Promised Land
Hope and Glory
1984 | 79 mins
The life, times and music of Sir Edward Elgar.
Collection: Hope and Glory
Horror of Darkness
1965 | 62 mins
A couple's relationship is disturbed by the arrival of the man's old college friend.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Horsey Mail
1938 | 10 mins
Will floods scupper the duties of two Norfolk postmen?
Collection: Essentially British
Hot Summer Night
1959 | 90 mins
Racism in a white, working-class family - later re-made as 'Flame in the Streets'.
Collection: Black Britain
House in Which You Live, The
1947 | 17 mins
Don't mention the War: a reassuring architectural tour of British homes past, present and future.
Collection: The Promised Land
How a Bicycle is Made
1945 | mins
The recipe for the perfect bike.
Collection: Pandora's Box
How Percy Won the Beauty Competition
1909 | 6 mins
Percy drags up to scoop the top prize in this silent short - but will he be found out?
Collection: Beautiful Things
Hoxton…Saturday, July 3rd, Britannia Theatre
1920 | 6 mins
A very busy Saturday on Old Street.
Collection: London Calling
Hue and Cry
1946 | 82 mins
A group of schoolboys uncover a dastardly scam. When the police won't listen, it's time to take matters into their own hands.
Collection: Box of Delights
Hull Fair No.2
1902 | 2 mins
Two black boxers challenge fair-goers to a bout in the ring.
Collection: Black Britain
Hunter Family Films
1928 | 57 mins
India through the idiosyncratic eyes of the Hunter family.
Collection: Before Midnight
I Know Where I'm Going!
1945 | 92 mins
Metaphysical love story starring Wendy Hiller, beautifully filmed in the Scottish Hebrides.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Ilford Everest
1933 | 32 mins
Members of Ruttledge's Everest expedition at play.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
I'm British But…
1989 | 30 mins
Britain beats to the sound of Bhangra and Bangla.
Collection: Essentially British
The Imitation Game
1980 | 95 mins
A young middle-class woman joins the Auxiliary Territorial Service during WWII.
Collection: Play for Today
The Important Thing is Love
1971 | 50 mins
The invisible history of British lesbians.
Collection: Beautiful Things
In Celebration
1974 | 125 mins
Three brothers return to Nottinghamshire to celebrate their parents' anniversary. Lindsay Anderson directs.
Collection: Heartlands
In Gear
1967 | 9 mins
The Sixties swing into Carnaby Street and the King's Road.
Collection: London Calling
In Rural Maharashtra
1940 | 12 mins
Happy farmers, a wedding and some giant cauliflowers...
Collection: Before Midnight
In Search of Dracula with Jonathan Ross
1996 | 52 mins
Jonathan Ross celebrates 100 years of Bram Stoker's creation...and gets distracted by Hammer's heaving bosoms.
Collection: The Book Group
In Search of Geordie
1975 | 25 mins
What makes a Geordie?
Collection: Essentially British
In the Pink
1982 | 30 mins
Jonathan Ross celebrates 100 years of Bram Stoker's creation...and gets distracted by Hammer's heaving bosoms.
Collection: Channel 4 Anniversary
Inappropriate Behaviour
1987 | 78 mins
A female psychiatrist develops feelings towards a schoolgirl patient.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Incident
1971 | mins
An anti-short short film? A 4 minute wonder starring Stephen Frears.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
India
1929 | 16 mins
Amateur film of the passage to India - complete with guest appearance by Gandhi.
Collection: Before Midnight
Indian Background
1946 | 9 mins
Progress vs. tradition in India.
Collection: Before Midnight
AnIndian Summer
1992 | 30 mins
Sir Leonard Cheshire's final journey to India.
Collection: Raphael
AnIndian Washing the Baby
1906 | 2 mins
India's cleanest child enjoys an enthusiastic wash and Ayurvedic massage.
Collection: Before Midnight
Insight - Zandra Rhodes
1981 | 14 mins
Peter Greenaway's innovative day-in-the-life portrait.
Collection: Brit Chic
Intensive Care
1982 | 80 mins
A teacher visits his dying father and strikes up a rapport with the night nurse in Alan Bennett's black comedy, starring Thora Hird and Julie Walters.
Collection: Play for Today
The Iron Dale
1964 | 25 mins
Life at Stanton and Stavely Ltd. Ironworks.
Collection: Heartlands
The Irresponsibles
1929 | 40 mins
A no-nonsense warning of the perils of gonorrhoea and syphilis.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
Island People
1940 | 10 mins
The British way of life at the dawn of the 1940s.
Collection: Essentially British
It Ain't Half Racist, Mum
1979 | 30 mins
The pervasive racism of British TV in the '70s is exposed.
Collection: Black Britain
It Always Rains on Sunday
1947 | 92 mins
A housewife's life is complicated when her ex-lover, an escaped violent criminal, comes to her for shelter.
Collection: London Calling
Jack Hylton Presents: The Crazy Gang
1956 | 55 mins
The Crazy Gang at the Victoria Palace - British humour from another era.
Collection: Essentially British
Jack the Ripper
1963 | 3 mins
Screaming Lord Sutch performs a song of alarmingly questionable taste.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Jacqueline Du Pre and the Elgar Cello Concerto
1967 | 70 mins
Documentary about the legendary cellist, featuring a complete performance of her finest hour – the Elgar Cello Concerto.
Collection: Hope and Glory
Jacqueline Du Pre Masterclass
1979 | 35 mins
Cellist Jacqueline du Pré gives a masterclass on the Elgar Cello Concerto.
Collection: Hope and Glory
James Guthrie's Home Movies - Gyantse Trips
1935 | 50 mins
Amateur films shot in and around Gyantse, Tibet.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
James Guthrie's Home Movies - Lhasa Trips
1935 | 73 mins
Life in and around Lhasa.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
James Guthrie's Home Movies - Tibetan Ceremonies
1939 | 60 mins
Home movie footage including a potent scene featuring the young Dalai Lama in a golden palanquin.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
James Guthrie's Home Movies - Tibetan Valley Trips
1939 | 29 mins
Tibetan life and landscape by British Medical Officer/Civil Surgeon James Guthrie.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
James Guthrie's Home Movies: Miscellaneous Tibet Films
1935 | 39 mins
Ceremonies, people and landscapes - life in Tibet vividly captured by amateur filmmaker Guthrie.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Jemima and Johnny
1966 | 30 mins
In a west London community divided by racism, a white boy befriends the daughter of a family recently arrived from the Caribbean.
Collection: Box of Delights
The Jewel in the Crown
1984 | 105 mins
Sex, class and scandal in the final days of the Raj.
Collection: Before Midnight
Jim Corbett Personal Films
1929 | 12 mins
Records of North India's wildlife - both living and dead - by the famous hunter and conservationist.
Collection: Before Midnight
John Betjeman: A Poet in London
1959 | 12 mins
Betjeman voices his dismay at a vanishing London.
Collection: London Calling
John Galliano (South Bank Show)
1997 | 52 mins
Profile of the trailblazing British couturier during his time at Givenchy.
Collection: Brit Chic
Johnny Cash in San Quentin
1969 | 60 mins
Haunting record of the singer's legendary concert in San Quentin.
Collection: Reality Bites
Joyce Grenfell
1964 | 50 mins
George, don't do that - Joyce Grenfell, the Queen of the comic monologue, stars in her one-woman show.
Collection: Funny Girls
Just A Boy's Game
1979 | 75 mins
The brutal life of Glasgow hard-man, Jake McQuillan - from the director of 'The Long Good Friday'.
Collection: Play for Today
Just Another Saturday
1975 | 75 mins
One young man's long day as participant and bystander in the Protestant Orange day parades of Glasgow 1975.
Collection: Play for Today
Juvenile Liaison
1975 | 97 mins
Banned documentary from Nick Broomfield exposing the bullying methods of a juvenile liaison unit in Blackburn.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Juvenile Scientist, A
1907 | 4 mins
Punished for mistreating the family pets, a young boy uses his chemistry set to wreak revenge on his parents.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner
1981 | 70 mins
Japanese servicemen - all played by white Englishmen - gather to commemorate their country's defeat 35 years previously.
Collection: Play for Today
Keep an Eye on Albert
1975 | 75 mins
The neglected wife of a pigeon fancier becomes attracted to his best mate.
Collection: Play for Today
Kenneth Williams (Comic Roots)
1983 | 30 mins
Kenneth Williams takes us on a very personal stroll around the city he called home.
Collection: London Calling
The Kenny Everett Television Show
1981 | 30 mins
The ethos of punk is alive and well in Kenny Everett's appropriately disrespectful hands.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
Kensal House
1937 | 11 mins
A visionary community powered by the miracle of gas.
Collection: The Promised Land
Kensington Calling!
1930 | 8 mins
Squalid conditions in Kensington - and a bid for a brighter future.
Collection: London Calling
Kes
1969 | 113 mins
A boy and his kestrel - childhood has rarely been more potently captured.
Collection: Essentially British
Kill the Day
1997 | 18 mins
An ex-drug addict reflects on his life in and out of prison in Lynne Ramsay's sophomore effort.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949 | 102 mins
Joan Greenwood’s portrayal of delicious yet subtle malevolence is just one of the treats in this murderous take on social climbing.
Collection: Funny Girls
Kindly Leave the Raj
1969 | 56 mins
The Raj in the style of 'Oh What a Lovely War!'
Collection: Before Midnight
The Kiss in the Tunnel
1899 | 1 mins
Amorous Victorians indulge in illicit smooching.
Collection: Essentially British
Kisses at Fifty
1973 | 70 mins
A middle-aged man’s fling with a barmaid threatens the stability of his family.
Collection: Play for Today
Kizzy
1976 | 45 mins
A young Romany girl deals with prejudice after moving to a small village in Rumer Godden's tale for children.
Collection: Box of Delights
The Knowledge
1979 | 89 mins
Learner taxi drivers attempt to master 'the knowledge' of London's streets.
Collection: London Calling
The Kumars at No. 42
2001 | 30 mins
Spoof chat-show featuring the Kumars, with this week's special guests Graham Norton and Davina McCall.
Collection: Funny Girls
Lace
1930 | 7 mins
The manufacture of Nottingham lace in the 1920s.
Collection: Heartlands
Ladies on Bicycles
1899 | 1 mins
Victorian ladies show off their slalom cycling skills.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Lady Audley's Secret
1920 | 76 mins
To what lengths will Lady Audley go to hide her past? Margaret Bannerman stars in this silent feature film adaptation from 1920.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Lady Audley's Secret
2000 | 98 mins
Neve McIntosh stops at nothing to safeguard her future in this 2000 TV adaptation of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's novel.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
The Ladykillers
1955 | 97 mins
Brilliant black comedy of armed robbers, murder and a Boccherini string quintet.
Collection: London Calling
Lambeth Boys
1985 | 120 mins
What happened to the lads from 1959's 'We Are the Lambeth Boys'? And do teenagers in the 80s share the same concerns?
Collection: Beautiful South
Lambeth Festival Week 1951
1951 | 12 mins
The Official Film of the Lambeth Festival, packed with floats, dancing and frivolity.
Collection: Beautiful South
The Lambeth Housing Film
1932 | 11 mins
An appeal for funds to improve the lot of the Lambeth slums.
Collection: Beautiful South
Lambeth Links
1962 | 17 mins
Beauty Queens and racing waiters - it can only be Lambeth Festival week!
Collection: Beautiful South
Lambeth Marsh
2001 | 12 mins
A study of the London Borough of Lambeth, inspired by a William Blake poem.
Collection: London Calling
Lambeth Rejoices
1953 | 10 mins
Lambeth kicks up its heels during Festival Week.
Collection: Beautiful South
Lambeth Through Our Eyes
2003 | 5 mins
The Borough of Lambeth, as told by five young locals.
Collection: Beautiful South
Lambeth: The Council that Cares
1981 | 15 mins
Lambeth Council rallies against Thatcherism.
Collection: Beautiful South
Lambethan Landmark
1969 | 12 mins
West Norwood library is opened by Princess Margaret.
Collection: Beautiful South
Land of Green Ginger
1973 | 50 mins
In Alan Plater's play a young woman returns to her hometown of Hull. But will she stay?
Collection: Play for Today
Land of Promise
1946 | 65 mins
Film 'argument' on the past, present and future of British housing.
Collection: The Promised Land
The Landlady (Tales of the Unexpected)
1979 | 30 mins
Abanbon all hope, all ye who enter Siobhan McKenna's B&B.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
The Lane
1990 | 45 mins
6-part series about the communities, characters and hidden corners of Brick Lane and Spitalfields.
Collection: London Calling
Lap
2004 | 15 mins
A lap dancer meets a man at a bus stop one rainy night.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
The Larkins
1958 | 26 mins
Forty years before 'The Darling Buds of May', Peggy Mount and David Kossoff star in an early TV adaptation of H.E. Bates' popular novels.
Collection: Funny Girls
The Last of England*
1987 | 88 mins
Derek Jarman's dark, poetic vision of a city and a country brought to its knees.
Collection: London Calling
The Last Train Through the Harecastle Tunnel
1969 | 78 mins
A trainspotter's day trip becomes a voyage of discovery.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The League of Gentlemen
1999 | 30 mins
Welcome to the weird world of Royston Vasey. You'll never leave!
Collection: Heartlands
Learie Constantine
1946 | 10 mins
A day in the life of the Trinidadian-British cricketer.
Collection: Black Britain
Learning About Sex
1977 | 25 mins
Sex ed in the '70s.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
Leeds - United!
1974 | 117 mins
Play for Today at its angriest - exploited factory workers literally strike back.
Collection: Play for Today
Leicester Coffee Houses
1930 | 3 mins
Fondants, fancies and coffee house culture in Leicestershire.
Collection: Heartlands
Leicestershire: A Heritage at Risk
1970 | 25 mins
A sharp warning from Leicestershire council on the need for greater preservation of the countryside.
Collection: Heartlands
The Lenny Henry Show
1984 | 29 mins
A showcase for comedian Lenny Henry, featuring a mix of stand up monologues, sketches and spoof songs.
Collection: Black Britain
Leo the Last
1969 | 104 mins
John Boorman's surreal vision of culture clash in Notting Hill.
Collection: London Calling
Let’s Pretend: The Make Believe World of Daphne du Maurier
1977 | 38 mins
In conversation with Cliff Michelmore, Dame Daphne looks back over an astonishing life.
Collection: The Book Group
Licking Hitler
1978 | 65 mins
During WWII, a woman is sent deep into the countryside to work in secret with a Glaswegian journalist, where she finds herself in a brutal and sinister world.
Collection: Play for Today
Lido
1995 | 49 mins
A microcosm of London life from beautiful men to spirited single mums: meet the regulars at the Brockwell Park Lido.
Collection: Beautiful South
The Lie
1970 | 90 mins
Ingmar Bergman dissects a marriage breakdown.
Collection: Play for Today
ALife Apart
1977 | 25 mins
An examination of the charity Raphael's work with people living with leprosy.
Collection: Raphael
Life in Hunza
1937 | 8 mins
Rural life in the mountainous valley near Gilgit - now in the Northern Areas of Pakistan.
Collection: Before Midnight
Lights and Shades on the Bostock Circus Farm
1911 | 5 mins
A tumultuous and tragic day on the Bostock Circus Farm.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Like Other People
1972 | 50 mins
The emotional and physical needs of a couple with disabilities.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Linger
1995 | 15 mins
A postcard from an old friend reminds a woman of the night they drunkenly made love.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Listen to Britain
1942 | 10 mins
The sounds of the Home Front - with appearances from Dame Myra Hess, Flanagan and Allen and the Queen Mother.
Collection: Reality Bites
Little Britain
2004 | 30 mins
Are Vicky Pollard and Daffyd Thomas the voices of 21st century Britain?
Collection: Essentially British
Living at Thamesmead
1974 | 27 mins
Fly-on-the-wall tour of the south-east London estate.
Collection: The Promised Land
Living Statistic
2005 | 11 mins
The bid by Weymouth residents to save the Kachepa family from deportation.
Collection: Essentially British
Lizzie Dripping
1973 | 20 mins
Lizzie Dripping's first encounters with the witch...
Collection: Box of Delights
Lizzie Dripping Again
1975 | 20 mins
The second series of Lizzie Dripping from 1975.
Collection: Box of Delights
Lobsters
1936 | 16 mins
The king of crustaceans gets his own movie.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Local Hero
1983 | 111 mins
Residents of an idyllic Scottish coastal village see dollar signs when a US oil company tries to move in.
Collection: Essentially British
Lockerbie - A Night Remembered
1998 | 60 mins
The terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103 - killing 270 people and devastating a community.
Collection: Reality Bites
Lol - A Bona Queen of Fabularity
1981 | 40 mins
The life and times of a London drag queen.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Lola - Crown Court
1976 | 72 mins
A gay transvestite comes under fire in this 3-parter from 'Crown Court'.
Collection: Beautiful Things
London
1994 | 85 mins
Patrick Keiller's joyously idiosyncratic chronicle of a year in the life of the capital.
Collection: London Calling
London A Social Centre
1928 | 2 mins
The future King and Queen Mother visit the Browning Settlement, Walworth.
Collection: Beautiful South
London Adventure with the Wetton Family: Wetton Personal Film
1951 | 9 mins
One family's edited home movie recording the magic of the Festival of Britain.
Collection: Building the South Bank
London Borough
1953 | 30 mins
The evolution of local government, using Camberwell as an example.
Collection: Beautiful South
London Can Take It!
1940 | 10 mins
A depiction of the stoicism of Londoners during the Blitz, crafted in the hope of America entering the War.
Collection: London Calling
The London Nobody Knows
1967 | 48 mins
A stroll with James Mason around the more eccentric corners of the capital.
Collection: London Calling
London Orbital
2002 | 76 mins
Iain Sinclair and Chris Petit's visionary film about the world's largest by-pass - the M25.
Collection: London Calling
London Street Scenes
1920 | 4 mins
A busy, bustling celebration of the capital.
Collection: London Calling
London Street Scenes - Trafalgar Square
1910 | 1 mins
A 180 degree panorama of Trafalgar Square in 1910.
Collection: London Calling
London Town
1946 | 126 mins
Glorious, camp Technicolor treat or failed London musical?
Collection: London Calling
London Town [93min version]
1946 | 93 mins
Glorious, camp Technicolor treat or failed London musical?
Collection: London Calling
The Londoners
1939 | 37 mins
The London County Council sings its own praises.
Collection: London Calling
London's Lambeth
1971 | 25 mins
Lambeth buildings at their best - and worst.
Collection: Beautiful South
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
1962 | 99 mins
A borstal boy turns marathon runner in this adaptation of Alan Sillitoe's novel.
Collection: Heartlands
The Long Distance Piano Player
1970 | 80 mins
The Kinks' Ray Davies stars as a pianist who embarks on a 4-day musical marathon.
Collection: Play for Today
The Long Good Friday
1981 | 114 mins
Helen Mirren and Bob Hoskins call the shots in the great East End gangster epic.
Collection: London Calling
Long Live Rutland
1975 | 30 mins
Documentary about Rutland made shortly after it became part of Leicestershire.
Collection: Heartlands
Lord Willingdon in India
1930 | 12 mins
Home movie of the Viceroy of India.
Collection: Before Midnight
The Lost Language of Cranes
1992 | 87 mins
Nature or nurture? A father and son discover that they have something in common.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Lost World of Tibet [90min version]
2008 | 90 mins
The BBC/BFI documentary exploring life in pre-invasion Tibet features a potent interview with the Dalai Lama.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Louise
1969 | 50 mins
A manipulative woman (Sarah Badel) uses her illness to live a life of luxury. Based on the story by W. Somerset Maugham.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon
1998 | 87 mins
Derek Jacobi and Daniel Craig star as artist Francis Bacon and his muse, George Dyer.
Collection: Beautiful Things
ALove Less Ordinary
1999 | 51 mins
Let's talk about sex - three disabled women share their experiences.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Love on the Range
1939 | 6 mins
It's Horlicks to the rescue in this animated ad set in the Wild West.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Love on the Wing
1938 | 5 mins
Banned Norman McLaren animation following the journey of a letter between two lovers.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Love Story
1944 | 113 mins
Love conquers all: Margaret Lockwood and Stewart Granger defy death on the Cornish coast.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Love Story
1944 | 113 mins
Love conquers all: Margaret Lockwood and Stewart Granger defy death on the Cornish coast.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Love Test
1935 | 60 mins
Scheming chemists in laboratory love triangle shock!
Collection: The Truth About Love
Love Thy Neighbour
1971 | 26 mins
The hugely popular - but deeply racist - '70s sitcom starring Rudolph Walker and Nina Baden-Semper.
Collection: Black Britain
Love, Sex and Disability
1999 | 30 mins
Five disabled people discuss their sex lives.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Love's Presentation
1966 | 25 mins
A study of David Hockney's etchings inspired by the love poems of Cavafy.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Loving Memory
1970 | 57 mins
Tony Scott’s debut feature - a bizarre story of love and loss.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Lunch-Hour
1933 | 8 mins
London at lunchtime.
Collection: London Calling
Lust for a Vampire
1970 | 95 mins
Hammer horror with a sapphic twist.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Mackrell Personal Films
1934 | 36 mins
Hunting and fishing are the order of the day in the colourful home movies of this Assam-based tea planter.
Collection: Before Midnight
Made in Huddersfield
1985 | 90 mins
A look at the Second Wave of punk that hit the North of England in the 1980s.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
Madeleine
1949 | 114 mins
New restoration of David Lean's true-crime drama set in Victorian Glasgow, with an intriguingly icy Ann Todd.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Madonna of the Seven Moons
1944 | 110 mins
Phyllis Calvert's split personality transforms her from prim Florentine lady to jewel-thief's mistress.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
The Magic Toyshop
1987 | 107 mins
'80s TV adaptation of Angela Carter's 1967 magical-realist novel, rarely seen since its first broadcast.
Collection: The Book Group
Magnus Family in India
1927 | 13 mins
Home movie footage of the Magnus family.
Collection: Before Midnight
Maharajah of Jodhpur - Personal Films
1946 | 260 mins
See India from a royal perspective with these home movie records of princely power and sumptuous ceremony.
Collection: Before Midnight
Mahatma Gandhi (Noa Khali March)
1947 | 18 mins
Rarely seen footage of Gandhi filmed by his great nephew, Kanu.
Collection: Before Midnight
Main Line Diesel
1946 | 14 mins
The Derby Works proudly present Britain's first diesel locomotive.
Collection: Heartlands
Maisie's Marriage aka Married Love
1923 | 95 mins
Based on Marie Stopes' 1918 bestseller about sex and sexuality, Maisie learns the advantages of having a small family.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
Making Christmas Crackers
1910 | 6 mins
Factory workers demonstrate the manufacture of crackers, and a family receives a Christmas surprise.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Making Fashion (aka Design for Spring)
1936 | 15 mins
'30s models strut their stuff on the Hartnell catwalk.
Collection: Pandora's Box
AMan From the Sun
1956 | 58 mins
One of the earliest TV dramas to explore the lives of newly-arrived West Indians in Britain.
Collection: Black Britain
Manifesto for Love
2003 | 6 mins
An exploration of the meaning of love - accompanied by Dusty Springfield.
Collection: Beautiful Things
March to Aldermaston
1959 | 33 mins
A milestone in campaigning documentary and the history of the CND.
Collection: Reality Bites
Marjorie and Men
1985 | 30 mins
Forgotten 80s sitcom starring Patricia Routledge and Patricia Hayes.
Collection: Funny Girls
Market Town
1942 | 11 mins
It's market day in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. Let's meet the 'country folk'!
Collection: Heartlands
Mary Jane's Mishap
1903 | 3 mins
Laura Bayley learns not to play with paraffin - the hard way.
Collection: Funny Girls
The Mary Quant Show
1974 | 5 mins
Revisit the mistress of the mini-skirt.
Collection: Brit Chic
Mary's Birthday
1951 | 11 mins
Germ warfare threatens to ruin young Mary's birthday party.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Master of the King's Musik
1931 | 3 mins
Elgar conducts Land of Hope and Glory.
Collection: Hope and Glory
AMatter of Life and Death
1946 | 104 mins
Heavenly love - the Powell and Pressburger must-see classic.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Mayfair Merry-Go-Round
1954 | 10 mins
Katie Boyle sells affordable fashion to 50s women in this early magazine show.
Collection: Brit Chic
Mayor Making
1946 | 5 mins
The election and installation of Derby's mayor in 1946.
Collection: Heartlands
McLibel
2005 | 84 mins
A David and Goliath tale of not-so-happy meals.
Collection: Reality Bites
Meantime
1983 | 110 mins
Tim Roth and Gary Oldman star as troubled Londoners in Mike Leigh's made-for-TV favourite.
Collection: London Calling
Meet of the Quorn Hounds at Kirby Gate
1912 | 3 mins
The hunting pack prepare for the chase.
Collection: Heartlands
Men Cycling Up a Country Lane
1910 | 2 mins
Men on motorbikes.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Men of Corby
1961 | 30 mins
Rabbie Burns transplanted to the East Midlands.
Collection: Heartlands
Metro-Land
1973 | 50 mins
John Betjeman examines the culture and spirit of Metro-Land - the outer reaches of the Metropolitan Railway.
Collection: London Calling
Metropolitan Fire Brigade Turn-Out
1899 | 1 mins
Fire engines leaving the station at Southwark Bridge Road.
Collection: Beautiful South
Mile End Purgatorio
1991 | 2 mins
All the signs point to the Mile End Road.
Collection: London Calling
The Millenium Wheel
2000 | 25 mins
Artistic take on the birth of the London Eye, from drawing board to completion.
Collection: Beautiful South
Minder
1984 | 50 mins
Arthur Daley has difficulty tracking down a debt in Brick Lane.
Collection: London Calling
Miners Leaving Pendlebury Colliery
1901 | 1 mins
A young black miner is among the crowd leaving Pendlebury Colliery, Salford.
Collection: Black Britain
Mining Review 7th Year No.12
1954 | 10 mins
Ballet dancing miners and the crowning of the 'Coal Queen'.
Collection: Essentially British
Mixed Marriages
1958 | 15 mins
Racism and mixed-race relationships.
Collection: Black Britain
Momma Don't Allow
1956 | 21 mins
An evening at the Wood Green Jazz Club with Chris Barber's Jazz Band.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Monday Morning
1958 | 10 mins
Crouch End awakens.
Collection: London Calling
The Monster of Highgate Ponds
1960 | 59 mins
There's a monster on the loose in Highgate! 'Godzilla' for the under-9s.
Collection: Box of Delights
Monty Python's Flying Circus
1970 | 30 mins
Silly voices, comedy Nazis, upper class twits...
Collection: Essentially British
The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show
1980 | 51 mins
Celebrate Christmas with Eric and Ernie. What do you think of it so far?
Collection: Santa's Grotto
Morning in the Streets
1959 | 35 mins
A Northern English 'Everytown' comes to life in this impressionistic BBC classic.
Collection: Reality Bites
Morris Dancing at Berkhamsted
1950 | 2 mins
A noble English tradition is preserved in Hertfordshire.
Collection: Essentially British
Moslems in Britain - Cardiff
1961 | 20 mins
Upbeat portrait of the experiences of Muslims living in Cardiff in the early 1960s.
Collection: Reality Bites
Motherlove
1975 | 50 mins
An aristocratic mother (Isabel Dean) battles to keep her son from finding love elsewhere.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
AMountain Nurse
1977 | 26 mins
Treating tuberculosis in the Himalayan foothills.
Collection: Raphael
Mountaineer's Romance
1912 | 22 mins
Remarkable love-triangle drama shot in the Peak District.
Collection: Heartlands
Mr English At Home
1940 | 27 mins
A day in the life of the 'typical' English family.
Collection: Essentially British
The Mrs Merton Show
1995 | 30 mins
Spoof chatshow with Caroline Aherne: just what first attracted Debbie McGee to the millionaire Paul Daniels?
Collection: Funny Girls
Mrs Williamson's Tibetan Films - Part 1
1930 | 90 mins
Vivid homes movies of life in Tibet made by the Political Officer.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Mrs Williamson's Tibetan Films - Part 2
1930 | 83 mins
Life in Tibet - look out for the somewhat suprising egg-and-spoon race...
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Mrs Williamson's Tibetan Films - Part 3
1930 | 89 mins
Home movie scenes in Lhasa, Tibet - as well as further afield in India and Bhutan.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Mrs Williamson's Tibetan Films - Part 4
1930 | 22 mins
Home movie footage of life in Tibetan monasteries.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Mrs. Mopp Entertains
1943 | 2 mins
Wartime washing tips from Persil, starring popular radio character Mrs. Mopp.
Collection: Funny Girls
Murphy's Mob
1985 | 24 mins
Kids' series about the young supporters of Dunmore United Football Club.
Collection: Heartlands
Murrain
1975 | 55 mins
A young vet is forced to join a local witch hunt in Nigel Kneale's forerunner to 'Beasts'.
Collection: Heartlands
The Muscle Market
1981 | 80 mins
Pete Postlethwaite and Alison Steadman star in Alan Bleasdale's play.
Collection: Play for Today
My Beautiful Laundrette*
1985 | 97 mins
Inter-racial love on the tumble dryers.
Collection: London Calling
My Night with Reg
1997 | 105 mins
Love in the time of AIDS - from the writer of 'Clapham Junction'.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Mystery of Marriage
1932 | 32 mins
A comparison of the mating rituals of humans, animals and plants unlocks the secrets of marriage.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
N or NW
1938 | 8 mins
Letter-writing lovers in North London postcode palaver.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Naked - As Nature Intended*
1961 | 60 mins
Gratuitous nudity masquerading as a South West travelogue.
Collection: Essentially British
The Naked Civil Servant
1975 | 78 mins
A BAFTA-winning John Hurt portrays the great, empowering Quentin Crisp.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Nearest and Dearest
1968 | 25 mins
Queen of the malapropism Hylda Baker stars in the popular sitcom, opposite Jimmy Jewel as her sparring sibling.
Collection: Funny Girls
The Negro Next Door
1965 | 30 mins
The white residents of a Leeds suburb express their thoughts on their new black neighbours.
Collection: Reality Bites
Nervous Energy
1995 | 105 mins
A young Glaswegian man with AIDS returns to visit his family and friends, but when things do not go as planned his lover comes to patch things up.
Collection: Beautiful Things
New Architecture at the London Zoo
1937 | 15 mins
Penguins get the VIP treatment in this artistic look at the Zoo's visionary '30s revamp.
Collection: London Calling
New London County Hall
1922 | 2 mins
Icon or eyesore? George V opens the still controversial landmark.
Collection: Beautiful South
New Styles of Architecture
1993 | 26 mins
Alan Bennett surveys the architectural landscape of post-WWI Britain.
Collection: The Promised Land
New Towns for Old
1942 | 7 mins
Bulldozers compete with bombers to clear the slums in Sheffield.
Collection: The Promised Land
NFT @ 50 Fifty Years of the National Film Theatre
2002 | 29 mins
BFI Southbank's famous cinemas get their own tribute.
Collection: Beautiful South
Nice Time
1957 | 17 mins
Has Piccadilly Circus ever looked so bleak?
Collection: London Calling
Night Mail
1936 | 23 mins
London to Scotland by train in the company of Benjamin Britten and W. H. Auden.
Collection: Reality Bites
Nighty Night
2004 | 30 mins
Cringe-making comedy at its best: Julia Davis unleashes sociopathic hairdresser Jill on the British viewing public.
Collection: Funny Girls
Nineteen Eighty-Four
1984 | 110 mins
Major feature film adaptation starring John Hurt and Richard Burton, filmed in 1984.
Collection: The Book Group
Nineteen Eighty-Four
1954 | 120 mins
Technically groundbreaking and hugely controversial live TV adaptation of Orwell's novel.
Collection: The Book Group
Nixon's Version of Watergate (The Nixon Interviews)
1977 | 85 mins
The real 'Frost/Nixon'.
Collection: Frost/Mediatheque
No Problem!
1983 | 30 mins
An introduction to the comic world of Willesden's Powell family.
Collection: Black Britain
No Room at the Inn
1948 | 83 mins
Freda Jackson terrorises young evacuees in this 1940s forerunner to 'Mommie Dearest'.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
The North West Frontier
1959 | 129 mins
Adventure yarn starring Kenneth More as a plucky Brit sent to rescue a Hindu Prince from certain death in British India.
Collection: Before Midnight
Northampton
1932 | 50 mins
A survey of Northampton from the 1930s.
Collection: Heartlands
Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens
1922 | 63 mins
Have your spine tingled by F.W. Murnau's silent classic - the first screen adaptation of Dracula.
Collection: The Book Group
Noted Eel and Pie Houses
1975 | 45 mins
Fascinating social history of that great London delicacy - the jellied eel.
Collection: London Calling
Now That It's Morning
1992 | 11 mins
Neil Bartlett's provocatively romantic tale of the love between a 45-year-old man and a 15-year-old schoolboy.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Nude Woman By Waterfall
1920 | 12 mins
A woman poses - in and out of her diaphanous shift.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Nuts in May
1976 | 85 mins
A new age couple try to get back to nature - but does nature want them back?
Collection: Essentially British
O Dreamland
1953 | 11 mins
The dubious delights of a Margate funfair.
Collection: Essentially British
O Fat White Woman
1971 | 70 mins
The wife of a sadistic headmaster is forced to face the truth about her marriage.
Collection: Play for Today
The Obelisk
1977 | 30 mins
A married couple have their horizons broadened during a trip to the seaside in this adaptation of E.M. Forster's short story.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Odeon Cinema Club
1943 | 1 mins
Early karaoke from the Odeon National Cinema Club. Singalong with the bouncing ball...
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Office
2001 | 30 mins
David Brent, Slough's favourite son, entertains the nation.
Collection: Essentially British
Often During the Day
1978 | 16 mins
The notion that 'the woman belongs in the kitchen' gets a grilling in Jo Davis' film.
Collection: British Islands
Oh Rosalinda! [aka Die Fledermaus]
1955 | 101 mins
Love, lust and infidelity in this Technicolor updating of Johann Strauss' operetta, Die Fledermaus.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Old London Street Scenes
1903 | 3 mins
Traffic congestion in Edwardian London.
Collection: London Calling
The Old Maid’s Valentine
1900 | 1 mins
February 14th brings sorrow for one spinster.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Old Ways, New Ways
1989 | 30 mins
Former employees reminisce as the legendary Bermondsey-based Peek Frean biscuit factory closes.
Collection: Beautiful South
Oliver Strachey in Drag
1930 | 1 mins
The Bloomsbury set are at it again...
Collection: Pandora's Box
Oliver Twist
1948 | 116 mins
Masterful adaptation of Dickens' classic set on the sordid streets of 1830s London.
Collection: London Calling
Oliver Twist Casting Appeal
1946 | 1 mins
Young Pip from 'Great Expectations' helps David Lean find an Oliver.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Omnibus
1982 | 50 mins
Bob Hoskins offers his unvarnished opinion on the architectural dilemmas facing the South Bank.
Collection: Building the South Bank
On a Cold and Frosty Morning
1969 | 17 mins
The activities of the Indian charity, Raphael.
Collection: Raphael
On Ilkla' Moor Baht At
1921 | 14 mins
The Yorkshire Dales - from Ilkley to Hubberholme.
Collection: Essentially British
On the Black Hill
1987 | 117 mins
Adaptation of Bruce Chatwin's tale of twin brothers battling the elements - and each other.
Collection: Essentially British
On the Tracks of the Wild Otter
1982 | 50 mins
The lives of otters: surveillance in the Shetland Isles.
Collection: Otterly Marvellous
Once We Were Four
1942 | 9 mins
Innocent bunnies face an onslaught of badgers, bombs and birds of prey in this black comedy masquerading as a nature film.
Collection: Pandora's Box
One Family
1930 | 49 mins
A schoolboy, a Christmas pudding and a bizarre portrait of the British Empire.
Collection: Essentially British
One in Five
1983 | 53 mins
Endearingly right-on concoction bringing together lesbians and gay men for dancing and debate.
Collection: Beautiful Things
One on One: David Frost
2002 | 38 mins
A guided tour through the highlights of Sir David Frost’s career in television.
Collection: Frost/Mediatheque
One Potato, Two Potato
1957 | 23 mins
Children's games played out on the streets of London.
Collection: Box of Delights
Only Connect
1979 | 49 mins
Gay lives connect across a century in Noel Greig and Drew Griffiths' moving drama.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Only Fools and Horses
1982 | 30 mins
Join the hapless Trotters of Nelson Mandela House, Peckham, for an impromptu tour of London.
Collection: London Calling
The Open Road
1927 | 60 mins
An epic trip across Britain filmed in remarkable early colour.
Collection: Essentially British
Opening of the New Lambeth Bridge
1932 | 3 mins
The opening of Lambeth Bridge by George V in July 1932.
Collection: Beautiful South
Oppin
1930 | 17 mins
Londoners flee the Bermondsey slums to go 'oppin (hop-picking) in Kent.
Collection: Beautiful South
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
1990 | 55 mins
When her relationship with a female friend turns into something more serious, a girl's ultra-religious family try to brainwash her to renounce her 'satanic' ways.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Orkney
1971 | 90 mins
Three beautiful, bleak tales from the Scottish Isle of Orkney.
Collection: Play for Today
Orwell: A Personal View
1984 | 30 mins
Author Anthony Burgess talks about the significance of Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'.
Collection: The Book Group
Othello
1956 | 120 mins
The first televised production of Shakespeare's play to feature a black actor in the lead role.
Collection: Black Britain
The Otter aka An Otter Study
1912 | 8 mins
Marvel at an otter from before WWI in this early nature film.
Collection: Otterly Marvellous
Our Street
1960 | 23 mins
The children of a Camberwell community play on their soon-to-be-destroyed street.
Collection: Beautiful South
Out of the Darkness
1985 | 68 mins
Three children in the Derbyshire village of Eyam are haunted by the ghosts of the 1665 plague.
Collection: Heartlands
Out on Tuesday
1989 | 53 mins
Can homosexuality be 'promoted', and will playing gay ruin your career?
Collection: Beautiful Things
Out to Play
1936 | 10 mins
Playtime in the streets and parks of London.
Collection: Reality Bites
Outside In aka Das Innere Bloss
1981 | 100 mins
A combination of memories from the visual diary of disabled artist Steve Dwoskin.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Over Our Dead Bodies
1991 | 60 mins
Documentary examining the origins and development of AIDS activist movements in the USA and the UK.
Collection: Beautiful Things
AnOver-Incubated Baby
1901 | 1 mins
A growth experiment goes horribly wrong in this macabre minute of black comedy.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Oyster Fishing at Whitstable, England
1920 | 6 mins
The harvest and consumption of everyone's favourite bivalve.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Pacemakers: Biba
1970 | 14 mins
Drop in on a photoshoot at the iconic Kensington fashion emporium.
Collection: Brit Chic
Panorama of Calcutta
1899 | 1 mins
The Calcutta ghats - or are they?
Collection: Before Midnight
Panorama of Ealing from a Moving Tram
1901 | 1 mins
A tram ride through Ealing at its most appealing.
Collection: London Calling
Partners in Crime
1942 | 9 mins
A stern reprimand to housewives meddling in the black market.
Collection: Housewives' Choice
APassage to India
1965 | 110 mins
E. M. Forster's masterful tale of racism in colonial India is brought to the small screen in Waris Hussein's rarely-seen production.
Collection: Before Midnight
Passport to Pimlico
1949 | 84 mins
Pimlico fights for independence from Britain after the discovery of an ancient treaty.
Collection: London Calling
Passport to Shame
1958 | 95 mins
Diana Dors stars in this stern exposé of the white slave trade.
Collection: The Truth About Love
The Peaches
1964 | 15 mins
A very beautiful, very clever girl adores peaches, but when she falls in love the world's peaches start to wither...
Collection: Pandora's Box
Peak County
1964 | 20 mins
Derbyshire travelogue covering the heritage, scenery and industry of the county.
Collection: Heartlands
Peak District
1954 | 20 mins
A tour around the Peak District with Robert Shaw as your guide.
Collection: Heartlands
Peak Practice
1993 | 75 mins
Amanda Burton stars in first episode of the long-running Derbyshire-set series.
Collection: Heartlands
Peaks and Dales
1952 | 15 mins
A Visit to Derbyshire Peak District by way of Matlock and Bakewell.
Collection: Heartlands
Peckham Rap
1993 | 30 mins
Three young rappers from Peckham get the chance to meet their hero - LL Cool J.
Collection: Beautiful South
Peeping Tom
1960 | 101 mins
Voyeurism, serial murder and child abuse... Powell's psychological thriller has lost none of its power to shock.
Collection: London Calling
Penda's Fen
1974 | 90 mins
English pagan myths and burgeoning sexuality in the Malverns.
Collection: Play for Today
The People at No.19
1949 | 18 mins
Ministry of Health film highlighting the menace of venereal disease and its impact on the health of the nation.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
The Perfect Home
2006 | 120 mins
A frustrated Alain de Botton leaves Britain in search of architectural inspiration.
Collection: The Promised Land
Permission to Love
1999 | 30 mins
Two couples with learning disabilities feel they are ready for a sexual relationship, but their parents have other ideas.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Peter Ackroyd’s London
2004 | 48 mins
How has London survived over the centuries? 3-part series from the great chronicler of the capital.
Collection: London Calling
Petticoat Lane
1903 | 2 mins
Sunday morning in the East End market.
Collection: London Calling
Philip Treacy: A collaboration with Alexander McQueen for Givenchy
1997 | 30 mins
The master milliner teams up with the provocative young maverick of British fashion.
Collection: Brit Chic
Piccadilly
1929 | 111 mins
The glitter of Jazz Age clubland meets the Far East (of London).
Collection: London Calling
APiece of Cake
1948 | 44 mins
Husband and wife duo Cyril Fletcher and Betty Astell write and star in a madcap tale of magic and mayhem.
Collection: Funny Girls
Pig Heart Boy
1999 | 25 mins
A boy with months to live decides to have a life-saving operation: a transplant with the heart of a pig.
Collection: Black Britain
Pimple’s Battle of Waterloo
1913 | 8 mins
Pythonesque parody of Waterloo, Napoleon and the French...
Collection: Essentially British
The Pit
1962 | 25 mins
Edgar Alan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum", condensed into 25 wordless minutes.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
The Planned Home
1937 | 27 mins
Blocks of flats offer a new future for 1930s working class families.
Collection: The Promised Land
Pleasure Garden, The
1952 | 38 mins
There's magic in the ruins of Crystal Palace - and Hattie Jacques is the fairy queen!
Collection: London Calling
Polish Your Shoes
2003 | 11 mins
The life of a Cockney patriarch is remembered by his children.
Collection: London Calling
Polo Match
1930 | 3 mins
Crime drama set in London's Docklands.
Collection: Before Midnight
Pool of London
1950 | 85 mins
Crime drama set in London's Docklands.
Collection: London Calling
Port of London's Aquatic Sports
1925 | 1 mins
The intrepid Topical Budget newsreel scales the diving board to capture a Port of London Authority sports day at Rotherhithe.
Collection: Beautiful South
Portrait of a School
1957 | 30 mins
Life in a London secondary modern school.
Collection: Reality Bites
Portrait of Ga
1952 | 4 mins
My mother lives in the windy Orkney Islands... An early film but the artist Margaret Tait.
Collection: Reality Bites
Postal Delivery
1971 | 10 mins
Posting a letter can be a dangerous game.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Pressure
1976 | 110 mins
Britain's first black feature presents a Notting Hill that's a far cry from the world of Hugh Grant.
Collection: London Calling
Preview 4
1982 | 10 mins
An introduction to the highlights of Channel 4's opening week.
Collection: Channel 4 Anniversary
Prick Up Your Ears
1987 | 110 mins
The turbulent final days of Joe Orton and his lover, penned by Alan Bennett.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Priest (Screen Two)
1994 | 105 mins
A catholic priest is forced out of the closet, to the shock of his congregation.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Priestley and Friends at Home
1932 | 8 mins
J.B. Priestley, Elgar and famous friends.
Collection: Hope and Glory
Primitive London*
1965 | 84 mins
Sleazy sexploitation - from Soho strippers to Jack the Ripper.
Collection: London Calling
APrivate Enterprise
1974 | 78 mins
The first British Asian feature, about a would-be entrepreneur in Birmingham.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
APrivate Function
1984 | 94 mins
Alan Bennett's Yorkshire-based comedy set in times of rationing, starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith.
Collection: Funny Girls
Private Lives
1976 | 95 mins
Penelope Keith stars in Noël Coward's comedy of marital errors.
Collection: Funny Girls
Project One
2009 | 5 mins
A skaterboarder reclaims London, from the Thames Barrier to the South Bank.
Collection: Beautiful South
Proud City: A Plan for London
1946 | 24 mins
A fresh start for the greatest city in the world.
Collection: The Promised Land
The Proud Valley
1940 | 77 mins
A fresh start for the greatest city in the world.
Collection: Black Britain
The Public Health Service
1931 | 12 mins
Bermondsey Borough Council sets up a local forerunner to the NHS.
Collection: Beautiful South
The Pulling Game
1985 | 25 mins
The Lincoln tug-of-war team train for glory.
Collection: Heartlands
APunjab Village
1925 | 13 mins
Agriculture, irrigation, washing, weaving, grinding... Everyday village life.
Collection: Before Midnight
Punk and the Pistols
1995 | 95 mins
Never mind the bollocks, here's the story of the Sex Pistols.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
Punk Can Take It
1979 | 19 mins
A punk parody of wartime propaganda featuring the UK Subs.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
Punk Rock (London Weekend Show)
1976 | 30 mins
Janet Street-Porter meets The Sex Pistols.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
Punky Business (The Goodies)
1977 | 30 mins
The Goodies do punk.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
AQueen is Crowned
1953 | 44 mins
Elizabeth II's big day - this time in Technicolor.
Collection: Essentially British
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
1897 | 14 mins
Celebrations of Queen Victoria's sixtieth year on the throne.
Collection: London Calling
Queen’s Christmas Day Broadcast 1957, The
1957 | 14 mins
50 years of change and continuity reflected in the very first televised Queen's Speech.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Queer As Folk
1999 | 50 mins
The opening episode of the trailblazing drama that follows the lives of three gay men in Manchester.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Quetta Earthquake, 21st May 1935
1935 | 7 mins
The devastation wrought by one of South Asia's worst earthquakes.
Collection: Before Midnight
Quite Unfit for Females
1921 | 1 mins
The Football Association proposes a ban on women players.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Rabbit Pies
1934 | 8 mins
A no-nonsense ‘countrywoman’ demonstrates the finer points of rabbit pie-making.
Collection: Housewives' Choice
Rachel and the Roarettes
1985 | 42 mins
The world's first - and last - lesbian highway(wo)man musical.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Radio On
1979 | 102 mins
Chris Petit’s cult favourite - a haunting blend of edgy mystery story and existential road movie.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
The Rag Trade
1962 | 28 mins
Everybody out! Miriam Karlin schmoozes June Whitfield in this rare episode.
Collection: Funny Girls
Railway Children, The
1970 | 108 mins
E. Nesbit's very British classic is brought to the big screen.
Collection: Essentially British
Rainy Day Women
1984 | 84 mins
Wartime tensions in a remote English village.
Collection: Play for Today
Raphael
1987 | 21 mins
This film about the Indian charity features a focus on Ava Vihar, the residential centre for people with learning disabilities.
Collection: Raphael
AReal Day Out aka Bakewell Show
1929 | 2 mins
Prize bulls and horsemanship at the agricultural and military show in Bakewell.
Collection: Heartlands
The Real George Orwell (South Bank Show)
2003 | 52 mins
D.J. Taylor traces the early years of George Orwell, their influence on his later outlook and the writing of his final novel: 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'.
Collection: The Book Group
The Real McCoy
1991 | 29 mins
Comedy sketch show showcasing the talents of young black comedians.
Collection: Black Britain
The Real McCoy
1991 | 29 mins
Comedy sketch show showcasing the talents of young black comedians.
Collection: Black Britain
The Real Room 101
2003 | 30 mins
What inspired George Orwell's most terrifying creation?
Collection: The Book Group
Rebecca
1997 | 96 mins
Charles Dance and Emilia Fox star as the de Winters in this sumptuous 1997 adaptation in two parts.
Collection: The Book Group
Rebecca
1979 | 215 mins
Memorable four-part Du Maurier adaptation - a classic of late-'70s British TV.
Collection: The Book Group
Red Shift
1978 | 85 mins
A fantasy tale for adults from the author of 'The Owl Service'.
Collection: Play for Today
Refuge England
1959 | 27 mins
A Hungarian man's first day in London.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Relax
1991 | 25 mins
A man waits for the results of an HIV test, and retreats into fantasy.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Report: St. Ann's
1969 | 60 mins
Stephen Frears acclaimed documentary, depicting the 'real' 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'.
Collection: Heartlands
Repulsion
1965 | 101 mins
Catherine Deneuve succumbs to madness in a Kensington flat in Roman Polanski's psycho-sexual thriller.
Collection: London Calling
Resistance
1976 | 90 mins
The sociological and psychological roots of resistance to military occupation.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Return to Brixton
1991 | 90 mins
Ten years after the riots, Lord Scarman returns to Brixton to see whether anything has changed.
Collection: Beautiful South
Return to Life
1960 | 29 mins
A family of refugees attempts to integrate into British life.
Collection: Essentially British
Rich and Strange
1932 | 92 mins
A marriage hits the rocks during a world cruise in this Hitchcock curio.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Richard is My Boyfriend
2007 | 62 mins
A young woman with learning difficulties has a sexual relationship with her boyfriend, who has Downs Syndrome. What will the neighbours say?
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
The Rise and Fall of Nellie Brown
1964 | 80 mins
Elisabeth Welch and Jamaican teen-singer Millie star in this festive twist on 'The Wizard of Oz'.
Collection: Black Britain
River Folk (Songs of the Organ)
1944 | 10 mins
Let the organist at Hounslow's Ambassador Cinema take you on a musical journey down the river.
Collection: Pandora's Box
ARoad in India
1938 | 10 mins
Headily romantic Technicolor portrait of India, photographed by Jack Cardiff.
Collection: Before Midnight
The Road of Health
1938 | 12 mins
Animated moral fable designed to keep the British public on the ‘straight and narrow’.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
Robin Redbreast
1970 | 75 mins
A woman visits her holiday home in the country, but begins to suspect the villagers may be planning a human sacrifice.
Collection: Play for Today
Robinson in Space
1997 | 82 mins
Seven trips across industrial England in search of Utopia... Patrick Keiller's sequel to his hugely successful London.
Collection: Essentially British
Rock Goes to College (The Stranglers)
1978 | 30 mins
Well, what a bummer - The Stranglers are unimpressed by their student-heavy audience.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
The Rocking Horse
1962 | 24 mins
The unlikely romance between a teddy boy and a painter.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Rod Hull and Emu Sing a Christmas Song
1976 | 30 mins
Rolf Harris joins Rod and Emu for a seasonal singalong.
Collection: Santa's Grotto
Rogues of London
1915 | 57 mins
Two young people become mixed up in murder, suicide and blackmail in the treacherous Capital.
Collection: London Calling
The Rollicking Rajah
1914 | 3 mins
Politically incorrect comedy.
Collection: Before Midnight
Room - Double Take
1967 | 10 mins
A man gets high from a bong while Peter Gidal's camera seeks out the counter-cultural paraphernalia scattered around his room.
Collection: British Islands
Room 101
1994 | 30 mins
Peter Cook discusses his bêtes noires.
Collection: The Book Group
ARoom With a View
1985 | 110 mins
From Florence to Surrey - middle class repression is liberated on a Tuscan hillside.
Collection: Essentially British
Rosebud
1991 | 14 mins
An erotic lesbian tale of voyeurism, power dressing and fantasy.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Rotters Club
2005 | 60 mins
Punk comes to the West Midlands in this episode from the acclaimed adaptation of Jonathan Coe's novel.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
The Rough and the Smooth
1959 | 99 mins
Tony Britten risks losing his girlfriend when he's lead astray by a wiley foreign femme (Nadja Tiller).
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Rough Sea at Dover
1895 | 1 mins
Early film footage of Admiralty Pier, Dover.
Collection: British Islands
Rough Trade (South Bank Show)
1979 | 60 mins
The story of Rough Trade, the iconic punk music store at 130 Talbot Road.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
The Royal Family
1969 | 110 mins
A year in the life of the royal family.
Collection: Reality Bites
The Royal Festival Hall, 1951
1966 | 25 mins
The design and construction of the arresting London landmark.
Collection: Beautiful South
Royal School for the Deaf
1934 | 15 mins
Pupils and staff enjoy sports day and a trip to Skegness.
Collection: Heartlands
Rumpole of the Bailey
1975 | 65 mins
John Mortimer's Old Bailey barrister makes his debut.
Collection: Play for Today
The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film
1960 | 11 mins
Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan star in this merry blast of nonsense.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Rush Hour
1970 | 3 mins
The morning stampede at Waterloo Station, packed into three frenzied minutes.
Collection: Beautiful South
Rutland the Brave
1968 | 26 mins
What is the future for a county that only has one set of traffic lights?
Collection: Heartlands
S.W.A.L.K. aka Melody
1970 | 107 mins
Mark Lester and Jack Wild star in a tale of young love at a Lambeth comprehensive.
Collection: Box of Delights
Sam Goes Shopping
1939 | 6 mins
There's a fleeting appearance from a very young Terry-Thomas in this advert for the Co-op's wares.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Sambo and Two Girls
1911 | 2 mins
A young black man appears in what may be a dental health film.
Collection: Black Britain
Santa Claus
1898 | 1 mins
The man in the white beard brings magic to Victorian Britain.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Sapphire
1959 | 92 mins
Investigations into the mysterious murder of a young student reveal a world of racism and bigotry.
Collection: Black Britain
Sat'day
1999 | 10 mins
A South Asian teenager seeks to break free from family traditions and constraints.
Collection: Heartlands
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
1960 | 89 mins
Don't let the bastards grind you down! Albert Finney stars as the Nottingham rebel with a cause.
Collection: Essentially British
Say It With Flowers
1934 | 71 mins
Cockney musical featuring a a flower seller and Old Kent Road music hall.
Collection: London Calling
Scarlet Woman
1924 | 45 mins
Catholic fantasy starring Evelyn Waugh in an Andy Warhol fright wig.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Scenes at Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park Corner Underground Stations
1931 | 7 mins
Magical, slightly surreal record of the London Underground.
Collection: London Calling
Scenes in Ceylon aka Native Life in Ceylon
1909 | 8 mins
Street scenes, elephants and 'native magic'.
Collection: Before Midnight
Scenes in Glossop
1912 | 3 mins
A tram ride through the small Derbyshire market town.
Collection: Heartlands
Scotland for Fitness
1938 | 12 mins
Scots burn the calories.
Collection: Essentially British
Scrooge; or, Marley's Ghost
1901 | 4 mins
The earliest surviving Dickens adaptation: A Christmas Carol, condensed into 4 minutes.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Scum
1977 | 95 mins
Ray Winstone and David Threlfall star in banned Borstal drama.
Collection: Play for Today
Seacoal
1985 | 82 mins
The men and women who eke a living from collecting 'seacoal' on the Northumberland coast find their way of life under threat.
Collection: Essentially British
Seafood
2004 | 10 mins
Colin wants romance. Naveen wants sex. A tale of love, lust and unbearable frustration.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Seance on a Wet Afternoon
1964 | 116 mins
Plans go awry when a fake spirit medium (Kim Stanley) kidnaps a young child as a publicity stunt.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Season's Greetings
1986 | 110 mins
Biting Alan Ayckbourn drama about a disastrous family Christmas.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Servant
1963 | 115 mins
The homoerotic power games between master and servant take centre stage in this Pinter adaptation.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Seven Days to Noon
1950 | 94 mins
London is at the mercy of a scientist threatening to detonate an atomic device...
Collection: London Calling
Sex and the Disabled
1978 | 25 mins
The physical and mental barriers that face disabled people who are ready to form loving relationships.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Shadow in the Stream
1939 | 17 mins
Follow the adventures of Ottoline and her newborn cub Otto.
Collection: Otterly Marvellous
Shadowscan
2000 | 12 mins
A doctor and a drug addict nurse skive off work for a while in Tinge Krishnan's BAFTA-winner.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Share Thy Bread
1963 | 18 mins
The early years of the charity Raphael as described by founder Leonard Cheshire.
Collection: Raphael
Shellshock Rock
1979 | 47 mins
Punk goes to Northern Ireland.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
Shillong Scenes
1932 | 19 mins
Golf (among other things) in the Himalaya.
Collection: Before Midnight
Shirley Schools, The
1929 | 23 mins
The care and education of Bermondsey's orphans and abandoned children.
Collection: Beautiful South
Shoot the Messenger
2006 | 90 mins
Blatantly racist or essential, provocative drama? Few recent TV films have created so much debate.
Collection: Black Britain
Shooting Stars
1928 | 80 mins
The British film industry turns the camera on itself in Anthony Asquith's virtuoso satire.
Collection: Silent Britain
AShort Vision
1956 | 8 mins
Adult animation imagining the apocalypse.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
The Shovel
1959 | 16 mins
Everything you ever wanted to know about shovels but were afraid to ask.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Sick Kitten
1903 | 1 mins
Two children nurse a feline patient.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Sidney Street Siege, the aka The Great East End Anarchist Battle
1911 | 4 mins
Documentary footage of the 1911 Siege of Sidney Street.
Collection: London Calling
Sidney’s Chair
1995 | 21 mins
The arrival of film star Sidney Poitier in East London is a momentous event for a young boy and his friends.
Collection: Black Britain
Silent Britain
2006 | 90 mins
Start reclaiming your silent film heritage with a look at Matthew Sweet's ground-breaking documentary.
Collection: Silent Britain
Silent Scream
1990 | 85 mins
The true story of Larry Winters, prisoner and poet - a convicted murderer with an IQ of 165.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Silver Blades Ice Skating
1960 | 7 mins
Vibrant colour footage of Silver Blades, Streatham - ‘the most luxurious ice rink in the world’.
Collection: Beautiful South
Simla - Maharajah Kumar
1928 | 16 mins
Street life in Simla and Lahore.
Collection: Before Midnight
Simla Scenes: Indian Viceroy at Lahore
1931 | 13 mins
Street life in Simla and Lahore.
Collection: Before Midnight
Sing As We Go!
1934 | 80 mins
Gracie Fields - the 1930s British icon - goes to Blackpool.
Collection: Essentially British
Sir Basil Gould's Films of Tibet
1936 | 81 mins
Remarkable colour footage of Tibet - including shots of the current Dalai Lama as a young boy.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Sir Conrad Corfield's Personal Films
1928 | 32 mins
Corfield's home movies - from Simla to big game hunts.
Collection: Before Midnight
Six Little Jungle Boys
1945 | 9 mins
Vibrant animated vehicle for a rather unsavoury message from the War Office.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
Sixth Happiness
1997 | 98 mins
The sexual awakening of a young Indian man born with brittle bones.
Collection: Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
Size M
1970 | 12 mins
'Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe' goes underground.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Slavery Business: Breaking the Chains
2005 | 60 mins
William Wilberforce and the rise of the abolition movement.
Collection: Exodus: Remembering Slavery
Sling Your Hook
1969 | 79 mins
A rowdy troupe of Nottingham miners spend a life-changing weekend in Blackpool.
Collection: Heartlands
The Small World of Sammy Lee
1962 | 107 mins
Taut, under-seen crime drama set in the seedy Soho underworld.
Collection: London Calling
The Smallest Car in the Largest City in the World
1913 | 6 mins
A cute baby Cadillac completes a victory lap of Trafalgar Square and dodges the city's omnibuses.
Collection: London Calling
Smalltime
1996 | 61 mins
Shane Meadows' feature debut, a petty crime comedy set in Nottinghamshire.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
The Smiths (South Bank Show)
1987 | 52 mins
One of Britain's most idiosyncratic bands under the South Bank Show's microscope.
Collection: Essentially British
Snow
1963 | 8 mins
Poetic portrait of running the railways through a perilous British winter.
Collection: Reality Bites
So Clever are the German Spies in their Disguises that Even Nuns Have to Have Their Passports Examined
1915 | 1 mins
Nuns at bayonet point... almost.
Collection: Pandora's Box
So it Goes (Clips)
1977 | 30 mins
Tony Wilson presents live performances from The Stranglers, The Sex Pistols and The Clash.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
Soho Square
1992 | 11 mins
Painterly portrait of the sights and sounds of the crowded London square.
Collection: London Calling
Solarflares Burn for You
1973 | 9 mins
Road movie or acid trip?
Collection: Pandora's Box
Some Activities of the Bermondsey Borough Council
1931 | 25 mins
A forward-thinking London borough council records its good deeds for posterity.
Collection: London Calling
ASon of Africa
1996 | 30 mins
The story of the African man who was one of the true leaders of the abolitionist movement.
Collection: Exodus: Remembering Slavery
Song of Freedom
1936 | 80 mins
Paul Robeson stars as a London docker who becomes a world-famous opera singer.
Collection: Black Britain
Soul Nation
2003 | 150 mins
The story of how British youth fell in love with R&B.
Collection: Black Britain
South - Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic
1919 | 80 mins
Stunning record of Shackleton's ill-fated but heroic expedition.
Collection: Reality Bites
South Bank
1964 | 12 mins
Look out for the National Film Theatre in this mid-60s tour of the South Bank's ever-changing architectural landscape.
Collection: Building the South Bank
Southern India – Tobacco Area
1937 | 7 mins
The tobacco industry in Andhra Pradesh.
Collection: Before Midnight
Spare Time
1939 | 15 mins
'Rule Britannia' played on kazoos... Has having good time ever looked quite so miserable?
Collection: Essentially British
Sparrows Can't Sing
1962 | 94 mins
Cockney comedy starring a BAFTA-nominated Barbara Windsor.
Collection: London Calling
Sparrows Can't Sing
1962 | 94 mins
Cockney comedy starring a BAFTA-nominated Barbara Windsor.
Collection: London Calling
Speak Like a Child
1998 | 77 mins
The psychological journey of three friends from a children's home.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Spend Spend Spend
1977 | 90 mins
The rags to riches to rags story of Britain's most famous pools winner.
Collection: Play for Today
The Spirit of Lambeth
1962 | 29 mins
Enjoyably quirky colour record of the 1961 Lambeth Festival.
Collection: Beautiful South
The Spongers
1978 | 105 mins
The Silver Jubilee celebrations offer an ironic counterpoint to a family struggling on State Aid.
Collection: Play for Today
Springtime in an English Village
1948 | 7 mins
A young black girl is crowned Queen of the May.
Collection: Essentially British
St. Kilda – Britain’s Loneliest Isle
1928 | 17 mins
A voyage from Glasgow to St Kilda, containing scenes of the Western Isles and island life of the crofters on St Kilda.
Collection: Essentially British
Stand on Your Man
1992 | 25 mins
What is the attraction of country music to so many lesbians?
Collection: Beautiful Things
Stand On Your Man
1992 | 25 mins
What is the attraction of country music to so many lesbians?
Collection: Beautiful Things
Stan's Last Game
1983 | 63 mins
Black comedy in which the rivalry between two football club chairmen is exacerbated following the death of a long-time fan.
Collection: Play for Today
The Star of Bethlehem
1956 | 18 mins
Lotte Reiniger's distinctive silhouette animation of the Nativity.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Staying On
1980 | 87 mins
An elderly British couple stay on in India long after the Raj.
Collection: Essentially British
Steptoe and Son
1970 | 30 mins
Harold is led astray by a 'cultured' antiques dealer.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Stewart Family Films
1934 | 11 mins
Home movies shot in Manipur.
Collection: Before Midnight
Stocker's Copper
1972 | 85 mins
Drama set around the strike of Cornish clay miners in 1913.
Collection: Play for Today
Stonehenge - Panorama of the Ancient Druidical Remains
1900 | 1 mins
The ancient British icon in the days before coach parties invaded.
Collection: Essentially British
Storm Damage
2000 | 95 mins
Ashley Walters and Adrian Lester star in this tough drama about troubled teenagers in care.
Collection: Black Britain
The Street
2007 | 60 mins
Coming to terms with your sexuality can be hard, especially if you’re a married demolition worker from a tough northern town.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Street
2007 | 60 mins
Coming to terms with your sexuality can be hard, especially if you’re a married demolition worker from a tough northern town.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Street Betting [c1935]
1935 | 5 mins
Illicit goings-on upon the streets of Chesterfield.
Collection: Heartlands
Street of Crocodiles
1986 | 20 mins
A nightmarish netherworld populated by strange and sinister puppets.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Strip! Strip! Hooray!!!
1932 | 36 mins
A tale of loose morals in a private club for scantily-clad sunbathers.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Struggles for Black Community - Leicester: A Common History
1984 | 45 mins
The oral histories and testimonies of the people who helped make a multi-cultural Leicester.
Collection: Heartlands
Student Power
1968 | 21 mins
The spirit of May 68 comes to the Capital, as students and staff lock horns at the London School of Economics.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Suburban Week-End
1949 | 8 mins
A day in bustling West Norwood, from dawn to dusk.
Collection: Beautiful South
The Sugar Slaves
1972 | 55 mins
BBC documentary examining the importance of slavery to the maintenance of the British Empire.
Collection: Exodus: Remembering Slavery
Sunday Bloody Sunday
1971 | 110 mins
Daniel loves Bob and so does Alex...
Collection: Beautiful Things
Sunday in the Park
1956 | 15 mins
A lazy summer's day in Hyde Park.
Collection: London Calling
Sundial
1991 | 1 mins
Canary Wharf as icon.
Collection: London Calling
Sunflowers
1968 | 5 mins
Impressionistic short showing the humble sunflower as a symbol of life.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Sunley's Daughter
1974 | 50 mins
Love among the haystacks in the Yorkshire Dales.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Sunset Across the Bay
1975 | 70 mins
Mam and Dad retire to Morecambe in Alan Bennett's poignant tale.
Collection: Play for Today
Sunshine in Soho
1956 | 33 mins
This 1950s Soho beats with far more energy than its pallid 21st century counterpart.
Collection: London Calling
Supernumaries
2003 | 21 mins
Who is accountable for the stowaway held on a merchant ship and what should the captain do? By Anja Kirschner.
Collection: British Islands
Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street*
1936 | 68 mins
The City's menfolk risk a dangerously close shave in Mr Todd's barbershop.
Collection: London Calling
Sword Dance Performed Before the King and Queen in India
1912 | 1 mins
Swords, but no dances.
Collection: Before Midnight
Sword of Honour
2001 | 193 mins
Channel 4's two-part Waugh adaptation starring Daniel Craig, first broadcast in 2001.
Collection: The Book Group
Sword of Honour
1967 | 270 mins
The BBC's faithful 1967 Waugh adaptation in three parts, starring Edward Woodward as Guy Crouchback.
Collection: The Book Group
Sykes and a Haunting
1962 | 25 mins
Hattie Jacques finds herself handcuffed to Eric Sykes.
Collection: Funny Girls
Tarka the Otter
1978 | 91 mins
Britain's most famous otter stars in this much-loved family favourite.
Collection: Otterly Marvellous
Tartans of the Scottish Clans
1906 | 2 mins
Kilts but no Celts in this early film about the great Scottish icon.
Collection: Essentially British
ATaste of Honey
1961 | 100 mins
A single pregnant woman befriends a gay man in the prejudiced world of '60s Britain.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Tea Making Tips
1941 | 10 mins
What's the recipe for the perfect cup of char?
Collection: Essentially British
Television Comes to London
1936 | 18 mins
The first ever TV documentary explores the year running up to the launch of the BBC Television Service.
Collection: Reality Bites
Temples of India
1938 | 10 mins
Hinduism for beginners.
Collection: Before Midnight
Ten Bob in Winter
1963 | 12 mins
Pioneering black British film following the travails of a jobless student on an icy London day.
Collection: London Calling
The Ten Year Plan
1945 | 17 mins
Charles Hawtrey on the utilitarian wonder of the 'prefab'.
Collection: The Promised Land
Terence Davies Trilogy
1976 | 92 mins
Repressed homosexuality and Catholic guilt in Davies' landmark Liverpool-set saga.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Terminus
1961 | 30 mins
The ebb and flow of human life wryly observed during a day at Waterloo Station.
Collection: London Calling
Territories
1984 | 26 mins
Isaac Julien's political experimental documentary about the Notting Hill Carnival.
Collection: Black Britain
Terry on the Fence
1985 | 70 mins
A South London schoolboy runs away and becomes involved with a gang of tearaways.
Collection: Box of Delights
That Was the Week That Was - Tribute to President Kennedy
1963 | 20 mins
Poetic tribute to John F. Kennedy on the day following his death.
Collection: Frost/Mediatheque
The Game of Haxey Hood
1929 | 1 mins
Welcome to a mad British tradition. Follow that hood!
Collection: Heartlands
Their Majesties Lambeth Way
1940 | 3 mins
The King and Queen boost morale in a heavily bombed Lambeth.
Collection: Beautiful South
They Also Serve
1940 | 10 mins
Touching morale-booster celebrating the stalwarts of the Home Front.
Collection: Housewives' Choice
They Travel By Air
1947 | 19 mins
How to deal with airline passengers, however tiresome.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Things to Come
1936 | 97 mins
The city of the future rises from the rubble of world war in H.G. Wells' prescient sci-fi fable.
Collection: The Promised Land
Think of England
1999 | 50 mins
Photographer Martin Parr seeks out the English icons.
Collection: Essentially British
Thirteen Cantos of Hell
1955 | 20 mins
Silhouette film illustrating aspects of Dante's Inferno.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
This Charming Man
1994 | 26 mins
Meloni Poole's moving portrait of her father - the inventor of the horse jacuzzi.
Collection: Essentially British
This Happy Breed
1944 | 106 mins
Noël Coward's saga of a Clapham family between the two World Wars.
Collection: London Calling
This Was a Woman
1948 | 104 mins
Mothers don't come much deadlier than Sonia Dresdel's murderous matriarch...
Collection: The Gentle Sex
This Was England
1935 | 21 mins
The agricultural development of Suffolk - from the Neolithic to the 1930s.
Collection: Essentially British
This Week Special: We Wish You a Merry Christmas
1966 | 20 mins
Celebrate Christmas with media mogul Robert Maxwell and family.
Collection: Pandora's Box
This Week: Homosexuals
1964 | 25 mins
TV documentary from a time before sex between men was legal.
Collection: Beautiful Things
This Week: Lesbians
1965 | 25 mins
1960s lesbians in the spotlight.
Collection: Beautiful Things
This Year – London
1951 | 25 mins
A pleasure trip to the sights (and bomb sites) of post-War London.
Collection: London Calling
Three Fat Women of Antibes
1969 | 50 mins
Call me Frank! Three women enjoy the spa treatment.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Three Minute Heroes
1982 | 60 mins
Cult '80s drama following the lives of inner city teens.
Collection: Play for Today
Three Weird Sisters
1948 | 82 mins
Three spinsters - one deaf, one blind, one with arthritis - battle their younger brother in a gothic tale from Dylan Thomas.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
The Threepenny Opera
1931 | 105 mins
19th century London is recreated in a Berlin film studio for this adaptation of Brecht and Weill's revolutionary musical.
Collection: London Calling
Tibet
1928 | 6 mins
Tibet through the eyes of Frederick Bailey - Political Agent, butterfly collector and spy.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Tibetan Scenes
1945 | 125 mins
Extraordinary portrait of life in Tibet in the 1940s by Tsien-Lien Shen, resident Chinese Commissioner in Lhasa.
Collection: The Search for Shangri-La
Til Death Us Do Part
1972 | 30 mins
Bigoted East Ender Alf Garnett rails against the world.
Collection: London Calling
Tilly, The Tomboy, Visits the Poor
1910 | 7 mins
Anarchic fun with Alma Taylor and Chrissie White wreaking havoc as naughty schoolgirls.
Collection: Funny Girls
Time for Dancing (This England)
1979 | 26 mins
Strictly come social tea dancing in Buxton.
Collection: Heartlands
The Time of Our Lives
1994 | 81 mins
The life and times of an East End Irish family.
Collection: London Calling
Time-Lapse Study of Nail Growth
1960 | 2 mins
Serious scientific study or long-lost avant-garde body horror? You decide.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Tins for India
1941 | 8 mins
Unseen for over 50 years, Bimal Roy's documentary finds poetry in the kerosene can.
Collection: Before Midnight
To Have and to Hold
2000 | 13 mins
A woman finds herself in a gruesome predicament after a car crash in the deep, dark woods...
Collection: Pandora's Box
To Keep Our Way of Life
1959 | 54 mins
A West Indian man working in Britain faces prejudice, suspicion and jelousy.
Collection: Black Britain
The Tocher; A Film Ballet by Lotte Reiniger
1938 | 5 mins
The 'wee folk' help a man woo his true love in Lotte Reiniger's 'film ballet'.
Collection: Pandora's Box
To-day We Live; a Film of Life in Britain
1937 | 23 mins
Impassioned socialist view of Depression-era Britain.
Collection: Reality Bites
Together
1956 | 52 mins
East End and Butlers Wharf locations feature in this under-seen drama about two deaf men.
Collection: London Calling
Tommy Cooper's Christmas
1973 | 51 mins
Magic, music and sketches with the kooky comedian, with appearances by Sacha Distel and Clodagh Rogers.
Collection: Santa's Grotto
Tommy Steele My Life, My Song
1974 | 60 mins
An evening of music and anecdotes from Bermondsey boy Tommy Steele.
Collection: Beautiful South
Tom's Ride
1944 | 11 mins
Tom wants a bike and finds a wallet - will he do the honorable thing?
Collection: Pandora's Box
Tonite, Let’s All Make Love in London
1967 | 72 mins
Vivid, memorable doc examining the 'swinging' London phenomenon.
Collection: London Calling
Too Late to Talk to Billy
1982 | 85 mins
Blistering, Belfast-set drama of a family at loggerheads, starring Kenneth Branagh.
Collection: Play for Today
Top of the Pops 78 (Inc. Kate Bush 'Wuthering Heights' promo video)
1978 | 59 mins
Kate Bush throws some ethereal shapes in the iconic music video for 'Wuthering Heights'.
Collection: The Book Group
Top Ten - Punk
2000 | 60 mins
A beginner's guide to punk.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
Torchwood
2007 | 50 mins
Captain Jack goes back to the 1940s and falls in love.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Tottenham Still Going Strong in Tea Fights August 30 1919
1919 | 8 mins
Street parties abound as the people of Tottenham celebrate the end of World War I.
Collection: London Calling
Tower Bridge Boats on Thames
1905 | 2 mins
Rare early footage of the Thames at its busiest.
Collection: Beautiful South
Tower Bridge Road Market
1931 | 3 mins
Street scenes around the bustling market at Tower Bridge Road.
Collection: Beautiful South
Trafalgar Square Riot
1913 | 1 mins
A suffragette procession in Trafalgar Square causes a riot.
Collection: London Calling
Traffic Island
1994 | 27 mins
Five people and a dog cope with harsh conditions when they become marooned - on a traffic island just off Hemel Hempstead.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Traitor
1971 | 60 mins
John Le Mesurier stars as a disgraced spy in Dennis Potter's play.
Collection: Play for Today
Tram Rides Through Nottingham
1902 | 7 mins
Hop on a tram and visit Nottingham with Mitchell and Kenyon.
Collection: Heartlands
Traveller
1981 | 78 mins
Two young travellers take an uneasy journey through 80s Ireland.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Traveller in Time, A
1978 | 150 mins
Penelope finds herself able to travel back in time to the reign of Elizabeth I, where she becomes involved in the plot to save Mary, Queen of Scots.
Collection: Box of Delights
Trellick Tower
1991 | 10 mins
Who says architecture should be easy? The controversial legacy of Modernism.
Collection: The Promised Land
Trial for Marriage
1936 | 28 mins
A sizzling insight into student life in the '30s.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
The Trials of Oscar Wilde
1960 | 123 mins
Wilde brings about his own downfall when he decides to sue the father of his lover for slander.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Trouble With Black Men
2004 | 53 mins
David Matthews' polemic unpicking the preconceptions that surround African-Caribbean men in Britain today.
Collection: Black Britain
The Trouble With…Gay Men
2006 | 56 mins
After years of political and cultural progress, why do so many of today's gay men seem content to conform to stereotypes?
Collection: Beautiful Things
True Romance Etc.
1982 | 34 mins
A refreshing take on sex education using a wild teenage party as a springboard for discussion.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
The Truth About Gay Sex
2002 | 49 mins
Ever wondered what gay men get up to in bed? Virgins, notepads at the ready...
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Truth Will Out
1930 | 3 mins
Anti-Congress propaganda made by a District Officer.
Collection: Before Midnight
Tulip Town
1961 | 9 mins
Tiptoe through the tulip parade at the vibrant Spalding festival.
Collection: Heartlands
Turkey Time
1933 | 72 mins
Festive frolics in a seaside town. Politically correct viewers, look away now. It's Turkey Time!
Collection: Funny Girls
The Turning Point (Horlicks Ad)
1951 | 3 mins
Who needs a marriage councillor when a mug of Horlicks is at hand?
Collection: Pandora's Box
Twelve Views of Kensal House
1984 | 55 mins
Can the social housing ideals of the '30s survive in a very different era?
Collection: The Promised Land
Twilight City
1989 | 52 mins
Black Audio Film Collective's portrait of Thatcher's London.
Collection: Black Britain
Two Cooks and a Cabbage
1941 | 6 mins
How not to boil a cabbage.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Two Marys
1994 | 30 mins
Slavery through the eyes of two very different women.
Collection: Exodus: Remembering Slavery
The Two of Us
1988 | 60 mins
Controversial BBC drama in which two gay boys must decide whether to leave their homophobic home town or stay and resort to conformity.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Two Town Mad
1964 | 37 mins
Torn between two towns - will Ray Gosling opt for Leicester or Nottingham?
Collection: Heartlands
Two Victorian Girls
1970 | 30 mins
Two members of pioneering female typing pools recall life in the 1890s.
Collection: Reality Bites
AnUltra Modern House
1931 | 3 mins
The ultimate in streamlined chic - on a hillside above Amersham.
Collection: The Promised Land
The Uncharted Sea
1928 | 39 mins
A young man discovers the perils - and sensual pleasures - of city life.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
The Unclean World
1903 | 1 mins
What's that crawling around in the cheese?
Collection: Pandora's Box
Under the Skin
1997 | 80 mins
Intense psychological drama about two bereaved sisters.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Underground
1928 | 80 mins
Passions run deep on the London Underground.
Collection: London Calling
Undressing Extraordinary
1901 | 2 mins
Classic comedy or early horror? A man finds taking his clothes off more difficult than usual.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Union Jack: A Banner for Britain
2006 | 60 mins
Biography of the flag - from a symbol of national pride to its adoption by the BNP.
Collection: Essentially British
United Kingdom
1981 | 75 mins
Play for Today at its most political - Tyneside communities take on the police and the state.
Collection: Play for Today
The Universe of Dermot Finn
1988 | 15 mins
Guess who's coming to dinner? A brilliant, touching short reminiscent of Tim Burton.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Untold: An Indian Affair
2001 | 49 mins
Four-part documentary series exploring the connections between the slave trade and contemporary Britain.
Collection: Before Midnight
Untold: Britain's Slave Trade
1999 | 52 mins
Four-part documentary series exploring the connections between the slave trade and contemporary Britain.
Collection: Exodus: Remembering Slavery
Unveiling of the War Memorial to the Men of Alfreton
1927 | 7 mins
A monument to fallen soldiers is revealed to the public.
Collection: Heartlands
Unwanted Guests
1943 | 8 mins
Pay a visit to the nit nurse.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Upside Down or The Human Flies
1899 | 1 mins
A mischievous magic trick that would inspire the special effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Collection: Pandora's Box
The Val Doonican Show
1976 | 47 mins
Snuggle up with the Irish crooner for an evening of comedy, warmth and Nana Mouskouri.
Collection: Santa's Grotto
The Vanishing Street
1962 | 20 mins
Record of the once-thriving East End Jewish community.
Collection: London Calling
Very Jean Muir
1993 | 30 mins
Three-part profile of the dressmaker renowned for her austere but beautifully-crafted style.
Collection: Brit Chic
Victim
1961 | 100 mins
Groundbreaking drama that dared to portray homosexuals sympathetically in a dark tale of blackmail and prejudice.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Victoria Wood - As Seen on TV
1986 | 30 mins
The joy of Victoria Wood: from Acorn Antiques to the erotic potential of bicycle clips.
Collection: Essentially British
View From An Engine Front - Ilfracombe
1898 | 4 mins
A bendy train trip through Devon - full steam ahead!
Collection: Reality Bites
AVillage Affair
1995 | 120 mins
A married mother's life is turned upside down in the much-loved lesbian Aga saga from Joanna Trollope.
Collection: Beautiful Things
AVillage Affair
1995 | 120 mins
A married mother's life is turned upside down in the much-loved lesbian Aga saga from Joanna Trollope.
Collection: Beautiful Things
AVillage in India
1940 | 10 mins
Technicolor scenes in rual Rajasthan.
Collection: Before Midnight
Villain
1971 | 98 mins
Richard Burton stars as a psychotic homosexual gangster based on Ronnie Kray.
Collection: Beautiful Things
AVisit to Peek Frean and Company's Biscuit Works
1906 | 36 mins
Meet the workers at one of Bermondsey's thriving family businesses.
Collection: Beautiful South
Vivienne Westwood (South Bank Show)
1990 | 52 mins
Take a revealing peek into the working life of British fashion's grande dame.
Collection: Brit Chic
Vivienne Westwood Showreel
1989 | 58 mins
An intriguing archive discovery: Sara Stockbridge models Westwood in rushes for an avant-garde fashion showcase.
Collection: Brit Chic
Walter
1982 | 75 mins
Ian McKellen stars as a man with learning difficulties in the first ever Film on Four broadcast, directed by Stephen Frears.
Collection: Channel 4 Anniversary
The Warning
1939 | 35 mins
Words of warning on the eve of the war from Sir John Anderson.
Collection: Heartlands
Wasp
2003 | 24 mins
An Oscar-winning short, with a pivotal role for nobody's favourite insect.
Collection: Essentially British
Waterloo Road
1944 | 76 mins
Soldier John Mills goes AWOL in Lambeth to investigate rumours about his wife.
Collection: Beautiful South
The Waugh Trilogy
1987 | 180 mins
Impressively thorough three-part profile of Evelyn Waugh's life and work.
Collection: The Book Group
The Way We Live
1946 | 62 mins
Docu-drama heralding the visionary transformation of Plymouth after its near-obliteration in WWII.
Collection: The Promised Land
We Are the Lambeth Boys
1959 | 52 mins
South London youth - members of Alford House Youth Club in Kennington at work and play.
Collection: London Calling
We Chose Skegness
1961 | 26 mins
Not even a pools win can tempt a family away from the joys of Skeggy.
Collection: Heartlands
We Think the World of You
1980 | 55 mins
The life and loves of author J.R. Ackerley.
Collection: Beautiful Things
Wedding of the Maharaj Kumar Shri Meghraji Saheb of Kutch and Maharaj Shri of Kishangarh
1933 | 13 mins
Indian princes arrive by yacht for a lavish wedding.
Collection: Before Midnight
AWedding on Saturday
1964 | 45 mins
A bustling Yorkshire mining village prepares to celebrate in this early experiment in shooting on videotape.
Collection: Reality Bites
AWelcome to Britain
1943 | 60 mins
Britain for beginners... or Americans, at least.
Collection: Essentially British
Welsh National Eisteddfod
1916 | 1 mins
Newsreel coverage of the 1916 Welsh National Eisteddfod in Aberystwyth.
Collection: Essentially British
Went the Day Well?
1942 | 92 mins
What if German paratroopers had invaded Britain?
Collection: Essentially British
West Indies Calling
1944 | 14 mins
Learie Constantine and Una Marson introduce the war effort in the West Indies.
Collection: Black Britain
What a Life!
1948 | 12 mins
Rationing, moaning and burnt toast. A film for pessimists.
Collection: Essentially British
What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day?
2006 | 45 mins
Saint Etienne’s hymn to a vanishing east London - before the Olympic bulldozers moved in.
Collection: London Calling
What We Want is Watney's: Michael Caine
1959 | 1 mins
A pre-fame Michael Caine stars in this advert for Watney's ale.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
1973 | 30 mins
The Likely Lads' finest (half) hour - can they avoid hearing the football results?
Collection: Essentially British
Whatsoever a Man Soweth
1917 | 37 mins
A remarkably explicit warning to WWI soldiers about the perils of fraternizing with loose women.
Collection: The Joy of Sex Education
When I Came to Britain
2004 | 12 mins
Caribbean settlers in the UK recall their first impressions of Britain.
Collection: Black Britain
When I'm Sixty-Four
2004 | 90 mins
It's never too late to come out...
Collection: Beautiful Things
White Tribe
2000 | 60 mins
Darcus Howe goes in search of white England.
Collection: Essentially British
Who is Poly Styrene?
1979 | 40 mins
Guide to the pint-sized teenage singer of X-Ray Spex.
Collection: Anarchy in the UK
Who the Dickens is Mrs Gaskell? (Omnibus)
1999 | 55 mins
Was Elizabeth Gaskell Britain's most passionate Victorian novelist?
Collection: The Book Group
Who Would Not Welcome One?
1922 | 1 mins
The Valentine's card, 1920s-style.
Collection: The Truth About Love
The Wicked Lady
1945 | 104 mins
A bored Margaret Lockwood finds fulfilment through highway robbery.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
The Wicked Lady
1983 | 99 mins
Guilty pleasure alert: Faye Dunaway stars alongside Britain’s finest in Michael Winner’s notorious 1983 remake.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
Wicked Women: Christiana Edmunds
1970 | 54 mins
Anna Massey stars as the Chocolate Cream Poisoner in this Victorian true-crime drama.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
The Wicker Man
1973 | 86 mins
Pagan rites on a Scottish isle in the original cult favourite.
Collection: Essentially British
The Wild and the Willing
1962 | 115 mins
A young cast of future stars features in this X-rated university-set drama.
Collection: Heartlands
William Meiklejohn's Family Films
1935 | 17 mins
These home movies include footage of Darjeeling, West Bengal and Bangladesh.
Collection: Before Midnight
Windrush
1998 | 236 mins
Major four-part documentary series, marking the 50th anniversary of the start of mass post-war immigration to Britain from the Caribbean.
Collection: Black Britain
Winter
1923 | 13 mins
Wildlife in winter.
Collection: Reality Bites
Winter
1923 | 13 mins
Wildlife in winter.
Collection: Reality Bites
Witchfinder General*
1968 | 87 mins
A menacing Vincent Price wreaks havoc across 17th Century Suffolk.
Collection: Essentially British
Within These Walls
1975 | 60 mins
Women in prison - from a time before 'Bad Girls' and 'Prisoner - Cell Block H'.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Woman for Joe
1955 | 94 mins
A hawker at Nottingham's Goose Fair attempts to find a woman for his latest attraction - 'The World's Smallest Man".
Collection: Heartlands
Women in Love
1969 | 130 mins
Ken Russell does 'Son of Nottingham' D.H. Lawrence proud: an exquisite Midlands-set study of class and sexuality in the 1910s.
Collection: Heartlands
Women's Rights aka Ladies Skirts Nailed to a Fence
1899 | 1 mins
Rubbish Victorian cross-dressers.
Collection: Essentially British
The Wonderful Fruit of the Tropics
1914 | 5 mins
Collecting and eating the fruit of India.
Collection: Before Midnight
Wood and Walters
1982 | 30 mins
Victoria Wood's first TV sketch show, co-starring Julie Walters.
Collection: Funny Girls
Workers at Jesse Crossley and Sons Ironworks, Ripley
1900 | 2 mins
Victorians take a break from work.
Collection: Heartlands
Workers Leaving Butterley Ironworks, Ripley
1900 | 3 mins
The end of a hard day's work in Derbyshire, over 100 years ago.
Collection: Heartlands
Working Class Dykes From Hell
1992 | 60 mins
Lesbians talk about being out, proud and working class.
Collection: Beautiful Things
AWorld is Turning (Rushes)
1948 | 40 mins
Six reels of rushes are all that remain of this unfinished film showcasing talented members of Britain's black and Asian communities.
Collection: Black Britain
The World Ten Times Over
1963 | 93 mins
British cinema's earliest lesbian relationship?
Collection: Beautiful Things
World’s First Caterpillar Track
1908 | 6 mins
It's tractor vs. tractor in this gruelling test to see who will triumph - will it be steam or petrol? Gentlemen, start your engines.
Collection: Pandora's Box
World's Greatest Station
1922 | 1 mins
A re-vamped Waterloo Station is opened by Queen Mary.
Collection: Beautiful South
Wuthering Heights
1962 | 95 mins
A big budget isn't everything, as this innovative 1962 one-off TV adaptation - shot entirely in a studio - demonstrates.
Collection: The Book Group
Wuthering Heights
1970 | 104 mins
A young Timothy Dalton broods in breeches as Heathcliff in this rarely-seen feature film version from 1970.
Collection: The Book Group
The X-Rays
1897 | 1 mins
The 1890s' latest scientific discovery is used to mischievous effect on a courting couple.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Yarmouth Fishing Boats Leaving Harbour
1896 | 1 mins
Very early film footage that boasted the Royal Family for an audience.
Collection: Reality Bites
Yasmin
2005 | 100 mins
9/11 and its after-effects on a young Muslim woman.
Collection: Essentially British
Yellow
1996 | 12 mins
A young girl pits her wits against her mother's lover in this provocative short starring Ray Winstone.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Yellow Week at Stanway
1923 | 42 mins
J.M. Barrie's whimsical home-movie record of a summer house party in the Cotswolds.
Collection: Pandora's Box
Yield to the Night
1956 | 99 mins
A death-row dame (Diana Dors) awaits execution for murder.
Collection: The Gentle Sex
You in Your Small Corner
1962 | 82 mins
Lloyd Reckord stars as a gifted student confronting the race and class divide in 1960s Brixton.
Collection: Beautiful South
Young Lesbians
1977 | 30 mins
The problems facing young lesbians at the end of the 1970s.
Collection: Beautiful Things
The Young Lovers
1954 | 95 mins
Romeo and Juliet, updated to Cold War-era London.
Collection: The Truth About Love
Young Soul Rebels
1991 | 105 mins
The Queen's Silver Jubilee beats to the sounds of Funkadelic, Sylvester and the O'Jays.
Collection: London Calling
Youngers Shoppers Gazette
1942 | 5 mins
Cinema advertising before the days of Pearl & Dean.
Collection: Heartlands
You're Human Like the Rest of Them
1967 | 17 mins
A teacher struggles to come to terms with his own mortality.
Collection: Cinema of Tomorrow
Z Cars
1964 | 50 mins
When a young African man attacks a bailiff, his wife does not believe he will get unprejudiced treatment from the Newtown police.
Collection: Black Britain
