London Calling

"A bomb has its limitations. It can only destroy buildings and kill people. It cannot kill the unconquerable spirit and courage of the people of London." - London Can Take It! (1940)

An unrivalled guide to the capital for Londoners and visitors alike, London Calling is a major film and television collection exploring the city past and present. Here are the icons, the hidden corners, the familiar neighbourhoods. See a fantasy London in The Fugitive Futurist (1924); a vanished London in Brief City (1952), or London re-imagined in Borderline (2005). From Ealing comedies to soap opera, this is a London that’s part history, part reality, part myth.

Robin Baker
Head Curator, BFI National Archive

Look out for new additions celebrating the Mayor's Story of London project together with the major new sister collection Beautiful South: Lambeth & Southwark on Screen.

View All collections.