Who needs Netflix and Prime? BBC iPlayer has a terrific collection of films to watch – here’s our updated list of what to watch right now (and when they’re leaving the service).
Whilst all eyes tend to be on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime when it comes to movie updates, on the quiet the BBC iPlayer service continues to play host to a limited, diverse selection of films. What’s more, a good number of them you can download to your tablet to watch on the move.
So, without further ado, welcome to the weekly updated iPlayer film list. This list will be updated every week with the test available data from the BBC, in order of how long you have left to watch (so you can prioritise your viewing pleasure)
NEW! – denotes all new movies this week!
BRAND-NEW THIS WEEK: Cars 3, Last Christmas, Raging Bull, Highlander, Manhunter
LEAVING THIS WEEK: The Omen, The Shawshank Redemption, Paddington, Paddington 2, 21 Bridges, Dunkirk (1958)
FILM STORIES & FILM JUNIOR MAGAZINES
Latest issues of our independent film magazines now available at store.filmstories.co.uk
Disappearing soon… catch them while you can! (Available until 30th November 2024…)
The Omen (1976)
Disturbing horror about a wealthy American diplomat who agrees to adopt an orphaned child when his own son is delivered stillborn in a Rome hospital. Five years later, his idyllic life as US ambassador in London is shattered when a series of sinister deaths persuades him that his child is not what he seems.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.
The Shawshank Redemption – BBC iPlayer
Available until 1st December 2024…
Testament of Youth (2014)
In 1914, despite her father’s opposition, Vera Brittain is determined to attempt the entrance examination for Somerville College Oxford to pursue her literary dreams. Her brother Edward supports her plan, as does his good friend Roland, who shares Vera’s passion for poetry.
Testament of Youth – BBC iPlayer
The African Queen (1951)
At the outbreak of the First World War, with the death of her brother and the destruction of their Methodist mission, spinster Rose Sayer is persuaded to escape a burnt-out village by Canadian mechanic Charlie Allnut, proud owner of small steam launch the African Queen.
The African Queen – BBC iPlayer
Available until 2nd December 2024…
Paddington (2014)
Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington station, a young Peruvian bear is befriended by the Brown family. They offer him a temporary haven while he attempts to find the explorer whose visit to Peru many years previously has taught him all he knows about the English.
Paddington 2 (2017)
Paddington is convinced he has found the perfect gift for Aunt Lucy’s birthday. But when the gift is stolen, he becomes the prime suspect and it is up to the Browns to prove his innocence.
21 Bridges (2019)
An embattled New York police detective hunts down a pair of small-time drug dealers who killed several police officers when their raid on a rival dealer went wrong.
Dunkirk (1958)
In 1940, more than 338,000 men were taken off Dunkirk beach in an operation that became a legend. This epic film recreates the event.
Available until 7th December 2024…
The Christmas Break (2023)
Married couple Jack and Caroline Bradford travel from their Chicago home to spend Christmas with Caroline’s extended family at her parents’ home in a small town in Ireland. Jack is happy interacting with various nephews and nieces, but Caroline is not so comfortable. Are they ready for a family of their own? This is a holiday which will test their patience and their marriage.
The Christmas Break – BBC iPlayer
Lost at Christmas (2020)
Two strangers become stranded in the Scottish Highlands and decide to team up in order to get home for Christmas.
Lost at Christmas – BBC iPlayer
Tamara Drewe (2010)
Tamara Drewe returns to the sleepy Dorset village where she grew up to sell her mother’s house. Once the big-nosed girl next door, she has had a nose job and is a successful journalist in London. Her old flame Andy is still working for philandering novelist Nicholas Hardiment and his long-suffering wife and, when Tamara begins a relationship with rock drummer Ben Sergeant, there begins a three-way contest for her affections, made more complicated by the dreams of 15-year-old Jody, who wants to grow up and get away from the village just like Tamara.
Available until 8th December 2024…
The Falling (2014)
At their strait-laced girls’ school, friends Abbie and Lydia find their lives touched by tragedy. The resulting wave of unusual behaviour seeps into Lydia’s home life.
Swallows and Amazons (2016)
Four children dream of escaping the tedium of a summer holiday with their mother. When finally given permission to camp on their own on an island in the middle of a vast lake in the Lake District, they are overjoyed. But when they get there they discover they may not be alone. The battle for ownership of a lonely island teaches them the skills of survival, the value of friendship and the importance of holding your nerve.
Swallows and Amazons – BBC iPlayer
Emma (2020)
Emma Woodhouse, wealthy and beautiful, lives with her father and searches for a new companion when her beloved governess Miss Taylor gets married. She settles on Harriet Smith, whose parents are unknown, and becomes determined to make a match for her. Her father and her dear friend Mr Knightley caution her against her plans.
Available until 9th December 2024…
The Turning (2020)
Supernatural thriller based on a story by Henry James. A young woman becomes the governess of two unruly children at a secluded manor.
War Horse (2012)
Wartime drama. It is 1914, and struggling Devon farmer Ted Narracott buys a remarkable but unsuitable horse at auction. His son Albert names him Joey and, under pressure from their unscrupulous landlord, somehow trains Joey to work the farm. But when war breaks out, Joey is requisitioned by the army to serve at the front and begins a remarkable adventure that takes him far from Albert and the fields of Devon.
Deliverance (1972)
Four friends from the city take a canoeing trip downriver in Appalachia to see the wilderness before it gets dammed and flooded but find the wilderness working against them at every turn.
Available until 10th December 2024…
What’s Love Got to Do with It? (2022)
In London, an award-winning film-maker documents her best friend’s journey into an assisted marriage in line with his family’s Pakistani heritage. In the process, she challenges her own attitude towards relationships.
Whats Love Got to Do with It? – BBC iPlayer
Available until 11th December 2024…
I Give It a Year (2013)
Opposites attract as upmarket Nat ties the knot with laid-back Josh. However, each faces adulterous temptation – casually handsome Guy and agreeably kooky Chloe. If family and friends have little faith in the marriage, can counselling keep the couple together?
I Give It a Year – BBC iPlayer
Available until 12th December 2024…
Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)
Beautiful and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene catches the eye of local farmer Gabriel Oak when she arrives to live with her aunt in the Dorset village of Norcombe. She declines his offer of marriage, but their lives continue to intertwine as fate brings contrasting fortunes to both of them.
Far from the Madding Crowd – BBC iPlayer
Available until 13th December 2024…
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Over the course of five social occasions, a committed bachelor must consider the notion that he may have discovered love.
Four Weddings and a Funeral – BBC iPlayer
Women Talking (2022)
Following a brutal realisation, the women of an isolated religious community come together to decide how they will respond. Will they forgive the men who harmed them and their children? Or withhold forgiveness and be cast out of their community, forfeiting their right to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
Laura (1944)
When a body with its face destroyed by a shotgun blast is discovered in Laura Hunt’s apartment, the police are called in to investigate. But what begins as a murder inquiry into Laura’s death starts to take many sinister twists and turns. Haunting musical theme and an Oscar winner for its cinematography.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Powell and Pressburger’s classic British epic about the life and loves of a reactionary army officer, Clive Candy VC, told episodically in flashback. From his dashing career in the Boer War of 1902, the film follows Candy through marriage during the First World War to the Blitz of 1943, when he searches London for his lost youth and loves.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp – BBC iPlayer
Available until 14th December 2024…
Atonement (2007)
Thirteen-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister’s lover of a crime he did not commit.
X+Y (2014)
A socially awkward teenage maths prodigy finds new confidence and new friendships when he gains a place on the British squad at the International Mathematics Olympiad.
The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)
The Kadam family, new to France, madden Madame Mallory by opening a restaurant opposite hers. Cook Hassan and sous chef Marguerite are caught in the emotional and culinary crossfire.
The Hundred-Foot Journey – BBC iPlayer
The Jungle Book (2016)
After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self-discovery with the help of panther Bagheera and free-spirited bear Baloo.
Available until 15th December 2024…
The Ones Below (2015)
A couple expecting a baby soon become suspicious about their downstairs neighbours, who are also having a child.
Available until 19th December 2024…
The Good Liar (2019)
Accomplished conman Roy Courtnay meets widow Betty McLeish on an online dating site and is soon making himself at home in her suburban home. As Betty seems to be falling for his charms, the fly in the ointment is her overly protective grandson, Stephen.
Ben Is Back (2018)
Recovering teenage drug addict Ben Burns unexpectedly returns to the family home on Christmas Eve. Though wary, mother Holly agrees to let him stay for 24 hours, but these hours turn out to be incredibly challenging for all the family. Is Ben to be trusted?
Available until 21st December 2024…
I Know Where I’m Going! (1945)
A headstrong woman who intends to marry for money is marooned on the Isle of Mull en route to her wedding. But when she meets the Laird of Kiloran, she is no longer sure she wants to go ahead with her wedding plans.
I Know Where Im Going! – BBC iPlayer
Available until 22nd December 2024…
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) NEW!
Returning to England from a bombing run in May 1945, flyer Peter Carter’s plane is damaged, and his parachute ripped to shreds. He has his crew bail out safely, but figures it is curtains for himself. He gets on the radio, and talks to June, a young American woman working for the USAAF, and they are quite moved by each other’s voices.
A Matter of Life and Death – BBC iPlayer
The Red Shoes (1948) NEW!
Eager young ballerina Victoria Page is delighted at being given the opportunity to dance with the renowned Ballet Lermontov, little realising the demands of its brilliant yet arrogant impresario will force a tragic choice between her career and her lover.
Available until 23rd December 2024…
Whisky Galore! (1949) NEW!
The local islanders have depleted their supply of the amber nectar and are overjoyed at the thought of stocking up again. But it is Sunday, and the teetotallers object to making free with the unexpected cargo.
Whisky Galore! (1949) – BBC iPlayer
Cars 3 (2017) NEW!
When legendary racing car Lightning McQueen finds himself sidelined by a new generation of super-fast, hi-tech racers, he must find the strength to regroup, stage a comeback and win.
Available until 24th December 2024…
Last Christmas (2019) NEW!
Aspiring singer Kate works as an elf at a year-round Christmas shop in Covent Garden and is sofa-surfing rather than facing her overpowering Croatian mother. After an unsuccessful audition, she meets Tom, a young man who charms her with his unusual observations. Tom begins to have a life-changing influence over Kate’s cynical attitude to the world.
Raging Bull (1980) NEW!
The story of the rise and fall of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and determination led him to the very top inside the ring but destroyed his relationships outside it.
Available until 26th December 2024…
Highlander (1986) NEW!
Fantasy adventure. In modern-day New York, an immortal Scottish clansman fights to become the ultimate ruler of humanity.
Available until 27th December 2024…
Manhunter (1986) NEW!
FBI criminal profiler Will Graham is called out of early retirement to assist on a serial murder case involving a killer known as the Tooth Fairy. Graham enlists the help of imprisoned serial killer and cannibal Dr Hannibal Lecktor, who is the reason Graham took an early retirement.
Available until 2nd January 2025…
Ophelia (2018)
The motherless Ophelia is picked out by Queen Gertrude and taken on as a lady- in-waiting. Never losing her independent spirit, she catches the eye of young prince Hamlet, but their love seems doomed as the king’s brother Claudius sets his eye on the throne of Denmark.
Available until 14th January 2025…
Paris, 13th District (2021)
Teacher Camille arrives at the door of telesales worker Emilie in answer to her advertisement for a roommate. Meanwhile Nora, who has moved to Paris from Bordeaux to pick up her studies in law, attends an unforgettable student party when she is mistaken for online sex worker Amber Sweet. All their lives are intertwined in tales of love and desire in the digital age.
Paris, 13th District – BBC iPlayer
Available til Late 2024…
The Eichmann Show (2015) (Available until October 2024)
The behind-the-scenes true life story of groundbreaking producer Milton Fruchtman and blacklisted TV director Leo Hurwitz, who, overcoming enormous obstacles, set out to capture the testimony of one of the war’s most notorious Nazis, Adolf Eichmann. He is accused of executing the ‘final solution’ and organising the murder of six million Jews. This is the extraordinary story of how Eichmann’s trial came to be televised and the team that made it happen.
BBC iPlayer – The Eichmann Show
An Ideal Husband (1999) (Available until October 2024)
Sir Robert Chiltern, a brilliant politician and a perfect gentleman, is the ideal husband for the morally upstanding Lady Chiltern. They have a widely envied marriage until charming Mrs Cheveley appears with the intention of revealing a dark secret from Chiltern’s past.
BBC iPlayer – An Ideal Husband
Moonlight (2016) (Available until October 2024)
A coming-of-age drama that presents the childhood, adolescence and early adult life of Chiron, born to a drug-addicted single mother in Miami and facing difficulties with his sexuality and identity. His first role model is the Afro-Cuban drug dealer Juan, who takes pity on the bullied youth.
Macbeth (1948) (Available until November 2024)
Classic film version of Shakespeare’s play about a Scottish nobleman heavily influenced by his wife’s lust for power. Dominated by actor/director/producer Orson Welles, both in terms of his screen presence and his departures from the text, the film was shot in just 23 days in the summer of 1947.
Bulldozer (2022) (Available until November 2024)
Ray’s estate is being bulldozed. On the way to a fireworks night, Ray and her daughter take a detour through the new development that is being built in its place.
King Lear (2018) (Available until November 2024) The 80-year-old King Lear divides his kingdom among his daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia, according to their affection for him. Cordelia refuses to flatter him, so he banishes her. Having acquired power, Goneril and Regan expel their father from their homes. At the same time, Lear’s prime minister, Gloucester, is betrayed by his son Edmund and his other son, Edgar, is forced to go into hiding. Lear becomes mad, Gloucester is blinded: both the kingdom and the family collapse into chaos and warfare. Lear and Cordelia are reunited; for a brief moment love reigns, then tragedy descends.
Black Box (2021) (Available until November 2024)
Obsessive forensic analyst Mathieu Vasseur is disappointed to be sidelined in the examination of the black box of an Atrian 800 airliner which has mysteriously crashed in the Alps.
Schemers (2023) (Available until November 2024)
Davie is a dreamer from the council schemes, constantly hustling for his next buck then losing it on the horses. After a football injury, Davie falls for trainee nurse Shona and tries to impress her by running a disco. Along with friends John and Scot, Davie starts promoting bands, culminating in a hugely ambitious Iron Maiden gig at Caird Hall in Dundee.
Let It Snow (2020) (Available until November 2024)
A thrill-seeking American couple are determined to experience snowboarding – but they must survive against not only nature but a malevolent snowmobile rider, seemingly out for their blood.
The Curse of the Cat People (1944) (Available until November 2024)
The follow-up to the seminal Cat People, this is the tale of a lonely young girl who conjures up the spirit of Irena – her father’s first wife – to provide herself with a companion. But Irena believed herself to be descended from a race of cat people, and before long the fiendish feline is on the prowl again.
BBC iPlayer – The Curse of the Cat People
Lizard (2021) (Available until November 2024)
After eight-year-old Juwon, who has the ability to sense danger, gets removed from Bible class by her Sunday school teacher, she follows an agama lizard into the bowels of the Heaven’s Gate mega church. Her journey into the labyrinth exposes the inner financial workings and hidden activities behind the scenes, plunging her deeper and deeper – until she is confronted by a spellbinding sermon and a congregation worshipping in a hypnotised frenzy.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) (Available until November 2024)
Angelina Jolie is Lara Croft (until Alicia Vikander anyway), as the eponymous heroine of the classic video games races against time to find an ancient relic before the planets align for the first time in 5,000 years. Can she save the day? The sequel’s below so chances are, she might…
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) (Available until November 2024)
Angelina Jolie is Lara Croft, again. Lara discovers that the mythical Pandora’s Box is no myth, and must once again race against time to prevent an evil billionaire bio-weapons dealer from finding it and unleashing its plague onto the world. Can she save the day once more?
Equals (2015) (Available until November 2024)
In a future society which lives under the Collective, citizens are mentally stabilised, and all emotions and illnesses are eradicated. Alerted to an outbreak of switched-on syndrome, a disease which is gradually restoring emotions to the victims, Silas notices that his co-worker Nia is betraying feelings, and when he is diagnosed with the condition, the couple begin a dangerous affair.
BBC iPlayer – Equals Final Cut (2022) (Available until December 2024)
A small film crew shooting a low-budget zombie movie remake for a live broadcast find that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. In French with English subtitles.
Three Faces (2018) (Available until December 2024)
Actress Behnaz Jafari is distraught when she comes across a young girl’s video plea for help after her family prevents her from taking up her studies at the Tehran drama conservatory. Behnaz abandons her shoot and turns to the film-maker Jafar Panahi to help her with the young girl’s troubles. They travel by car to the rural, Azeri-speaking north west of Iran, where they encounter the charming and generous folk of the girl’s mountain village. But Behnaz and Jafar also discover that old traditions die hard.
Kindling (2022) (Available until December 2024)
A group of young men return to their home town in order to turn their friend’s final days into a celebration of life and friendship.
The Last Bus (2021) (Available until December 2024)
Tom, an elderly widower, uses his trusty free bus pass to take a series of local buses on a deeply nostalgic trip across the length of the UK, from John o’Groats to Land’s End. His mission is to fulfil a promise he made to his late wife to take her back to the place where they first met and lived happily together.
Eat the Peach (1986) (Available until December 2024)
Inspired by the 1964 Elvis Presley film Roustabout, Vinnie (Stephen Brennan) and Arthur (Eamon Morrissey) decide to build their own ‘Wall of Death’, a high-walled, barrel-like tank where centrifugal force keeps the rider circling up in the air. Against his wife’s wishes, Vinnie clears a patch near his house and begins work, with the aim being that the wall will be a source of income as people buy tickets to watch his and Arthur’s daring performances.
Persian Lessons (2020) (Available until December 2024)
World War II. Gilles, a young Jewish man in a concentration camp, has his life saved when executioners realise he owns a Persian book. Brought before a camp officer who wants to learn Farsi, Gilles agrees to teach him despite not knowing a word of the language. Being a favourite of this officer may keep him alive, but that depends on how long GIlles can sustain the lie.
47 Metres Down: Uncaged (2019) (Available until January 2025)
Four teenage girls go on a diving adventure to explore a submerged Mayan city in Mexico. They soon face a battle for survival after discovering that the sunken ruins are home to a school of deadly great white sharks.
BBC iPlayer – 47 Meters Down: Uncaged
Any One of Us (2020) (Available until January 2025)
When professional mountain biker Paul Basagoitia experiences a devastating spinal cord injury (SCI), his life is changed in an instant. Discovering that he’s become paralysed, Paul begins an intense physical and emotional journey to recover and adapt, initially living in the hope of one day being able to walk again as he once did. His excruciating recovery unfolds in real time through raw, intimate footage- much of which was filmed by Paul himself- as we see him wrestle with the agonies of an unpredictable journey and uncertain future.
I Walked With a Zombie (1943) (Available until January 2025)
Young Canadian nurse Betsy comes to the West Indies to care for the wife of a plantation manager in an offbeat zombie horror movie. From the director of aforementioned Cat People.
A Woman’s Secret (1949) (Available until January 2025)
Drama directed by Nicholas Ray. A singer grooms a talented youngster for success, only to confess to the murder when her protege is found shot dead.
The Mother (2004) (Available until January 2025)
Drama about a widow who goes to stay with her grown up son and daughter. As she begins to come to terms with the past, she embarks on a startling new relationship with her daughter’s boyfriend, which causes havoc in the family.
Bulldozer (2022) (Available until January 2025)
Ray’s estate is being bulldozed. On the way to a fireworks night, Ray and her daughter take a detour through the new development that is being built in its place.
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009) (Available until January 2025)
Comedy about three ordinary men who hold the fate of the world in their hands when they discover a rift in the space-time continuum in their local pub. Chris O’Dowd stars.
BBC iPlayer – Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel
Red Dust (2004) (Available until January 2025)
A woman leaves her law career in New York to return to South Africa to assist an old friend as prosecutor on a Truth Commission hearing. The man she is representing, a social activist, is shocked to discover that the former police deputy who once tortured him is now seeking amnesty for his actions.
Love + Hate (2008) (Available until January 2025)
A love story set across the racial frontline in a town in northern England. Adam has been brought up in a community that fosters racial hatred. Naseema is a second-generation Asian who abhors the way her peers have espoused violence as a way of reclaiming the lost pride of their fathers. But what they share is a privately held desire to break free from their small town, something they discover they have in common whilst working at the local DIY store.
Opal Dream (2006) (Available until January 2025)
Pobby and Dingan are invisible. They live in an opal town in Australia and are friends with Kellyanne, the nine-year-old daughter of an opal miner. The film tells the story of the bizarre and inexplicable disappearance of Pobby and Dingan, Kellyanne’s imaginary friends, and the impact this has on her family and the whole town. The story is told through the eyes of Kellyanne’s eleven-year-old brother Ashmol.
My Summer of Love (2004) (Available until January 2025)
In the Yorkshire countryside, working-class tomboy Mona meets the exotic, pampered Tamsin. Over the summer season, the two young women discover they have much to teach one another, and much to explore together. Mona, behind a spiky exterior, hides an untapped intelligence and a yearning for something beyond the emptiness of her daily life; Tamsin is well-educated, spoiled and cynical. Complete opposites, each is wary of the other’s differences when they first meet, but this coolness soon melts into mutual fascination, amusement and attraction.
BBC iPlayer – My Summer of Love
Expensive Sh*t (2022) (Available until January 2025)
In a Glasgow nightclub, Tolu, a Nigerian toilet attendant desperate for survival, manipulates the behaviour of unsuspecting women for the titillation of men watching behind the mirrors. But tonight, a line has been crossed, and as the night spins out of control, Tolu has to find the strength to change everything.
2003 (2021) (Available until January 2025)
Before embarking on his first tour of duty, a young soldier and his father must face up to the painful realities that have long gone unspoken between them.
Bill (2015) (Available until October 2024)
While King Philip of Spain plots to kill Queen Elizabeth of England, young Bill Shakespeare leaves Stratford to follow his latest dream, to be a playwright in London – despite the theatres being closed due to plague. Luckily the Queen desires a new play – unluckily she chooses creepy Lord Crawley to write it.
Man on the Moon (1999) (Available until January 2025)
Star of Taxi and Saturday Night Live, Andy Kaufman was a troubled individual for whom the boundaries of reality and stage performance were often blurred. Frequently misunderstood, even by those closest to him, he remained a strictly maverick entertainer until his untimely death from lung cancer in 1984.
Wonder Boys (2000) (Available until January 2025)
Pittsburgh English Professor Grady Tripp cannot finish his latest novel. Nor can he handle his wife leaving, his girlfriend’s pregnancy announcement, the arrival of his editor or a strange talented student seeking mentorship – all in the same week
A Simple Plan (1998) (Available until January 2025)
Minnesota. Winter. Hank and Jacob Mitchell and their pal Lou find a downed single-engine plane buried in the snowy woods. Inside it is a decaying pilot and a bag carrying $4 million. The men decide to hide the money until spring when the snow has melted and the plane is found. But nothing goes as planned…
Primary Colors (1998) (Available until January 2025)
No red, blue or yellow in sight, this is actually John Travolta at a career best as Jack Stanton, a governor running an election campaign for President. Based on an anonymous insider novel on the 1992 Clinton campaign.
The Relic (1997) (Available until January 2025)
A container of findings from a Natural History Museum expedition in South America is sent to Chicago, and coincidentally a series of violent murders occurs soon after. Turns out it’s a lizard-like monster who’s eating people.
Twelve Monkeys (1995) (Available until January 2025)
A deadly virus, believed to be released by a group known as the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, wipes out almost all of humanity in 1996. In 2035, James Cole is sent back in time to find the original virus to find a cure. Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt lead this neo-noir science fiction cult favourite.
HyperNormalisation (2016) (Available until January 2025)
This film is the epic story of how we got to this strange place. It explains not only why these chaotic events are happening – but also why we, and our politicians, cannot understand them.
BBC iPlayer – HyperNormalisation
The Jackal (1997) (Available until January 2025)
Fictitious story based upon Carlos the Jackal, Bruce Willis stars as The Jackal, a master of disguise assassin hired to carry out a hit on a high profile American government target as retaliation for the US meddling in Russian business.
Holiday Affair (1949) (Available until January 2025)
Connie is a war widow devoted to her small son, Timmy. Carl is the solid man she intends to marry in order to achieve security. But Steve, a drifter in Christmastime New York, comes into their lives and proceeds to woo Connie through her little boy’s desire for a train set.
The Gay Divorce (1934) (Available until January 2025)
Guy Holden comes to the rescue of a trapped damsel in distress in a crowded customs shed. More frustrating encounters follow until Mimi mistakes Guy for a professional correspondent in a Brighton hotel.
Bringing Up Baby (1938) (Available until January 2025)
Classic screwball comedy about a madcap heiress who makes a shambles of an absent-minded palaeontologist’s life when she arrives on the scene complete with her pet leopard. The film’s rollercoaster plot formed the basis for 1972’s What’s Up, Doc? and is notable for Katharine Hepburn’s foray into zany comedy.
BBC iPlayer – Bringing Up Baby
Suspicion (1941) (Available until January 2025)
Classic thriller in which a timid heiress becomes convinced that her husband is trying to kill her. After escaping from her oppressive parents, the woman meets and marries a fortune hunter. At first, her happiness prevents her from reflecting on his character, but when events take a sinister twist, she fears that his intentions are murderous.
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) (Available until January 2025)
In the second in John Ford’s cavalry trilogy, a US cavalry officer suffers a setback on his last mission and is ‘retired’ before he can take further action. To avert a full-scale war, he decides to act alone.
BBC iPlayer – She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Yellow Canary (1943) (Available until January 2025)
Wartime thriller set aboard a ship bound for Canada from Britain, in which an undercover agent is approached by a Nazi spy with a scheme to sabotage a British convoy in Nova Scotia.
Sylvia Scarlett (1935) (Available until January 2025)
Comedy drama in which a widowed, ne’er-do-well father on the run disguises his daughter as a boy to escape the law. They travel from France to England in a bid to start afresh and, during the journey, the pair make the acquaintance of a jewel thief.
Second Chance (1953) (Available until January 2025)
A disillusioned boxer and a gangster’s fugitive girlfriend meet in Mexico where they are trying to rebuild their lives. However, their growing romance is shadowed by a killer.
Anne of Green Gables (1934) (Available until January 2025)
Adaptation of LM Montgomery’s Canadian classic following the adventures of determined, imaginative optimist Anne Shirley. Middle-aged brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert want some help on the farm, so they decide to adopt a boy. However, the orphanage sends them a girl by mistake.
Anne of Windy Poplars (1940) (Available until January 2025)
Sentimental drama about an ambitious young teacher who arrives in a small town to take the job of vice-principal. Based on one of L M Montgomery’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ sequels.
Primrose Path (1940) (Available until January 2025)
Teenager Ellie May lives on the wrong side of the tracks with her family, and when she meets handsome beach café owner Ed, they quickly fall in love and get married. Ellie May tries to keep Ed from learning of her background and when he finally meets her family it causes a major strain on the relationship.
Bachelor Knight (1947) (Available until January 2025)
Comedy about a teacher (Cary Grant) whose playboy antics are curbed by a judge who insists that he romance a girl (Shirley Temple), until her crush on him wears off.
I Remember Mama (1948) (Available until January 2025)
Saga about a family of Norwegian immigrants struggling to get by in San Francisco at the turn of the century. At the heart of the penniless family is the warm, caring figure of the mother, Mama Hanson, who is surrounded by a variety of engaging and loveable relatives and friends.
Hotel Reserve (1944) (Available until January 2025)
An atmospheric thriller based in the south of France prior to the outbreak of World War II. While on holiday at the Hotel Reserve, an Austrian medical student is wrongly charged with espionage by the French police. Threatened with deportation, he is forced to embark on a search for the real spy among the hotel guests.
The Thing from Another World (1951) (Available until January 2025)
Scientists at a lonely Arctic outpost dig up an alien from the permafrost and face a desperate fight for their lives when it is accidentally thawed. Famously re-made in 1982 by John Carpenter as ‘The Thing’.
A Damsel in Distress (1937) (Available until January 2025)
Sparkling Gershwin musical-comedy. A dance star pursues an aristocratic heiress. Songs include Foggy Day in London Town, Nice Work If You Can Get It.
Alice in Wonderland (1966) (Available until January 2025)
Adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Starring Ann-Marie Mallik, Michael Redgrave and Peter Sellers. Directed by Jonathan Miller.
BBC iPlayer – Alice in Wonderland
Aftersun (2022) (Available until February 2025)
Sophie is beginning to remember a formative holiday her divorced dad Calum took her on as a child. What her 11-year-old self experienced is now conjuring up things that perhaps went unseen.
Full Time (2021) (Available until February 2025)
Single mother of two children Julie Roy is the head chambermaid at a five-star hotel in central Paris. Her commute from the suburbs is precision-timed, as she relies on a tolerant neighbour for childcare.
The Commitments (1991) (Available until February 2025)
Jimmy Rabbitte, an unemployed Dublin boy, decides to put together a soul band made up entirely of the Irish working class.
Anna Karenina (1961) (Available until February 2025)
Anna, the wife of government minister Alexis Karenin, visits Moscow to help straighten out a family quarrel. There, Count Alexis Vronsky falls in love with her. Television adaptation of a play based on Leo Tolstoy’s novel by Marcelle Maurette.
Sicario (2015) (Available until February 2025)
FBI special agents Kate Macer and Reggie Wayne lead a raid on a drug cartel safe house in Chandler, Arizona, where two police officers are killed. Subsequently recruited to a joint task force overseen by CIA officer Matt Graver and a secretive ex-prosecutor Alejandro Gillick to flush out and apprehend a cartel drug lord, Kate is soon out of her depth in the murky world of a lawless borderland.
The Railway Station Man (1993) (Available until February 2025)
Painter Helen Cuffe has fled to Donegal with her young son Jack after the killing of her husband in Northern Ireland. She lives in isolation until she meets a mysterious, disabled American, who is obsessed with restoring an abandoned railway station. Romance blossoms, but then a group of so-called freedom fighters decides to store arms in the railway station – and enlists the help of Helen’s son.
BBC iPlayer – The Railway Station Man
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019) (Available until February 2025)
Oscar-nominated Bhutanese drama. Disillusioned young teacher Ugyen dreams of moving to Australia to pursue a singing career but instead finds himself posted to the most remote school in the world – high in the Himalayan mountains.
BBC iPlayer – Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947) (Available until April 2025)
Drama set in 19th-century Paris. Adapted from the novel by Guy de Maupassant, the film tells the story of Georges Duroy, a womanising rogue whose ambitions to gain wealth and social status leave a string of broken hearts in his wake.
BBC iPlayer – The Private Affairs of Bel Ami
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) (Available until April 2025)
Star-studded recreation of the death throes of the greatest empire in world history. After Marcus Aurelius is poisoned, the role of emperor goes not to his adopted son as he had wished, but to his cruel son Commodus – who soon displays a tyrannical streak.
BBC iPlayer – The Fall of the Roman Empire
Master Cheng (2019) (Available until April 2025)
Professional chef Cheng arrives in a remote Finnish village with his young son looking for ‘Fongtron’, but nobody can help him. Sarkki, owner of the local café, offers them a meal and a room. Cheng repays her hospitality by cooking his own food, which soon entrances the locals.
Dolly Parton – Here I Am (2019) (Available until April 2025)
A landmark documentary that explores the extraordinary life and music of Dolly Parton. From her humble beginnings to her global success, the film discovers how a young girl from the Smoky Mountains conquered Nashville to become the queen of country music.
BBC iPlayer – Dolly Parton – Here I Am
Mr Jones (2019) (Available until March 2025)
Drama based on a true story. In 1933, suspicious of Russia’s miraculous resurgence under Stalin, Gareth Jones escapes Moscow’s decadence and discovers Ukraine’s desperation. However, it is not just the Soviets who want word of the terrible reality suppressed.
Luzzu (2021) (Available until April 2025)
Jesmark, like his father before him, makes a precarious living from fishing on his 12-foot luzzu on the inshore waters of Malta. On learning that his infant son is not showing normal growth and needs specialist attention, his financial situation becomes critical, and he has to make a potentially life-changing decision.
Eternal Beauty (2019) (Available until April 2025)
Jilted at the altar as a young woman, Jane has been living with depression and paranoid schizophrenia for many years. But one day, while attending a mental health clinic, Jane runs into the flamboyant but equally troubled Mike, who opens a window of opportunity to experience life as never before.
El Cid (1961) (Available until April 2025)
The epic story of the 11th-century Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, better known as El Cid. Involved in a tempestuous marriage to the beautiful Chimene, Rodrigo plots against various royal factions to gain power after the death of King Ferdinand, but his greatest campaign is to rid Spain of its Moorish invaders. He drives the Moors to their last outpost – Valencia – for a tumultuous and decisive battle.
Wagon Master (1950) (Available until April 2025)
Poetic story of a pioneering Mormon community. Forced out of Crystal City, a group of Mormons head westward in search of the promised land. The journey is treacherous, and two footloose horse traders are persuaded to ‘give the Lord a hand’ and guide them across the desert. On the trail, the wagon train encounters travelling entertainers, fugitive gunfighters and Native Americans.
Rancho Notorious (1952) (Available until April 2025)
Unusual western about a young man hunting for the brutal killers of his fiancee. The only clue he has is the mysterious word ‘Chuck-a-Luck’ whispered by a dying victim. A rare foray into the genre for director Fritz Lang.
BBC iPlayer – Rancho Notorious
Fort Apache (1948) (Available until April 2025)
The first of John Ford’s cavalry trilogy, in which a commanding officer, bitter at his demotion after the Civil War, takes his resentment out on the men of Fort Apache, a remote outpost in the Arizona desert. He is determined to tighten up discipline but eventually shows his ignorance of American Indian behaviour when he leads his troops into a deadly confrontation.
Blue Story (2018) (Available until April 2025)
A feature adaptation of Rapman’s YouTube series about two young south London friends from different boroughs and their deepening relationships with gangs and girls.
I Am Greta (2020) (Available until April 2025)
The story of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is told through compelling, never-before-seen footage in this intimate documentary about a young girl who has become the voice of a generation. Starting with her one-person school strike for climate justice outside the Swedish Parliament, the film follows Greta – a shy student with Asperger’s – as she rises to prominence, and her galvanising global impact as she sparks school strikes around the world.
Cat People (1942) (Available until April 2025)
Serbian Irena arrives in New York and meets Oliver. They soon fall in love and marry, but Irena fears she suffers from an ancient curse from her homeland that means they can never be intimate, or she might literally kill him.
The Blair Witch Project (1999) (Available until March 2025)
On the trail of a local legend about a witch, three student film-makers ignore warnings from locals and go into the Maryland woods for the weekend. Deep in the forest and miles from help, they learn the terrifying truth.
BBC iPlayer – The Blair Witch Project
Nowhere Special (2021) (Available until March 2025)
A terminally ill single father searches for a new family to take in his young son after his passing.
The History Boys (2006) (Available until April 2025)
A class of likely lads, caught in a clash of educational styles as they prepare to apply to Oxford or Cambridge, find their loyalties as well as their intellects tested.
BBC iPlayer – The History Boys
Love Affair (1939) (Available until April 2025)
A French playboy and an American former nightclub singer fall in love aboard a ship. They arrange to reunite six months later, after he has had a chance to earn a decent living.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00781h9/love-affair
Kitty Foyle (1940) (Available until April 2025)
A hard-working, white-collar girl from a middle-class family meets and falls in love with a young socialite, but she soon clashes with his family.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00779d3/kitty-foyle
Vivacious Lady (1938) (Available until April 2025)
A professor marries a nightclub singer, much to the consternation of his family and friends back home.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0077dzz/vivacious-lady
The Spanish Main (1945) (Available until April 2025)
After being wronged by the Caribbean authorities, a Dutch captain turns pirate to wage war.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00792m6/the-spanish-main
My Favourite Wife (1940) (Available until April 2025)
Missing for seven years and presumed dead, a woman returns home on the day of her husband’s second marriage.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00785v4/my-favourite-wife
Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) (Available until April 2025)
A man and his wife decide they can afford to have a house in the country built to their specifications. It’s a lot more trouble than they think.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b007870c/mr-blandings-builds-his-dream-house
Beautiful but Dangerous (1954) (Available until April 2025)
Lina, a music hall singer, has fallen in love with Sergei, a Russian prince. Maestro Doria, who gives her voice lessons and who hopes to make her his mistress, takes her to Paris where she becomes the star of the “Folies-Plastiques”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00780nq/beautiful-but-dangerous
Blackbeard the Pirate (1952) (Available until April 2025)
Honest Edward Maynard finds himself serving as ship’s surgeon under the infamous pirate Blackbeard.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00cw2fr/blackbeard-the-pirate
Carefree (1938) (Available until April 2025)
A psychiatrist agrees to hypnotize his friend’s girlfriend in order to convince her to accept his proposals of marriage, but she ends up falling for the psychiatrist instead.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0078lxg/carefree
Odd Squad: The Movie (2017) (Available until May 2025)
The Odd Squad investigate strange events. When a group of adults run Odd Squad out of business, the agents are forced to become regular kids again.
BBC iPlayer – Odd Squad: The Movie
Citizen Ashe (2022) (Available until May 2025)
Documentary that tells the little-known story of sports legend Arthur Ashe off the tennis court. Known to most on account of his stellar sports career – he became the first black man to win Wimbledon in 1975 – the film uncovers Ashe’s work as a social activist, a role that embraced the civil rights movement in the US, African Americans and oppressed people throughout the world.
Lie with Me (2022) (Available until May 2025)
Successful novelist Stéphane Belcourt returns to his provincial hometown at the invitation of the local cognac makers, who are celebrating their bicentennial. There, he meets Lucas, a young marketing executive for the company who turns out to be the son of his first love, Thomas.
The Phantom of the Open (2021) (Available until May 2025)
The heartwarming true story of shipyard crane operator Maurice Flitcroft, who, having never played a round of golf in his life, entered the 1976 British Open and subsequently shot the worst round of golf in Open history, drawing the ire of the golfing elite but becoming a folk hero in the process.
BBC iPlayer – The Phantom of the Open
Mrs Dalloway (1997) (Available until May 2025)
An adaptation of the classic Virginia Woolf novel. As society hostess Clarissa Dalloway prepares for another of her legendary parties, she finds herself haunted by figures and scenes from her passionate youth.
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead (2018) (Available until July 2025)
A New Year’s Eve party is the setting for a fractious family comedy-drama, as Colin Burstead plans a lavish event for his extended family, which doesn’t exactly go to plan….
BBC iPlayer – Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
The Road Dance (2021) (Available until July 2025)
Kirsty MacLeod dreams of a better life away from the isolation of small village life on an island in the Outer Hebrides. Suppressing these aspirations, she sees her lover, Murdo, conscripted for service in the First World War, soon to set off and fight alongside the other young men from the village. A road dance is held in their honour the evening before they depart, and it’s on this fateful evening that Kirsty’s life takes a dramatic and tragic turn.
Homeward (2023) (Available until July 2025)
Mustafa, a Crimean Tatar, and his son Alim transport the body of Mustafa’s other son, a soldier killed in combat, from Kyiv to Crimea to give him a proper burial.
Whisky Galore! (2016) (Available until July 2025)
In 1943, disaster strikes on the remote Hebridean island of Todday when they run out of whisky. Salvation arrives when a ship carrying 50,000 cases of whisky founders on the island’s rocks. But the islanders clash with authority in the shape of Home Guard commander Captain Waggett.
Law of Tehran (2019) (Available until July 2025)
The police relentlessly pursue a drug lord named Nasser Khakzad, but when they finally manage to catch him, he tries whatever he can think of to escape and save his family. Iranian thriller.
Burton and Taylor (2013) (Available until July 2025)
Drama telling the story of Hollywood’s most glamorous couple, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who acted together for the last time in Noel Coward’s Private Lives in 1983.
BBC iPlayer – Burton and Taylor
Wildlife (2018) (Available until July 2025)
In the early 1950s, 14-year-old Joe Brinson has moved with his mother and father to a small town in Montana. When his father unjustly loses his job at the local golf course, he decides to take up firefighting in the hills. His mother Jeanette feels abandoned and increasingly treats Joe as an adult, who soon has to learn some powerful and indelible life lessons.
The Thing from Another World (1951) (Available until July 2025)
Scientists at a lonely Arctic outpost dig up an alien from the permafrost and face a desperate fight for their lives when it is accidentally thawed.
BBC iPlayer – The Thing from Another World
Shadow in the Cloud (2020) (Available until August 2025)
Pilot officer Maude Garrett is assigned to travel with a top secret package from Auckland at the height of the Pacific battles with the Japanese during World War II. The mixed-nationality Allied crew give her a derisive welcome, including assigning her quarters in the aircraft’s empty ball turret. Little do they know that they are about to experience the worst flight of their lives as an evil presence makes itself known.
Shadow in the Cloud – BBC iPlayer
Hounded (2022) (Available until August 2025)
From a London council estate to a remote country estate, brothers Chaz and Leon agree to one more targeted rural burglary, aided by their friends Vix and Tod. But is it a trick? The Redwick family are waiting for them to use as live prey in a cross-country hunt with hounds.
The Promised Land (2023) (Available until August 2025)
Denmark, 1755. Retired army captain Ludvig Kahlen battles the elements, the prejudice of naysayers and the hostility of the local nobility when he resolves to settle on the remote peninsula of Jutland and cultivate its uninhabitable heathland, from which many have failed to yield crops for centuries.
The Promised Land – BBC iPlayer
Shé (Snake) (2024) (Available until August 2025)
Fei, a 16-year-old British Chinese girl, is the top violinist in an elite London youth orchestra. When another Chinese violinist arrives to challenge her place in the orchestra, Fei’s anxieties and internalized racism grow to take monstrous physical form. They whisper to her, urging her to be the best, no matter the cost.
Precious Hair and Beauty (2022) (Available until August 2025)
An ode to the mundanity and madness of the high street, told through the window of an African hair salon.
Precious Hair and Beauty – BBC iPlayer
Festival of Slaps (2024) (Available until August 2025)
A Nigerian mother, who on one fateful night serves her son a set of slaps so powerful that his life flashes before his eyes. An emotional rollercoaster exploring the misconceptions of Pan African parenting and the clash of modern life.
Festival of Slaps – BBC iPlayer
Citizen Kane (1941) (Available until September 2025)
Frequently voted one of the best films ever made, Orson Welles’s masterpiece tells the story of newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane in a series of flashbacks. A reporter is intrigued by the dying Kane’s last word – rosebud – and sets out to find a new angle on the life of one of the most powerful men in America. Nine Oscar nominations resulted in only one award for the outspoken Welles – Best Screenplay.
Angel Face (1953) (Available until September 2025)
Chilling drama about a family chauffeur (Robert Mitchum) who gets embroiled in the murderous schemes of his employer, a beautiful female psychopath (Jean Simmons).
Horror Express (1972) (Available until September 2025)
An English palaeontologist working in Manchuria in 1907 discovers a frozen two-million-year-old anthropoid monster with mystical powers. On the train journey home, the beast thaws, comes back to life and wreaks havoc among the passengers of the train. Classic cult horror starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
A Farewell to Arms (1932) (Available until September 2025)
In World War I, an American serving as an ambulance driver in Italy falls in love with a nurse in this adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novel.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000w0pc/a-farewell-to-arms
Papadopoulos and Sons (2012) (Available until September 2025)
After a financial market collapse, self-made millionaire Harry loses everything he has apart from an abandoned fish and chip shop half-owned by his estranged brother. With no alternative, Harry and his family are forced to abandon their old lifestyle and try to bring the old family business back to life.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04zlzfk/papadopoulos-and-sons
Masked and Anonymous (2004) (Available until September 2025)
Written by and starring Bob Dylan and set in the near-future in a fictional America. Against the backdrop of a nation on the brink of revolution, a singer, whose career has gone on a downward spiral, is forced to make a comeback to the performance stage for a benefit concert.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00dvqpy/masked-and-anonymous
Tycoon (1947) (Available until September 2025)
Romantic melodrama about an engineer battling to build a railroad in the Andes while trying to save his marriage to the boss’s daughter. After wedding his bride against her father’s wishes, he then jeopardises his marriage and the railroad enterprise by single-mindedly battling to get the extraordinary engineering project completed on time and within budget.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00780g1/tycoon
Area Boy (2024) (Available until August 2025)
An aimless teenager, Eli, has moved to the outer edges of a provincial town with his mother. As he settles in, he tries to escape the bleakness of life and navigating questions of self-identity, by balancing his time between his delinquent friends and the church community. Torn between two worlds, Eli must find himself and embrace who he truly is.
Blank (2022) (Available until August 2025)
A novelist struggling with writer’s block goes on a fully AI-operated writer’s retreat. But when she gets there, she soon realises the environment is less creatively nurturing than she had hoped: a technical glitch sees her trapped inside her lodgings with a malfunctioning android and no line of communication to the outside world.
Nostalgia (2022) (Available until September 2025)
A man returns to his hometown of Naples, 40 years after abruptly leaving as a teen, stirring up a past which he’s kept buried. He is determined to see his boyhood friend, now a leading Naples crime boss, with whom he shares a dark secret.
Margrete: Queen of the North (2021) (Available until October 2025)
The year is 1402. Margrete has achieved what no man has managed before: she has gathered Denmark, Norway and Sweden into a peace-oriented union that she rules through her adopted son, King Erik. But a conspiracy is in the making, and Margrete finds herself in an impossible dilemma that could shatter her life’s work.
Margrete: Queen of the North – BBC iPlayer
Threads (1984) (Available until October 2025)
Grim drama telling the story of a nuclear strike on Britain through the eyes of two families, tracing the events leading up to the war and the decade of devastation that follows.
The Beasts (2022) (Available until October 2025)
Middle-aged French couple Antoine and Olga have moved to an inland Galician hamlet, happy to live off the land and renovate some dilapidated properties and intending to settle down, but a conflict with their neighbours reaches the point of no return.
Housebound (2014) (Available until October 2025)
A young woman is placed under house arrest in her childhood home. A series of strange goings-on lead her to suspect that something evil may be lurking within its walls.
Malcolm X (1992) (Available until October 2025)
Biographical epic about the influential and controversial black nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.
Jude (1996) (Available until October 2025)
Stark adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s tragic novel about a 19th-century stonemason whose aspirations are thwarted by unyielding social convention. When his marriage ends, the craftsman finds his dreams of self-improvement rekindled when he settles in a university town. He falls in love with his independent-minded cousin, but, failing to gain a place at university, finds his options diminishing to a point of remorseless despair.
Ali & Ava (2021) (Available until October 2025)
Devoted mother and grandmother Ava, a teaching assistant with a love of country and folk music, is offered a lift home from school by the charismatic Ali, who is estranged from his wife but continuing with the charade of marital domesticity for the sake of their close-knit relatives in Bradford. On the journey, they find many things in common, including a love of music, and begin an unusual and secretive courtship.
No Bears (2022) (Available until October 2025)
A dissident film-maker who is trying to direct a movie in Turkey while being forced to remain in a nearby Iranian border town finds himself embroiled in a local scandal.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954) (Available until October 2025)
Rudolph Cartier’s 1954 BBC adaptation of George Orwell’s story about a man who tries to rebel against the totalitarian state in which he lives and works.
Nineteen Eighty-Four – BBC iPlayer
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024) (Available until October 2025)
Eminent American film-maker Martin Scorsese shares his lifelong love affair with the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Drawing on a rich array of archive material, including their major works such as The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes, Scorsese explores the collaboration between the quintessentially English Powell and the Hungarian Pressburger and how their partnership had a major influence on his own body of work, including such classics as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger – BBC iPlayer
Bringing Up Baby (1938) (Available until November 2025)
While trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled palaeontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0078ddk/bringing-up-baby
The Velvet Touch (1948) (Available until November 2025)
A Broadway star unintentionally kills her impresario but keeps mum about it when the police investigator targets a rival actress.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03fgcqs/the-velvet-touch
The Sky’s the Limit (1943) (Available until November 2025)
Flying Tiger Fred Atwell sneaks away from his famous squadron’s personal appearance tour and goes incognito for several days of leave. He quickly falls for photographer Joan Manion, pursuing her in the guise of a carefree drifter.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0078nqj/the-skys-the-limit
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) (Available until November 2025)
Captain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperilled.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b007894r/she-wore-a-yellow-ribbon
King Kong (1933) (Available until November 2025)
A film crew goes to a tropical island for an exotic location shoot and discovers a colossal ape who takes a shine to their female blonde star. He is then captured and brought back to New York City for public exhibition.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074mrz/king-kong
Angel Face (1952) (Available until November 2025)
Ambulance driver Frank Jessup is ensnared in the schemes of the sensuous but dangerous Diane Tremayne.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00785fw/angel-face
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) (Available until November 2025)
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0078b9s/the-magnificent-ambersons
Wagon Master (1950) (Available until November 2025)
Two young drifters guide a Mormon wagon train to the San Juan Valley and encounter cut-throats, Indians, geography, and moral challenges on the journey.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00c6s7w/wagon-master
Top Hat (1935) (Available until November 2025)
An American dancer comes to Britain and falls for a model whom he initially annoyed, but she mistakes him for his goofy producer.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074r4k/top-hat
The Gay Divorce (1934) (Available until November 2025)
An American woman travels to England to seek a divorce from her absentee husband, where she meets – and falls for – a dashing performer.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074r43/the-gay-divorce
The Miracle of the Bells (1948) (Available until November 2025)
Granting her final request, a Hollywood press agent brings the dead body of an actress, who died after making her first and only film, back to her home town for burial. To arouse public interest, and to get the reluctant studio head to release the film, he asks all the local churches to ring their bells for three days.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0077nz2/miracle-of-the-bells
Suspicion (1941) (Available until November 2025)
A shy young heiress marries a charming gentleman, and soon begins to suspect he is planning to murder her.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00gmlrx/suspicion
Fort Apache (1948) (Available until November 2025)
At Fort Apache, an honourable and veteran war captain finds conflict when his regime is placed under the command of a young, glory hungry lieutenant colonel with no respect for the local Indian tribe.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0077zzm/fort-apache
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1947) (Available until November 2025)
Classic melodrama in which a young woman falls in love with a concert pianist, beginning a lifelong infatuation. The story of unrequited love is told through a series of flashbacks as the pianist finally comes to read a letter from the dying woman he never really knew.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074swy/letter-from-an-unknown-woman
Double Dynamite (1951) (Available until November 2025)
Bank teller Johnny Dalton, too poor to marry his sweetheart, saves a big-time bookie from a beating and receives a munificent reward… which just happens to match a mysterious shortage at the bank.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00780f5/double-dynamite
The Outlaw (1943) (Available until November 2025)
Unconventional western about the life of outlaw Billy the Kid, including his partnership with Doc Holliday and clashes with lawman Pat Garrett. Stars Jane Russell and Jack Buetel.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00zp6cd/the-outlaw
Gold Run (2022) (Available until November 2025)
This is the incredible true story of how 55 tonnes of gold was transported through rough winter landscapes on trucks, trains and boats by a group of unlikely resistance fighters ahead of the invading Nazi forces.
Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave (1995) (Available until November 2025)
Oscar-winning claymation comedy thriller from Nick Park, featuring the popular inventor and his dog. Wallace’s whirlwind romance with the proprietor of the local wool shop puts his head in a spin, and Gromit is framed for sheep rustling in a fiendish criminal plot, meeting a sheep named Shaun along the way. Will Wallace snap out of his daze in time to rescue his canine companion?
BBC iPlayer – Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave
Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993) (Available until November 2025)
Oscar-winning animated adventure featuring Wallace and Gromit. The duo are plunged into a hilarious tale of skulduggery involving an extraordinary pair of automated trousers and a villainous penguin. Featuring Peter Sallis as the voice of Wallace.
BBC iPlayer – Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers
Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out (1992) (Available until November 2025)
Bafta-winning, Oscar-nominated claymation by Nick Park, which introduced the world to inventor Wallace and his canine companion Gromit. The pair blast off in a homemade rocket to go on a bank holiday outing to the moon and test the theory that it is made of cheese. What they find there surprises them.
BBC iPlayer – Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out
Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008) (Available until November 2025)
Wallace and Gromit have opened a new bakery – Top Bun – and business is booming, not least because a deadly Cereal Killer has murdered all the other bakers in town. Gromit is worried that they may be the next victims, but Wallace does not care, as he has fallen head over heels in love with Piella Bakewell, former star of the Bake-O-Lite bread commercials. So Gromit is left to run things on his own, when he would much rather be getting better acquainted with Piella’s lovely pet poodle Fluffles.
BBC iPlayer – Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death
We’ve done our best to list all the available films on BBC iPlayer and the date they’re removed from the service as detailed by the BBC, but it goes without saying that the BBC probably reserve the right to add or remove films from their service at any time, for any reason. The BBC also list an expiration time for each film, which could be 6pm or 1am on the expiration date. We’re not including those for purely logistical reasons. We’ll try our best to keep this list as up to date as possible, though.
Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website:
Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
Buy our Film Stories and Film Stories Junior print magazines here.
Become a Patron here.
See one of our live shows, details here.
