Heartlands: A Portrait of Derby and the East Midlands

Explore the landscapes, meet the locals and discover the rich heritage of the East Midlands.

Travelling through a century of film and TV from both the BFI National Archive and the Media Archive for Central England, Heartlands is filled with compelling insights into the diverse East Midlands region. Turn-of-the-20th century snapshots from Mitchell & Kenyon shed light on a bygone era and colourful travelogues hit the tourist trail from the Peak District to Skegness, while documentaries and rarely-seen TV plays focus on the many local industries which have contributed to Britain’s turbulent fortunes. Alongside archive rarities and TV treats you’ll find iconic feature films that have helped put the East Midlands – and British cinema – on the map. All counties in the East Midlands region are featured in this collection: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.

The Heartlands collection is a collaboration between the BFI National Archive and the Media Archive for Central England. It has been generously supported by EM Media – the Regional Screen Agency for England’s East Midlands, with RIFE Lottery funds through the UK Film Council.

Ten to try

Buxton Skyline (1901)

Mitchell & Kenyon’s panorama of the Derbyshire town at the end of the Victorian era.

The Mountaineer’s Romance (1912)

Remarkable love-triangle drama shot in the Peak District.

Main Line Diesel (1946)

The Derby Works proudly present Britain’s first diesel locomotive.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1958)

Richard Greene plays Nottingham’s infamous outlaw in a mythical Sherwood Forest.

Death in the Morning (Tonight) (1964)

Alan Whicker investigates the elite world of the Leicestershire Quorn Hunt.

ATV Today: Brian Clough (1968)

An interview with the influential Derby County football manager.

Women in Love (1969)

Ken Russell does ‘Son of Nottingham’ DH Lawrence proud: an exquisite Midlands-set study of class and sexuality in the 1910s.

Rutland Weekend Television (1976)

Britain’s smallest county gets its own spoof broadcast from ‘Britain’s smallest TV station’, courtesy of Eric Idle and Co.

Out of the Darkness (1985)

Eerie ghost story set in the Derbyshire village of Eyam during the plague of 1665.

Dead Man’s Shoes (2004)

Rural Derbyshire has never seemed quite as unsettling as in Shane Meadows’ masterly revenge thriller.

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