Top up your watchlist... 21 films about working-class Britain
Featuring some of Britain’s most charismatic stars, these films get under the skin of working-class British life. They’re all available to watch with a free 14-day trial on BFI Player. How many have you seen?
The Arbor (2010)
Director: Clio Barnard
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Clio Barnard’s film about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar mixes reconstruction, interviews (performed by actors) and scenes from the plays.
The Bill Douglas Trilogy (1972-78)
Director: Bill Douglas
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Bill Douglas’s poetic and profoundly stirring autobiographical trilogy about Jamie growing up in a Scottish mining village in 1945, ending up in a children’s home, later conscripted in the RAF and finally feeling at home.
Billy Liar (1963)
Director: John Schlesinger
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Tom Courtenay is the clerk whose overactive fantasies compensate for a dull provincial life, in this classic film from the British New Wave.
Bronco Bullfrog (1969)
Director: Barney Platts-Mills
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A fascinating record of 1960s suedehead youth culture, largely improvised by a non-professional cast of teenagers from east London.
Bullet Boy (2004)
Director: Saul Dibb
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Ashley Walters impresses in this hard-hitting Hackney drama that’s still one of the best of Britain’s black urban crime films.
Burning an Illusion (1981)
Director: Menelik Shabazz
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Menelik Shabazz’s pioneering first feature traces the emotional and political growth of a young black couple in Thatcher’s London.
Deep End (1970)
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
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A darkly comic and compelling coming-of-age story set during a time of social change.
Duffer (1972)
Directors: Joseph Despins and William Dumaresq
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A bizarre study of obsession focusing on a teenage boy who is torn between the charms of a fleshly female prostitute and the sadism of an older man.
Face (1997)
Director: Antonia Bird
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Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone are members of a criminal gang that tears itself apart after a heist goes wrong, in Antonia Bird’s stylish thriller.
Hell Is a City (1960)
Director: Val Guest
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Punchy crime thriller with a realist streak as Stanley Baker pursues a fugitive through the streets of Manchester.
It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
Director: Robert Hamer
![](https://core-cms.bfi.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/responsive/public/2021-12/it-always-rains-on-sunday-1947-hand-over-mouth.jpg/1440x0/it-always-rains-on-sunday-1947-hand-over-mouth.jpg)
Austerity noir? Ealing’s downbeat but compelling East End thriller.
Lunch Hour (1963)
Director: James Hill
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Shirley Anne Field stars in this stylish, highly enjoyable story of simmering tensions and sexual conflict in the work place.
The Moon over the Alley (1976)
Director: Joseph Despins
![](https://core-cms.bfi.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/responsive/public/2021-12/the-moon-over-the-alley-1976-party-people.jpg/1440x0/the-moon-over-the-alley-1976-party-people.jpg)
The Moon over the Alley is a bizarre and compelling musical exploring the problems of multicultural Notting Hill residents in the early 1970s.
My Brother the Devil (2012)
Director: Sally El Hosaini
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Sally El Hosaini’s feature debut tells of the love and disenchantment of two British-Egyptian brothers. Gangs, drugs and sexuality come between them.
Pressure (1976)
Director: Horace Ové
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Hailed as Britain’s first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London.
Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
Director: Stephen Frears
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A celebration of outrageous British playwright Joe Orton’s irreverent and charismatic talent, starring Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina.
Red Road (2006)
Director: Andrea Arnold
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Andrea Arnold’s highly acclaimed film, winner of top prizes at Cannes and the BFI London Film Festival, is a haunting drama about a woman confronting past demons.
The Terence Davies Trilogy (1976-83)
Director: Terence Davies
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Terence Davies’ Liverpool-set trilogy explores the development of Robert Tucker’s life from victimised schoolboy, through middle age to death.
That Sinking Feeling (1979)
Director: Bill Forsyth
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Before Gregory’s Girl, Bill Forsyth mate this equally hilarious caper about a group of unemployed teenagers who hatch a plan to steal a job lot of stainless steel sinks.
This Sporting Life (1963)
Director: Lindsay Anderson
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Lindsay Anderson’s fantastic first feature masterfully dissects the brutal life struggles of a rough-edged rugby footballer on and off the field.
Under the Skin (1997)
Director: Carine Adler
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Carine Adler’s sexy and dark debut, starring Samantha Morton in her first major feature film role.