Discoveries from United Kingdom World Cinema

The true story of Neil and Ivan McCormick, two Irish brothers who attempt to become rock stars but can only look on as their high school friends U2 become the biggest band in the world.

A live concert in tribute to Freddie Mercury, former lead singer of Queen. Mercury died of AIDS and so some of the proceeds of this concert went to AIDS research. Features performers such as Metallica, Def Leppard, Elton John, Axl Rose, Extreme, George Michael, and many others. Performers alternate between doing their own hits, covering Queen songs, or jamming with the surviving members of Queen.

A young man upsets his Punjabi family when he falls in love with an Irish schoolteacher.

Chris Hemsworth has a real passion for sharks. The Hollywood star talks to experts to find out more about the apex predators of the oceans.

When trouble strikes at the Blue Mountain Quarry, Thomas is sent to help his Narrow Gauge engine friends. While shunting and hauling, he catches a glimpse of a small engine trying to hide, yet no one will provide any clues to the engine's identity. Thomas is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery but discovering the truth is harder than he imagined! Will Thomas be able to save his new friend? Or will the mysterious engine be sent away from Sodor forever? Travel on an exciting journey with Thomas and his friends in his biggest movie ever, tracking down clues, discovering lost engines, and revealing the power of friendship!

Double-agent Alexander Eberlin is assigned by the British to hunt out a Russian spy, known to them as Krasnevin. Only Eberlin knows that Krasnevin is none other than himself! Accompanying him on his mission is a ruthless partner, who gradually discovers his secret as Eberlin tries to maneuver himself out of a desperate situation.

A boxer suffers a serious head injury during a fight, and must deal with the consequences.

The behind-the-scenes true life story of a 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, who is accused of executing the 'final solution' and organising the murder of 6 million Jews. This is the extraordinary story of how the trial came to be televised and the team that made it happen.

In the Sahara desert, a sandstorm batters a deserted drilling station. A security patrolman battles through the high winds to investigate why all contact with the station has been lost. Originally built for gas exploration, and then abandoned, the site had recently been taken over by a multi-national research team intent on drilling deeper into the earth’s crust than ever before.

A war veteran tries to investigate the murder of his son who was working as a Russian translator for the British intelligence service during the Cold War. He meets a web of deception and paranoia that seems impenetrable...

Struggling, Alyssa turns to a non-traditional treatment as a cure. It's only stipulation is a strict rule: five turns only.

Two stories separated by 1400 years. After losing his mother in the midst of a war-torn country, an Iraqi child learns the importance and power of patience by discovering the historical story of Lady Fatima and her suffering.

Henry is a proud monarch who flies in the face of the church in seeking to divorce Queen Katherine and marry Anne Bullen. As cardinal Wolsey, the powerful Lord Chancellor of England, attempts to bend Rome to the King's wishes, the court reverbates with political intrigue and accusations of treachery.

The story of a woman who must find her kidnapped son, navigating a world she doesn't know, on the edge of danger with every heartbeat.

An unassuming young lawyer leads a fight against the Nazis near the end of the Second World War.

Iago and a comrade-in-arms are outside the Venice home of Desdemona's father, who does not yet know that she has eloped with Othello. Iago confides to his friend -- who had hoped to marry Desdemona -- that he serves Othello to further his own ends. Venice needs Othello to protect its commercial interests in Cyprus where the Turkish fleet is headed. Desdemona insists on going to Cyprus, too. In Cyprus, Iago plots to convince Othello that Desdemona has betrayed him with Cassio. A lot more than political ambition seems to be motivating Iago.

A pre-Monty Python mockumentary, written by and presented by John Cleese, that provides tips on learning how to irritate people.

Our story begins at the end of Sharpe's Challenge. Sharpe and Harper are en route to Madras when they encounter a baggage train from the East India Company traveling through hostile territory. Chitu, a legendary bandit leader in control of the area, strikes fear in the members of the party. When an attack occurs Sharpe takes control of the situation, leading the group 300 miles through enemy territory and training the disorganized, rag-tag group to be proper soldiers. Despite all these responsibilities, Sharpe still manages to find time for a little romance...

The story of the inhabitants of the isolated Scottish island of Todday, in the Outer Hebrides, where gloom sets in as their wartime rationing of whisky runs out. When cargo ship the SS Cabinet Minister runs aground the shrewd islanders run rings around the buffoonish English Home Guard commander Captain Waggett and conspire to hide away cases of the precious amber nectar.

"The Last Dragon" is a nature mockumentary about a British scientific team that attempts to understand the unique incredible beasts that have fascinated people for ages. CGI is used to create the dragons.

Spain, 1813. Sharpe is unwittingly caught up in a French plot; he is convicted of the murder of a Spanish nobleman and sentenced to death. This time he will need more than just his legendary courage to survive. In a desperate attempt to clear his name, Sharpe is forced to venture deep into enemy territory to capture La Marquesa, a beautiful French spy, who alone can prove his innocence.

When his drunken ex-girlfriend won't leave him alone, a man asks a married woman staying at the same hotel to pretend to be his wife. What could go wrong? It's not like two strangers spending a weekend in a small town could possibly fall in love - Getting To Know You is a delightful love story for grownups starring Natasha Little, Rupert Penry-Jones and Rachel Blanchard.

A young operative is sent on a mission to follow an older agent who's behavior has come into question.

A satirical alternative history of World War II where the Nazis seize London and England must band together to prevent a full on invasion.

A surprisingly candid behind-the-scenes account of the career of Ken Loach, one of Britain’s most celebrated and controversial filmmakers, as he prepares to release his final major film I, Daniel Blake.

A horror movie star returns to his famous role after spending years in a mental institution, but the character seems to be committing murders independent of his will.

The quiet village of Bramley End is taken over by German troops posing as Royal Engineers. Their task is to disrupt England's radar network in preparation for a full scale German invasion. Once the villagers discover the true identity of the troops, they do whatever they can to thwart the Nazis plans.

A scientist makes a reckless decision to carry on with an illegal surrogacy experiment, using her own body.

A frustrated teenage girl creates her perfect man in a virtual reality machine and in a freak accident, gives him life.

The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.

Pearl and Gadabout are now a flying doctor trio, caring for creatures including a mermaid, a unicorn and a sneezy lion. However when bad weather forces them to land at the palace, Pearl is locked up by her uncle, the king.

Deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia, where every man owns a gun and a moonshine still, abides living legend Jesco White, "the dancing outlaw". As a boy Jesco was in and out of reform school and the insane asylum. To keep him out of trouble, his daddy D-Ray taught him the art of mountain dancing, a frenzied version of tap dancing to wild country banjo music. After his father's death, crazy Jesco dons his father's tap shoes and takes his show on the road.

In the dying days of World War II, Dick Dynamite and his ragtag team of Nazi-killing commandos must stop a group of depraved German scientists from turning the population of New York into flesh-eating zombies.

Nazi occupied Poland, during the World War II. Hans, a former brilliant student, has become an SS officer stationed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. When he is commissioned by his superior officer to build an efficient gas chamber, Hans, facing the harsh reality, begins to realize the magnitude of the atrocious acts of which he is being accomplice.

In a psychiatric hospital, an alleged serial killer, his therapist, and a police detective seek to solve a brutal cold case before their obsessive quest for the truth consumes them all.

The Newlyn School of artists flourished at the beginning of the 20th Century and the film focuses on the wild and bohemian Lamorna Group, which included Alfred Munnings and Laura and Harold Knight. The incendiary anti-Modernist Munnings, now regarded as one of Britain's most sought-after artists, is at the centre of the complex love triangle, involving aspiring artist Florence Carter-Wood and Gilbert Evans, the land agent in charge of the Lamorna Valley estate. True - and deeply moving - the story is played out against the timeless beauty of the Cornish coast, in the approaching shadow of The Great War.

A Hong Kong mobster's sister is working with authorities on their investigation into her own brother's plot to assassinate the Queen.

In 2065, the crew of the Pegasus are searching for a new home for humanity. As they approach their potential new world, the discovery of another ship could be the key to their salvation, or doom them and the rest of humanity to extinction.

Two men living on the exact opposite side of the world. When one sleeps, the other one is awake. But when they finally meet, a simple question arises: Who is the dream and who is the dreamer?

In the bourgeois circles of Europe after the Great War, can anything save the modern man? Harry Haller, a solitary intellectual, has all his life feared his dual nature of being human and being a beast. He's decided to die on his 50th birthday, which is soon. He's rescued from his solipsism by the mysterious Hermine, who takes him dancing, introduces him to jazz and to the beautiful and whimsical Maria, and guides him into the hallucinations of the Magic Theater, which seem to take him into Hell. Can humour, sin, and derision lead to salvation?

Ever wondered what would happen in your own home if you were taken away, and everything inside was left to rot? The answer is revealed in this fascinating programme, which explores the strange and surprising science of decay. For two months in summer 2011, a glass box containing a typical kitchen and garden was left to rot in full public view within Edinburgh Zoo. In this resulting documentary, presenter Dr George McGavin and his team use time-lapse cameras and specialist photography to capture the extraordinary way in which moulds, microbes and insects are able to break down our everyday things and allow new life to emerge from old. Decay is something that many of us are repulsed by. But as the programme shows, it's a process that's vital in nature. And seen in close up, it has an unexpected and sometimes mesmerising beauty.

What do such classic films as The Third Man, The African Queen, The Misfits and Labyrinth have in common? Present during the filming of all of them was Angela Allen, acting as “continuity” – noting every shot and memorising all the details before her, working closely with the director, crew and actors to achieve a consistent and convincing world in front of the camera. She is one of the last witnesses to a truly golden age of cinema. Angela – who celebrated her 97th birthday in February 2026 – began her career as a 19-year-old on several British films, and then in 1948 was assigned to the second unit in Vienna for Carol Reed’s The Third Man. She subsequently became a regular aide to three great directors in particular, John Huston (with whom she made 14 films), John Frankenheimer and Franco Zeffirelli, as well as working with such diverse filmmakers as Tony Richardson, Ken Russell, Roman Polanski and Sidney Lumet.

This 1940s drama presents a story of class conflict and its influence on romance. Robert Bradley leaves the shipyards to work in his uncle's furniture business but soon finds himself at odds with the old man. So he becomes a servant for the destructive Thormans, and falls for the lady of the house, Sarah. But in 1913 this upstairs/downstairs romance can only lead to disaster.

Working-class British housewife Myra Savage reinvents herself as a medium, holding seances in the sitting room of her home with the hidden assistance of her under-employed, asthmatic husband, Billy. In an attempt to enhance her credibility as a psychic, Myra hatches an elaborate, ill-conceived plot to kidnap a wealthy couple's young daughter so that she can then help the police "find" the missing girl.

An aging King invites disaster, when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters, and rejects his loving and honest one.

In 19th-century Styria, isolated teen Lara's quiet life is upended by the arrival of mysterious, beautiful Carmilla, a female vampire with whom she develops an intense, homoerotic bond. As Lara's life slowly drains, themes of forbidden desire, identity, and the supernatural are explored, culminating in Lara's discovery of Carmilla's vampiric nature and a confrontation with her ancient lineage.

After years in the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, James becomes a sponsor to newcomer Luka. The pair bond over black coffee, trade stories and build a fragile friendship out of their shared experiences. But as Luka approaches step five – the moment of confession – dangerous truths emerge, threatening the trust on which both of their recoveries depend.

Featuring never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews, filmmaker Ron Howard examines the life and career of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

An executive in charge of a nuclear power plant in the Mid-East must stop his son-- who turns out to be the Anti Christ -- from blowing it up.

A strange new virus has appeared, which only attacks strains of grasses such as wheat and rice, and the world is descending into famine and chaos. Architect John, along with his family and friends, is making his way from London to his brother's farm in northern England where there will hopefully be food and safety for all of them.

Film icons and genre experts share observations, experiences, and analysis to help reframe, deconstruct, and re-contextualize the "lost" decade of horror: the '90s.

Three alternative comedians get involved in a pyramid-selling organization, Pathway, in order to finance their act. They gain great success by deploying their skills as entertainers, only to eventually discover the sinister purpose behind the Pathway organization.

Englishman Robinson Crusoe, stranded alone on an island for years, is overjoyed to find a fellow man, a black islander whom he names Friday. But Crusoe cannot overcome the shackles of his own heritage and upbringing and is incapable of seeing Friday as anything other than a savage who needs Crusoe's brand of cultural and religious enlightenment. Friday attempts to share his own more generous and unashamed culture, but ultimately realizes that Crusoe can never see him as anything but an inferior being. With that awareness, Friday sets out to turn the tables on Crusoe.

BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.

The grind of daily life as a Brick Lane Bangladessi as seen through the eyes of Nazneen (Chatterjee), who at 17 enters an arranged marriage with Chanu (Kaushik). Years later, living in east London with her family, she meets a young man Karim (Simpson).

Celebrate the last night of the Pythons on the big screen! With John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

A group of fervent right wing French nationalists plan to finance a government coup and smash communists by pulling off a daring bank robbery.

Still reeling from the painful breakup of his marriage to screen siren Rita Hayworth, filmmaker Orson Welles makes his way to Rome, where he gets pulled into a tangled political plot involving murder and mysterious motives. A beautiful actress proves a tempting distraction. But if they want to stay alive, Welles and his young Italian driver need to stay focused.

Writer Blake Sinclair finds herself in a fight for her life against a bloodthirsty maniac who has been leaving multiple victims in his wake as he returns to the mountain town of Northdale.

Mike Lawton, Maurice Horton, and Melvin Orton are three men who come to Venice. One of them is a hit man sent to take out a mobster. Another is a lech looking for a little action with a woman he never met, whom he was set up with. And one of them was sent by his employer to inspect a property his boss wants to buy. All three men stay at the same hotel. But when the bellboy gets their names mixed up and gives info meant for someone else. So one of them meets a Realtor who will whatever she has to, to close the sale. And another follows a woman looking for romance. And another goes to the home of the mobster who thinks he's sent there to kill him.