Loosely based on the director's own family and upbringing, it presents an evocative account of working-class life in Liverpool, England during the 1940s and '50s. Births, marriages and deaths, and an expressive use of music, provide the underpinning for a film that is beautiful, heartbreaking, resonant but never sentimental. Now regarded as a masterpiece of British cinema, and boasting a startling performance from Pete Postlethwaite as the head of...

Shows changing patterns of human emotions during 24 hours in the life of Waterloo Station.

The nightly journey of the Postal Special from London to Glasgow. The flagship of the GPO Film Unit's output and a cornerstone of British documentary. Harry Watt and Basil Wright's study of the down postal express stands as a beacon for John Grierson's original purpose for documentary - to make the working man the hero of the screen. A truly collaborative effort, a coming together of many great names and those immortal lines from W.H. Auden.

Documentary about the abuse of animals in factory farming, sport and research. Made over a period of two years in Britain and the U.S., includes interviews, clandestinely shot footage of stag hunting and pharmaceutical research, and rare material of the military use of animals for training, weapons testing and nuclear research.

Adventures of a truant schoolboy cycling around the English town of Hartlepool in the north-eastern county of Cleveland.

Humphrey Jennings and Harry Watt’s famous film, produced at the GPO film unit, is an enduring example of British self-mythology and rousing evidence of the artistic potential of supposed propaganda. A hymn to our capital city’s resilience during the Blitz, structured as a day-in-the-life of stiff-upper-lipped Londoners, its poetic espousal of British fortitude ensured the film was widely exhibited internationally and utilised as a tool to help...

Martin Scorsese’s contribution to the Century of Cinema series is a fascinating exploration of some of the landmarks of American cinema, as well as some of its lesser known byways. Scorsese analyses the work of filmmakers as diverse as DW Griffith, FW Murnau, Sam Fuller and John Cassavetes. This is no academic history, but a declaration of passion for cinema from one of its most celebrated contemporary practitioners. This episode explores the concepts...

Martin Scorsese’s contribution to the Century of Cinema series is a fascinating exploration of some of the landmarks of American cinema, as well as some of its lesser known byways. Scorsese analyses the work of filmmakers as diverse as DW Griffith, FW Murnau, Sam Fuller and John Cassavetes. This is no academic history, but a declaration of passion for cinema from one of its most celebrated contemporary practitioners. This episode explores the concepts...

Set during the American Civil War, the story of a Southern soldier sent to reconnoitre enemy positions who is trapped beneath a huge fall of masonry when Northern cannons hit the wall near which he was spying from.