Time Out's The 100 Best British Films

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An official iCheckMovies list.

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Other than location and accent, what signatures mark British cinema? Honestly, it’s hard to peg, if only because the UK movies industry hardly seems limited in the stories it tells and the cinematic experiences it puts onscreen. Want a sweeping, heart-swelling epic? Explore the films of David Lean or Powell and Pressburger. Prefer a smaller scale, more intimate drama? Try Joanna Hogg or Shane Meadows. Thrillers? Romantic period pieces? Sci-fi? Drug movies? You can find them, all with a specific, if sometimes intangible, English slant.

To put together this list of the best British movies of all-time, we polled over 150 actors, directors, writers, producers, critics and industry heavyweights, from the likes of Wes Anderson, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Sam Mendes and Terence Davies, David Morrissey, Sally Hawkins and Thandie Newton. The results are as diverse as the country itself. Here are the 100 greatest British films ever made.

Written by Dave Calhoun, Tom Huddleston, David Jenkins, Derek Adams, Geoff Andrew, Adam Lee Davies, Paul Fairclough, Wally Hammond, Alim Kheraj, Matthew Singer & Phil de Semlyen

Last Updated: April 14, 2022

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  1. 1 -

    Don't Look Now

    1973, in 17 top lists Check
  2. 2 -

    The Third Man

    1949, in 37 top lists Check
  3. 3 -

    Distant Voices, Still Lives

    1988, in 11 top lists Check
  4. 4 -

    Kes

    1969, in 11 top lists Check
  5. 5 -

    The Red Shoes

    1948, in 27 top lists Check
  6. 6 -

    A Matter of Life and Death

    1946, in 22 top lists Check
  7. 7 -

    Performance

    1970, in 16 top lists Check
  8. 8 -

    Kind Hearts and Coronets

    1949, in 21 top lists Check
  9. 9 -

    If....

    1968, in 18 top lists Check
  10. 10 -

    Trainspotting

    1996, in 18 top lists Check
  11. 11 -

    Naked

    1993, in 9 top lists Check
  12. 12 -

    Brief Encounter

    1945, in 22 top lists Check
  13. 13 -

    The 39 Steps

    1935, in 16 top lists Check
  14. 14 -

    The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

    1943, in 16 top lists Check
  15. 15 -

    Withnail and I

    1987 — a.k.a. Withnail & I, in 14 top lists Check
  16. 16 -

    Black Narcissus

    1947, in 15 top lists Check
  17. 17 -

    A Canterbury Tale

    1944, in 8 top lists Check
  18. 18 -

    The Innocents

    1961, in 12 top lists Check
  19. 19 -

    Barry Lyndon

    1975, in 24 top lists Check
  20. 20 -

    Life of Brian

    1979, in 18 top lists Check
  21. 21 -

    Nil by Mouth

    1997, in 4 top lists Check
  22. 22 -

    Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

    1960, in 9 top lists Check
  23. 23 -

    Lawrence of Arabia

    1962, in 40 top lists Check
  24. 24 -

    Brazil

    1985, in 22 top lists Check
  25. 25 -

    Great Expectations

    1946, in 17 top lists Check
  26. 26 -

    I Know Where I'm Going!

    1945, in 13 top lists Check
  27. 27 -

    My Childhood

    1972, in 6 top lists Check
  28. 28 -

    My Ain Folk

    1973, in 3 top lists Check
  29. 29 -

    My Way Home

    1978, in 3 top lists Check
  30. 30 -

    The Wicker Man

    1973, in 13 top lists Check
  31. 31 -

    Peeping Tom

    1960, in 20 top lists Check
  32. 32 -

    The Ladykillers

    1955, in 8 top lists Check
  33. 33 -

    The Lady Vanishes

    1938, in 15 top lists Check
  34. 34 -

    Get Carter

    1971, in 11 top lists Check
  35. 35 -

    Secrets & Lies

    1996, in 17 top lists Check
  36. 36 -

    A Clockwork Orange

    1971, in 37 top lists Check
  37. 37 -

    The Servant

    1963, in 16 top lists Check
  38. 38 -

    The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

    1962, in 6 top lists Check
  39. 39 -

    It Always Rains on Sunday

    1947, in 4 top lists Check
  40. 40 -

    Went the Day Well?

    1942, in 6 top lists Check
  41. 41 -

    London

    1994, in 4 top lists Check
  42. 42 -

    Ratcatcher

    1999, in 7 top lists Check
  43. 43 -

    Witchfinder General

    1968, in 8 top lists Check
  44. 44 +1

    Fires Were Started

    1943, in 8 top lists Check
  45. 45 +1

    Sabotage

    1936, in 3 top lists Check
  46. 46 +1

    Repulsion

    1965, in 17 top lists Check
  47. 47 +1

    The Fallen Idol

    1948, in 10 top lists Check
  48. 48 +1

    Blow-Up

    1966, in 20 top lists Check
  49. 49 +1

    Hunger

    2008, in 6 top lists Check
  50. 50 +1

    Gallivant

    1996, in 5 top lists Check
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Last updated on May 21, 2022 by Fergenaprido; source