To celebrate 100 years of film making from Britain, BBC2 started the Summer of British Film, and this seven part weekly series was the most essential viewing for me, besides the films of course. In this series, narrated by Jessica Stevenson, it looked back on all the great (and some not so great) British films according to the specific genres. Guns, Gangsters & Getaways - The Story of the British Thriller included: The 39 Steps, Brighton Rock, Casino Royale, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, The Ipcress File, The Krays, The Lady Vanishes, The Long Good Friday, The Lodger; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Shallow Grave. Longing, Loving & Leg-overs - The Story of the British Romance included: Alfie, Black Narcissus, Bridget Jones's Diary, Brief Encounter, Darling, Educating Rita, Four Weddings and a Funeral; Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Gregory's Girl, Love Actually, Notting Hill, The Red Shoes, The Seventh Veil, Shirley Valentine, The Stud, Whistle Down The Wind and Women in Love. Hard Luck, Humour & Working Class Heroes - The Story of Social Realism included: All Or Nothing, Billy Elliot, Billy Liar, A Clockwork Orange, Kes, Nil by Mouth, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Secrets & Lies, Sweet Sixteen, This Sporting Life, Trainspotting and Twenty Four Seven. Corsets, Cleavage & Country Houses - The Story of Costume Drama included: Carry On Henry, Chariots of Fire, A Cock And Bull Story, Gandhi, Great Expectations, Henry V (1944), Henry V (1988), Jude, Lawrence of Arabia, Much Ado About Nothing, Mrs. Brown, A Night To Remember, The Railway Children, A Room with a View, Shakespeare in Love, Tom Jones and Topsy-Turvy. Magic, Murder & Monsters - The Story of Horror & Fantasy included: 28 Days Later, Brazil, Doctor Who and the Daleks, The Elephant Man, many Hammer Horror films, Harry Potter, The Quatermass Xperiment, Shaun of the Dead, The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General. Bullets, Bombs & Bridges - The Story of the War Film included: The Bridge on the River Kwai, A Bridge Too Far, The Colditz Story, The Dam Busters, Dr. Strangelove, Enigma, In Which We Serve, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Matter of Life and Death, United 93, The Wooden Horse and Zulu. Sauce, Satire & Silliness - The Story of the Comedy Film included: Bend It Like Beckham, many Carry On films, Chicken Run, many Ealing Studios comedies, A Fish Called Wanda, The Full Monty, Wallace and Gromit and Withnail & I. With contributions from Lord Sir Richard Attenborough, Danny Baker, Mischa Barton, Jamie Bell, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Danny Boyle, Sir Michael Caine, Simon Callow, Andrew Collins, Pauline Collins, Martin Compston, Steve Coogan, Brian Cox, Daniel Craig, Richard Curtis, Jim Dale, Phil Daniels, Amanda Donohoe, Fenella Fielding, Martin Freeman, Mark Gatiss, Lewis Gilbert, Terry Gilliam, Richard E. Grant, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Bob Hoskins, John Hurt, Phill Jupitus, Martin Kemp, Karen Krizanovich, John Landis, Mike Leigh, Malcolm McDowell, Ewan McGregor, Al Murray, Paul O'Grady, Nick Park, Simon Pegg, Leslie Phillips, Guy Richie, Rufus Sewell, John Sergeant, Timothy Spall, Johnny Vegas, Kate Winslet, Sir Norman Wisdom. A brilliant documentary series with fantastic celebrity interviews and clips of some great British films, I loved it! Outstanding!
Review of British Film Forever
