We want to get to know you more to help improve our service. Please take 2 minutes to fill out our survey here. Thank you! test2

This film is part of Free

Title of error

See Help

Lonely Water

Terrifying public information film presenting the horrific consequences of playing in or near rivers, ponds and other water hazards.

1973 2 mins

Overview

Narrated throughout by a ghoulish robed figure, ‘The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water’ (voiced by an unsettlingly restrained Donald Pleasence), Lonely Water presents the horrific consequences of playing in or near rivers, ponds, construction sites and other unsafe areas where water hazards are rife.

What’s most disturbing here (in 2003 the film was voted among Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Scary Moments), is not the nature of the accidents but the perverse, sadistic enjoyment that the Spirit seems to be taking in watching them: the pleasure with which he anticipates the breaking of the branch; the telltale twinge of excitement in Pleasence’s tone when he describes a scrap yard as ‘the perfect place… for an accident.’ All work to make the events depicted even more terrifying and in doing so make Lonely Water’s grim philosophy chillingly clear. Driven by a RoSPA campaign aimed at reducing the number of drowning-related accidents in the UK (a government working party was established with this aim in 1973), this film presents a live-action and infinitely more disturbing alternative to the COI’s iconic Charley – Falling in the Water, released the same year.

Director

Jeff Grant

Featuring

Donald Pleasence

Country

United Kingdom

Language

English

Watch for free

Green Cross Code - He's Great Green Cross Code - He's Great

Public Information Filler 1976 0 mins

David Prowse (the frame of Darth Vader) appears as the iconic Green Cross Code Man, heaping praise on a young GXC expert.

Watch for free

Coughs and Sneezes Coughs and Sneezes

Public Information Filler 1945 1 mins

One of Richard Massingham’s most famous public information films, which lead to the ubiquitous mantra: "Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases".

Watch for free

I Am a Litter Basket I Am a Litter Basket

Public Information Filler 1959 6 mins

A heartfelt cry on behalf of the world's litter-baskets.

Watch for free

Charley's Black Magic Charley's Black Magic

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1949 9 mins

Cartoon propaganda short sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow

Watch for free

Rickets Rickets

1944 0 mins

A hard-hitting WWII Food Flash warning about the dangers of rickets - and how to avoid them

Watch for free

Morecambe and Wise - Be Wise Don't Drink and Drive Morecambe and Wise - Be Wise Don't Drink and Drive

Public Information Filler 1963 1 mins

Ernie tells Eric to ‘be wise’ and not drive home after their Christmas party

Watch for free

All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2025 28 mins

Payal Kapadia discusses her Cannes prize-winning and Bafta-nominated drama with Ashanti Omkar.

Watch for free

Khichdi Khichdi

Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins

The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.