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Working Class Heroes
A collection of films lit up by the charisma of working-class stars; a celebration of fine actors and remarkable leading roles.
In Britain (for a time at least) film stars came from comprehensives and council houses. The story begins in the socially mobile 1960s as young working-class talent exploded through music, fashion and film. Through the 80s and 90s a new mood saw a series of inventive British films built around working-class faces, while 21st-century British cinema spotlit the junction of race and class. This season brings together the bold, powerful and provocative films that can be made when working-class stars have the chance to shine.
Under the SkinUnder the Skin
Melodrama 1997 83 minsDirector: Carine Adler
Carine Adler’s sexy and dark debut, starring Samantha Morton in her first major feature film role.
The Ipcress FileThe Ipcress File
Crime 1965 108 minsDirector: Sidney J. Furie
The coolest spy of all – Michael Caine’s Harry Palmer – makes his brilliant big screen debut in this landmark British spy thriller.
Prick Up Your EarsPrick Up Your Ears
Biopic 1987 110 minsDirector: Stephen Frears
A celebration of outrageous British playwright Joe Orton’s irreverent and charismatic talent, starring Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina.
Second ComingSecond Coming
Drama 2015 105 minsDirector: debbie tucker green
What if an immaculate conception took place in a South London household? Idris Elba stars in a subtle, thought-provoking and original family drama.
Red RoadRed Road
Thriller 2006 110 minsDirector: Andrea Arnold
Andrea Arnold’s highly acclaimed film, winner of top prizes at Cannes and the BFI London Film Festival, is a haunting drama about a woman confronting past demons.
The ArborThe Arbor
Biopic 2010 90 minsDirector: Clio Barnard
Clio Barnard's film about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar mixes reconstruction, interviews (performed by actors) and scenes from the plays.
Billy LiarBilly Liar
Comedy 1963 98 minsSilentDirector: John Schlesinger
Tom Courtenay is the clerk whose overactive fantasies compensate for a dull provincial life, in this classic film from the British New Wave.
This Sporting LifeThis Sporting Life
Sport 1963 129 minsDirector: Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson’s fantastic first feature masterfully dissects the brutal life struggles of a rough-edged rugby footballer on and off the field.
ElectricityElectricity
Drama 2014 96 minsDirector: Bryn Higgins
Agyness Deyn stars in a powerful story seen through the eyes of a young woman whose epilepsy brings extraordinary hallucinations.
Better ThingsBetter Things
Drama 2007 90 minsDirector: Duane Hopkins
Duane Hopkins’ stunning debut tells a sombre story with startling beauty, as it follows the stories of various addicts in a West Midlands town.
BypassBypass
Drama 2015 105 minsDirector: Duane Hopkins
Duane Hopkins’ follow up to Better Things is a striking, poetic drama about a young man on the edge.
Kelly + VictorKelly + Victor
Drama 2013 90 minsDirector: Kieran Evans
In modern Liverpool, a couple meet and begin a transgressive, sexually charged affair set against a background of crime and encroaching danger.
Brand: A Second ComingBrand: A Second Coming
Documentary 2015 105 minsDirector: Ondi Timoner
Russell Brand ponders his political awakening and messianic tendencies in Ondi Timoner’s perceptive and very funny documentary.
ShellShell
Drama 2013 87 minsDirector: Scott Graham
In a remote part of Scotland, teenager Shell develops an intense relationship with her reclusive father.
The GoobThe Goob
Drama 2015 84 minsDirector: Guy Myhill
A teen seeks meaning as an East Anglian summer and a violent outsider threaten to overwhelm.
Bullet BoyBullet Boy
Drama 2005 86 minsDirector: Saul Dibb
Ashley Walters impresses in the hard-hitting Hackney drama that’s still one of the best of Britain’s black urban crime films.
My Brother the DevilMy Brother the Devil
Drama 2012 107 minsDirector: Sally El Hosaini
Sally El Hosaini's feature debut tells of the love and disenchantment of two British-Egyptian brothers as gangs, drugs and sexuality come between them.
PressurePressure
Drama 1978 121 minsDirector: Horace Ové
Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London; now available in its new restoration.
The Moon over the AlleyThe Moon over the Alley
Musical 1977 108 minsDirector: Joseph Despins
The Moon Over the Alley is a bizarre and compelling musical exploring the problems of multicultural Notting Hill residents in the early 1970s.
DufferDuffer
Drama 1971 75 minsDirector: Joseph Despins and William Dumaresq
A bizarre study of obsession focusing on a teenage boy who is torn between the charms of a fleshly female prostitute and the sadism of an older man.
Bronco BullfrogBronco Bullfrog
Drama 1970 87 minsDirector: Barney Platts-Mills
A fascinating record of 1960s suedehead youth culture which is largely improvised by a non-professional cast of teenagers from east London
TheoremTheorem
Drama 1968 98 minsDirector: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pasolini’s classic about a handsome, enigmatic stranger (Terence Stamp) who arrives at a bourgeois household and seduces an entire family.
Deep EndDeep End
Drama 1970 92 minsDirector: Jerzy Skolimowski
Jerzy Skolimowski’s darkly comic and utterly compelling story of teenage infatuation in a run-down swimming pool.
Distant Voices, Still LivesDistant Voices, Still Lives
Biopic 1988 84 minsDirector: Terence Davies
Terence Davies' debut feature is a remarkable evocation of working-class family life in the 40s and 50s and a visionary exploration of memory.
ChildrenChildren
Drama 1976 46 minsDirector: Terence Davies
The first part of Terence Davies' formidable Trilogy explores the effects of violence on a Liverpool schoolboy, told in a series of flashbacks.
Madonna and ChildMadonna and Child
Drama 1980 28 minsDirector: Terence Davies
Autobiography as art: the centrepiece of Terence Davies' devastating Liverpool-set Trilogy focuses on his fictional alter-ego in middle age.
Death and TransfigurationDeath and Transfiguration
Drama 1983 26 minsDirector: Terence Davies
The Terence Davies Trilogy reaches its astonishing climax as tortured Liverpool clerk Robert Tucker prepares to meet his maker.
My ChildhoodMy Childhood
Drama 1973 46 minsDirector: Bill Douglas
The first part of Bill Douglas’ poetic and profoundly stirring autobiographical trilogy, about an eight-year-old boy growing up in a Scottish mining village in 1945.
My Ain FolkMy Ain Folk
Drama 1974 55 minsDirector: Bill Douglas
The second part of the revered Bill Douglas Trilogy follows Jamie as he ends up in a children’s home.
My Way HomeMy Way Home
Drama 1979 72 minsDirector: Bill Douglas
Concluding his acclaimed Trilogy, Bill Douglas’ autobiographical film follows young Jamie as he’s conscripted in the RAF and finally feels at home.
Burning an IllusionBurning an Illusion
Drama 1982 102 minsDirector: Menelik Shabazz
Menelik Shabazz’s pioneering first feature traces the emotional and political growth of a young black couple in Thatcher’s London.
It Always Rains on SundayIt Always Rains on Sunday
Drama 1947 88 minsDirector: Robert Hamer
Austerity noir: Ealing's downbeat but compelling East End thriller.
Hell Is a CityHell Is a City
Police drama 1960 96 minsDirector: Val Guest
Punchy crime thriller with a realist streak as Stanley Baker pursues a fugitive through the streets of Manchester.
FaceFace
Crime 1997 101 minsDirector: Antonia Bird
Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone are members of a criminal gang that tears itself apart after a heist goes wrong, in Antonia Bird’s stylish thriller.
More from Working Class Heroes in our Rentals collection.