Britain on Film

This episode is devoted to the activity that occupies so many of our waking hours - our working lives. During a period when new technology was transforming our factories and fierce competition from overseas was forcing many employers to make far-reaching changes to production processes and patterns of working, these films hint at the enormous challenges confronting workers in Britain's increasingly fragile industrial economy.

Victorian Britain on Film offers audiences a unique window into a bygone era when a thrilling new invention, the motion picture camera, first captures a nation on film. Most of these films have been transformed by colourising them for the first time. They offer a rare portrait of a powerful and prosperous nation – and Empire – on the cusp of great change.

Archive-based series on British life in the 1960s continues with an episode devoted to some of the most monumental challenges of the post-war period - how to tackle desperate housing shortages, rebuild shattered cities and meet the rising expectations of an increasingly affluent and consumerist nation. As these films show, 1960s Britain embraced ambitious solutions by building high-rise homes in our cities and New Towns in the country.

Series in which high-quality 1960s colour footage from the vaults of the Rank Organisation is brought together to offer compelling insights into British life during that seminal decade. This episode salutes the Rank filmmakers' attempts to reflect our near-obsessive national preoccupation with a range of competitive sports, ranging from golf and cycling to skiing and stock car racing. Featuring vintage prose praising the idiosyncratic appeal of cricket by the incomparable commentator Richie Benaud, as well as rare colour footage of the England football team in training shortly before their greatest-ever triumph in the 1966 World Cup.

Incredible footage is colourised for the first time, providing a glimpse of 1800s Britain.

From scenes of jubilant workers celebrating spectacular launches in the early 1900's to King George V and Queen Mary's morale-boosting trip to Northern England’s shipyards at the tail end of the Great Wa

As part of the 2017 UK/India Year of Culture, the British Council and British Film Institute share a unique collection of films documenting the sights and culture of a bygone India. Filmed between 1899-1947, and preserved in the BFI National Archive since then, these rare films capture many glimpses of life in India, from dances and markets, to hunts and pageantry. This record of early twentieth century India offers a unique picture of the country and gives eye-opening insight into the people, places, traditions and many famous landmarks.