1980s UK
by flynnalan | created - 08 Nov 2022 | updated - 1 week ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Triangle (1981–1983)
30 min | Drama
A soap opera series about the crew of a North Sea ferry.
Stars: Michael Craig, Larry Lamb, Paul Jerricho, Scott Fredericks
Votes: 79
2. P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang (1982 TV Movie)
PG | 85 min | Comedy
Alan Duckworth (known as 'Quack Quack' to his friends) is a socially awkward fourteen-year-old who is obsessed with cricket and Ann Lawton, a girl in his class. Alan daydreams throughout ... See full summary »
Director: Michael Apted | Stars: John Albasiny, Alison Steadman, Abigail Cruttenden, Maurice Dee
Votes: 1,005
3. Bullseye (1981– )
30 min | Game-Show
Contestants test their darts skills and general knowledge and battle it out to get to Bully's Prize Board.
Stars: Jim Bowen, Tony Green, Nick Owen, Eric Bristow
Votes: 455
4. Educating Rita (1983)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
An alcoholic professor has been hired by a working-class girl for higher education.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Michael Caine, Julie Walters, Michael Williams, Maureen Lipman
Votes: 14,919 | Gross: $14.65M
5. Shirley Valentine (1989)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Shirley is a 42-year-old bored Liverpudlian housewife who takes a holiday trip to Greece and meets a local man who bolsters her self-confidence. She evolves and transforms to the point that her husband doesn't even recognize her.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Julia McKenzie, Alison Steadman
Votes: 8,906 | Gross: $6.35M
6. Tumbledown (1988 TV Movie)
115 min | Biography, Drama, War
Based on the experiences of Lieutenant Robert Lawrence, M.C..
Director: Richard Eyre | Stars: Colin Firth, Paul Rhys, David Calder, Barbara Leigh-Hunt
Votes: 588
7. A Room with a View (1985)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama, Romance
Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) shares a brief romance with George Emerson in Florence. Yet as she tries to move on with her life and look for marriage elsewhere, can she truly forget the events of that summer?
Director: James Ivory | Stars: Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Denholm Elliott, Julian Sands
Votes: 47,855 | Gross: $20.97M
8. Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987)
R | 89 min | Comedy, Drama
Realistic story of working-class Yorkshire life, alternately serious and light-hearted, as two schoolgirls have a sexual fling with a married man.
Director: Alan Clarke | Stars: Siobhan Finneran, Michelle Holmes, George Costigan, Lesley Sharp
Votes: 4,794 | Gross: $0.12M
9. Scrubbers (1982)
R | 93 min | Drama
A film in feminist reading of the vulgar genre of the 'women's prison film', which without voyeurism tells of violence among women and their relationships with each other.
Director: Mai Zetterling | Stars: Amanda York, Chrissie Cotterill, Elizabeth Edmonds, Kate Ingram
Votes: 567
10. The Bounty (1984)
PG | 132 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Fed up with their Captain's harsh discipline, a sailing ship's crew decides to take action.
Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Edward Fox
Votes: 30,429 | Gross: $8.60M
11. A Very British Coup (1988)
Not Rated | 148 min | Drama
Disaster befalls the UK under a seemingly corrupt Conservative government. The Labour Party is elected - but committed to radical change, under a firmly left-wing leader. That's not supposed to happen. Who will save the traditional rulers?
Stars: Ray McAnally, Marjorie Yates, Geoffrey Beevers, Keith Allen
Votes: 1,021
12. 1984 (1984)
R | 113 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In a totalitarian future society, a man, whose daily work is re-writing history, tries to rebel by falling in love.
Director: Michael Radford | Stars: John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack
Votes: 78,980 | Gross: $8.40M
13. The History Man (1981– )
206 min | Drama
Ardently left-wing, or so it seems, Howard Kirk (Antony Sher) subtly extends his power over students and colleagues alike at a redbrick university.
Stars: Antony Sher, Geraldine James, Isla Blair, Laura Davenport
Votes: 110
14. The Long Good Friday (1980)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An up-and-coming gangster is tested by the insurgence of an unknown, very powerful threat.
Director: John Mackenzie | Stars: Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Paul Freeman, Leo Dolan
Votes: 25,589
15. An Englishman Abroad (1983 TV Movie)
61 min | Drama
The actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow and meets a mysterious Englishman. It turns out that he's the notorious spy Guy Burgess.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Alan Bates, Coral Browne, Charles Gray, Harold Innocent
Votes: 617
16. The Black Stuff (1980 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 110 min | Drama
A group of Liverpudlians goes to Middlesborough to lay a tarmac road.
Director: Jim Goddard | Stars: Michael Angelis, Tom Georgeson, Alan Igbon, Gary Bleasdale
Votes: 576
17. Boys from the Blackstuff (1982)
50 min | Drama
Five unemployed men would do anything just to have a job in Thatcher's Britain.
Stars: Michael Angelis, Bernard Hill, Alan Igbon, Peter Kerrigan
Votes: 1,575
18. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1989–1990)
165 min | Drama
Jessica, raised in a fanatical cult, endures brainwashing until her forbidden relationship with Melanie opens her eyes. They face cruel treatment for their 'unnatural' bond, but Jessica's spirit overcomes the oppressive teachings.
Stars: Geraldine McEwan, Elizabeth Spriggs, Freda Dowie, Peter Gordon
Votes: 1,112
19.
Play for Today (1970–1984)
Episode:
Too Late to Talk to Billy
(1982)
85 min | Comedy, Drama
This play, set in 1977, is about rank, responsibilities and relationships within a Belfast family.
Director: Paul Seed | Stars: James Ellis, Kenneth Branagh, Brid Brennan, Maggie Shevlin
Votes: 92
20.
Play for Today (1970–1984)
Episode:
A Matter of Choice for Billy
(1983)
84 min | Comedy, Drama
It's 1978, a year on from when we last saw the Martin family, and Ma has died. So, everything erupts again when Norman returns from England for the funeral.
Director: Paul Seed | Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Brid Brennan, Tracey Lynch, Ainé Gorman
Votes: 55
21.
Play for Today (1970–1984)
Episode:
A Coming to Terms for Billy
(1984)
82 min | Comedy, Drama
Norman comes storming into the family home with his new lady friend. But has she managed to achieve the impossible by mellowing the big man?
Director: Paul Seed | Stars: James Ellis, Kenneth Branagh, Brid Brennan, Gwen Taylor
Votes: 52
22.
Play for Today (1970–1984)
Episode:
Z for Zachariah
(1984)
117 min | Comedy, Drama
Based on a book of the same name, depicting events in a Welsh valley after a nuclear holocaust, in which almost everyone has dies, leaving just two families. Eventually just one girl and ... See full summary »
Director: Anthony Garner | Stars: Anthony Andrews, Pippa Hinchley, David Daker, Angela Galbraith
Votes: 114
23. The Elephant Man (1980)
PG | 124 min | Biography, Drama
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud
Votes: 258,395
24. Local Hero (1983)
PG | 111 min | Comedy, Drama
An American oil company has plans for a new refinery and sends someone to Scotland to buy up an entire village, but things don't go as expected.
Director: Bill Forsyth | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Fulton Mackay, Denis Lawson
Votes: 26,689 | Gross: $5.90M
25. Talking Heads (1988)
Comedy, Drama
Six monologues tell the stories of six different repressed souls: a man dominated by his mother, a vicar's wife, an inveterate letter writer, a hopeful actress, a recently widowed woman, and an elderly shut-in.
Stars: Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, Patricia Routledge, Stephanie Cole
Votes: 375
26. Chariots of Fire (1981)
PG | 125 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Two British track athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Christian, are driven to win in the 1924 Olympics as they wrestle with issues of pride and conscience.
Director: Hugh Hudson | Stars: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nicholas Farrell, Nigel Havers
Votes: 65,879 | Gross: $58.97M
27. The Singing Detective (1986)
70 min | Drama, Musical, Mystery
Tormented and bedridden by a debilitating disease, a mystery writer relives his detective stories through his imagination and hallucinations.
Stars: Michael Gambon, Patrick Malahide, Joanne Whalley, David Ryall
Votes: 4,807
28. Smiley's People (1982)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, Mystery
The murder of a Soviet defector forces his old handler, British spymaster George Smiley, out of retirement. His investigation leads to an old nemesis, the Soviet spymaster known only as "Karla". This will be their final dance.
Stars: Alec Guinness, Eileen Atkins, Bill Paterson, Vladek Sheybal
Votes: 4,762
29. Lifer (1983 TV Movie)
102 min | Documentary
Documentary study of prison life which concentrates on people serving life sentences.
Director: Rex Bloomstein | Stars: Norma Joyce Bell, Keith Bramstone, Robert Brown, Kate Dawson
30. Forty Minutes (1981–1994)
40 min | Documentary
Documentaries on any possible subject, the only connection being that they last forty minutes.
Stars: John Pitman, Michael Dean, Lucinda Lambton, Roger Mills
Votes: 31
31.
Forty Minutes (1981–1994)
Episode:
Girls Apart
(1987)
Documentary
Two South African school-girls, one black, one white - their contrasting attitudes and lives.
Directors: Claude Sauvageot, Christopher Sheppard
32. Threads (1984 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 112 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
The effects of a nuclear holocaust on the working class city of Sheffield, England and the eventual long-term effects of nuclear war on civilization.
Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale, David Brierly, Rita May
Votes: 20,074
33. When the Wind Blows (1986)
16+ | 84 min | Animation, Drama, War
A naive elderly British rural couple survive the initial onslaught of a nuclear war.
Director: Jimmy T. Murakami | Stars: Peggy Ashcroft, John Mills, Robin Houston, James Russell
Votes: 12,637 | Gross: $0.01M
34. Tenko (1981–1984)
50 min | Drama, War
After the Japanese invasion of Singapore in February 1942, a group of British, Dutch and Australian women are held in a Japanese internment camp on a Japanese-occupied island between Singapore and Australia.
Stars: Ann Bell, Stephanie Cole, Claire Oberman, Emily Bolton
Votes: 834
35. The Beiderbecke Affair (1985)
320 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Trevor Chaplin teaches woodwork and likes to listen to jazz. Jill Swinburne teaches English and wants to help save the planet. Trevor meets a beautiful blond, a detective sergeant and a pair of men running a junior football team.
Stars: James Bolam, Barbara Flynn, Dudley Sutton, Dominic Jephcott
Votes: 618
36. The Beiderbecke Tapes (1987– )
151 min | Drama, Music, Mystery
Trevor Chaplin teaches woodwork and likes to listen to jazz. Jill Swinburne teaches English and wants to help save the planet. They live together and just want a quiet life. Then they meet ... See full summary »
Stars: James Bolam, Barbara Flynn, Dudley Sutton, Malcolm Storry
Votes: 372
37. The Beiderbecke Connection (1988)
201 min | Comedy, Drama
Trevor Chaplin teaches woodwork and likes to listen to jazz. Jill Chapman teaches English and wants to help save the planet. They live together and just want a quiet life. Since their last ... See full summary »
Stars: James Bolam, Barbara Flynn, Terence Rigby, Danny Schiller
Votes: 341
38. Icebound in the Antarctic (1983– )
55 min | Adventure, Drama, History
A gripping four-part drama about Sir Ernest Shackleton, the great explorer's epic Antarctic expeditions, based on his own journals.
Stars: David Schofield, David Rodigan, Michael Hayward, Robert Lang
Votes: 39
39. White Mischief (1987)
R | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In 1940s Kenya, a married couple join other affluent British expatriates in a lifestyle of recklessness and excess, but soon find themselves in a troubling situation.
Director: Michael Radford | Stars: Sarah Miles, Joss Ackland, John Hurt, Greta Scacchi
Votes: 3,214 | Gross: $3.11M
40. Personal Services (1987)
R | 105 min | Comedy
The story of the rise of a madame of a suburban brothel catering to older men, inspired by the real experiences of Cynthia Payne.
Director: Terry Jones | Stars: Julie Walters, Alec McCowen, Shirley Stelfox, Danny Schiller
Votes: 1,869 | Gross: $1.74M
41. In Search of the Trojan War (1985)
360 min | Documentary, History
Over six hour-long programs, Michael Wood marshals the disparate strands of evidence to present as fully rounded a portrait as possible of both the historical and the legendary city of Troy... See full summary »
Stars: Michael Wood, John Chadwick, Colin Renfrew, Jerome Sperling
Votes: 300
42. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An ambitious Pakistani Briton and his white boyfriend strive for success and hope when they open a glamorous laundromat.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Richard Graham
Votes: 17,292 | Gross: $2.45M
43. Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
R | 105 min | Biography, Drama
Biographer John Lahr is writing a book about playwright Joe Orton. Joe and Kenneth meet at drama school and live together for ten years as lovers and collaborators. Both want to be writers, but only one of them is successful.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina, Vanessa Redgrave, Wallace Shawn
Votes: 6,538 | Gross: $1.65M
44. Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987)
101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Sammy and Rosie are an unconventional couple. They live amid chaos, surround themselves with intellectual street people, and sleep with everybody except each other. Things become interesting when Sammy's father visits.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Shashi Kapoor, Claire Bloom, Frances Barber, Ayub Khan-Din
Votes: 1,538 | Gross: $1.20M
45. Desire (1989)
88 min | Documentary, History, Romance
Stuart Marshall's forceful new film (separately commissioned, but screened in Britain as part of - and the most-watched episode of - Channel Four's lesbian and gay magazine series) isn't ... See full summary »
Director: Stuart Marshall
Votes: 32
46. The Skin Horse (1983)
52 min | Documentary, Fantasy
Award-winning, ground-breaking TV documentary dealing sensitively with the topic of sex and intimacy within the disabled community.
Directors: Nigel Evans, John Samson | Stars: Nabil Shaban, Nick Finden, Tony Gerrard, Tina Leslie
Votes: 23
47. Dispatches (1987– )
Documentary, News
Channel 4's long-running, award-winning investigative current affairs documentary series. Particularly noted for its undercover reporting.
Stars: Morland Sanders, Antony Barnett, Deborah Davies, Tazeen Ahmad
Votes: 236
48. High Hopes (1988)
PG | 108 min | Comedy, Drama
The life of a working class couple living in London and their complicated relationships with other members of the family.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Phil Davis, Ruth Sheen, Edna Doré, Philip Jackson
Votes: 5,785 | Gross: $1.19M
49. Flying Into the Wind (1983 TV Movie)
71 min | Drama
The Wyatts wish to educate their children at home, but the education authorities have other ideas. Moving between 1969 and 1980, we see how this affects the various individuals and attitudes.
Director: Edward Bennett | Stars: Graham Crowden, Derrick O'Connor, Rynagh O'Grady, Adrian Wagstaff
Votes: 37
50. R.H.I.N.O.; Really Here in Name Only (1983 TV Movie)
78 min | Drama
An isolated, overweight girl with a penchant for shoplifting, gets pushed from pillar to post as the authorities struggle to know what to do with her.
Director: Jane Howell | Stars: Deltha McLeod, Andrew Partridge, Michael Buffong, Alfred Fagon
Votes: 75
51. Made in Britain (1982 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 76 min | Crime, Drama
After being sent to a detention center, a teenage skinhead clashes with the social workers, who want to conform him to the status quo.
Director: Alan Clarke | Stars: Tim Roth, Terry Richards, Bill Stewart, Eric Richard
Votes: 7,618
52. Birth of a Nation (1983 TV Movie)
79 min | Drama
A new teacher at a highly problematic comprehensive school feels that corporal punishment may just be inflaming the problems, and so begins to campaign against it.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Jim Broadbent, Robert Stephens, Bruce Myers, Richard Butler
Votes: 86
53. This Is England '86 (2010)
TV-MA | 47 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Shaun has just finished his final exams and he realizes he is no longer a kid. It's mid 80's England, and the gang are back, looking for a laugh, a job and something that resembles a future.
Stars: Andrew Ellis, Andrew Shim, Chanel Cresswell, Danielle Watson
Votes: 14,497
54.
Forty Minutes (1981–1994)
Episode:
Johnny Oddball
(1985)
Documentary
10 years ago a famous documentary was made by Franc Roddam about "Mini" Cooper, a most attractive and intelligent child arsonist. Now released from a secure psychiatric institution, he hopes to make a career as a magician.
Directors: Philippa Walker, Franc Roddam | Stars: Michael Cooper, Neil Dudgeon, Gerry Ormesher, Franc Roddam
Votes: 6
55.
Forty Minutes (1981–1994)
Episode:
The Outcasts
(1985)
Documentary
A group of 'Hell's Angels' in East Anglia.
Votes: 13
56. Withnail & I (1987)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama
In 1969, two substance-abusing, unemployed actors retreat to the countryside for a holiday that proves disastrous.
Director: Bruce Robinson | Stars: Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths, Ralph Brown
Votes: 47,889 | Gross: $1.54M
57. Mona Lisa (1986)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A man recently released from prison manages to get a job driving a call girl from customer to customer.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Michael Caine, Robbie Coltrane
Votes: 18,698 | Gross: $5.79M
58. Dance with a Stranger (1985)
R | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A stormy relationship, complicated by the strictures of 1950s social class and gender roles, ends in death. Based on the life of Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in Britain.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Miranda Richardson, Rupert Everett, Ian Holm, Matthew Carroll
Votes: 2,972 | Gross: $2.17M
59. The Story of Ruth (1982)
90 min | Drama
The nightmare experience of a young American housewife, confronted by a dark secret from her childhood.
Director: John Purdie | Stars: Connie Booth, Colin Bruce, Peter Whitman, Robert Arden
Votes: 16
60.
Q.E.D. (1982–1999)
Episode:
Simon's War
(1983)
70 min | Documentary
Documentary which follows the life of Simon Weston, a former soldier in the Welsh Guards who sustained 46% burns when the RFA Sir Galahad was bombed by the Argentines during the Falklands ... See full summary »
Director: Stephen Rose | Star: Simon Weston
Votes: 6
61.
Q.E.D. (1982–1999)
Episode:
Simon's Peace
(1985)
Documentary
Falkland veteran Simon Weston returns home after spending months in hospital after receiving 46% burns when the HMS Sir Galahad was bombed during the Falklands War in 1982. This QED ... See full synopsis »
Director: Malcolm Brinkworth | Star: Simon Weston
62. Q.E.D. (II) (1982–1999)
30 min | Documentary
A BBC 1 award-winning science documentary.
Stars: Anthony Clare, Maggie Philbin, Simon Weston, Kenny Everett
Votes: 29
63. Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983–2004)
60 min | Comedy, Drama
Seven British construction workers escape Britain's ever-growing dole queues and travel to Germany to work on a site in Düsseldorf. Follow their trials and tribulations of working away from home and away from the women they left behind.
Stars: Timothy Spall, Jimmy Nail, Tim Healy, Kevin Whately
Votes: 4,002
64. To Serve Them All My Days (1980–1981)
673 min | Drama
David Powlett-Jones has just returned to England from the trenches of WWI. He was injured and shell-shocked and, after a spell in hospital he gets a job teaching in a boys boarding school ... See full summary »
Stars: John Duttine, Frank Middlemass, Alan MacNaughtan, Patricia Lawrence
Votes: 670
65. A Woman of Substance (1984)
300 min | Drama, Romance
Emma Harte, a bright and ambitious servant girl, overcomes her impoverished beginnings in her quest to become a retailing magnate and one of the world's richest women.
Stars: Jenny Seagrove, Barry Bostwick, Deborah Kerr, Diane Baker
Votes: 1,132
66. After Dark (1987–2003)
180 min | Talk-Show
A groundbreaking British late-night discussion show broadcast live with no scheduled end time.
Stars: Ian Kennedy, Tony Wilson, John Underwood, Anthony Clare
Votes: 22
67. Scandal (1989)
R | 106 min | Drama, History
Based on the Profumo Scandal of 1963, an affair between an exotic dancer and the Minister of War shakes up the British government.
Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: John Hurt, Joanne Whalley, Bridget Fonda, Ian McKellen
Votes: 5,522 | Gross: $8.80M
68. Screen One (1985–2002)
120 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Anthology of unconnected movies of different genres.
Stars: Mark Chapman, Alfred Molina, Julie Walters, Geraldine James
Votes: 139
69. Screen Two (1985–1998)
TV-14 | 120 min | Drama
In 1984 Kenith Trodd joined BBC team responding to Channel 4 releases, leading to transition from BBC studio plays to Screen One/Two anthology series. Trodd oversaw first group of titles in these series in 1985.
Stars: Jude North, Roger Brierley, Geoffrey Chater, Norman Jones
Votes: 244
70. The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
R | 124 min | Drama, Romance
Anna and Mike portray two characters in a film set in 19th century England who fall in love despite the fact that Mike's character is engaged.
Director: Karel Reisz | Stars: Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Hilton McRae, Emily Morgan
Votes: 15,070 | Gross: $22.60M
71. A Handful of Dust (1988)
PG | 118 min | Drama, Romance
The wife's affair and a death in the family hasten the demise of an upper-class English marriage.
Director: Charles Sturridge | Stars: James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas, Richard Beale, Jackson Kyle
Votes: 2,316 | Gross: $1.56M
72. Masterpiece Theatre: Sons and Lovers (1981– )
Drama
BBC adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's novel about a sensitive young man growing up in a Nottinghamshire mining community.
Stars: Eileen Atkins, Tom Bell, Karl Johnson, Amanda Parfitt
Votes: 31
73. Timeslip (1985– )
30 min | Drama, Thriller
A computer hacker battles evil computers and other hackers electronically.
Stars: John Taylor, Jeff Harding, Liza Ross, Manning Redwood
Votes: 14
74. First Tuesday (1983–1993)
Documentary
Monthly television documentary strand produced by Yorkshire Television. The subject matter is mainly social issues, and current affairs stories from around the world.
Stars: Olivia O'Leary, Jonathan Dimbleby, Jane Walmsley, Mark Halliley
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