Explore 130 years of screen stories

Watch thousands of free films, TV shows and videos, curated from archives across the UK.

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A spontaneous family moment between two brothers became one of YouTube’s earliest global viral hits, capturing the platform’s emerging culture of everyday shared video.

Charlie Bit My Finger - Again!

David Attenborough on the rise of BBC Two and his journey from Zoo Quest presenter to channel controller.

David Attenborough Interview (London Line)

Beautiful, bittersweet tale of love, longing and Elvis.  Xiao Mei leaves China for marriage in Britain. But her true desire is to find her family.

Red

A map that leads to treasure and trouble: John, Mary and Anne go in search of Jack Mundy's loot only to find that his map wasn't quite complete.

The Smugglers' Cave

Part experimental cinema, part advert for the parcel post service, always joyful.

A Colour Box

Merryweather Menswear 'have the flair to suit you!' A short and snappy 1965 cinema commercial for a Newmarket fashion retailer.

Merryweather Menswear, Newmarket

Lindsay Anderson's ground-breaking short film about a Margate amusement park, which helped to launch a new documentary movement.

O Dreamland

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

The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water

A passionate poem about language and cultural identity from Scots poet Len Pennie

I’m No Havin Children

Snowdrift at Bleath Gill

The stirring story of poet Ellis Evans-Hedd Wyn, the Welsh poet posthumously awarded the Eisteddfod chair at Birkenhead in 1917 after failing to return from 1st World War trenches.

Hedd Wyn

One of a series of animated films designed to provide instructions on how to survive a nuclear attack.

Protect and Survive

The flagship of the GPO Film Unit's output and a cornerstone of British documentary, featuring music by Benjamin Britten and the verse of W.H. Auden.

Night Mail

The Week Elvis Died

Iconic images by photo-pioneer Eadweard Muybridge come to life in this striking video collage.

Muybridge Revisited

An early classic of Black British cinema about the intriguing social dynamics that arise as a ten shilling note is passed around the black community.

Ten Bob in Winter

One of the most quaint cinemas you're ever likely to see, The Tudor is a loving recreation of, and tribute to, the classic cinemas of a bygone era.

Tudor Style

Santos Football Club bring Brazil's world cup talent to Home Park in Plymouth with Pelé playing his beautiful game.

The Day Pele Came to Town

Visitors to the seaside are usually in search of sun and fun, but the people on Blackpool promenade in this fascinating reel from filmmaker Henry Iddon have a much more serious purpose in mind.

Ban the Bomb

Manchester is 'Tickled Pink' with this annual celebration of LGBT life.

Manchester Tickled Pink

Return to the Edge of the World

Female punks have fun boozing, smoking and talking in this fascinating film by London lifestyle chronicler Captain Zip.

Squatparty

Ridley Scott's first film features his younger brother, the late Tony Scott, as a schoolboy playing truant for the day to meander around Hartlepool on his bicycle, lost in his own thoughts.

Boy and Bicycle

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Thousands more digitised videos and television programmes from the BFI National Archive and partner UK region's and nation's film archives are available to browse and enjoy, research or study – with some familiar and memorable, others rare and unseen for decades.

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