The 30 best BBC iPlayer films you can watch now
From classic horrors to underrated rom-coms, BBC iPlayer has some amazing movies
BBC iPlayer isn’t just for catching up on TV: it has some of the best films available to stream right now.
That’s not to say you should have known better. Most people use iPlayer to watch shows they’ve missed, such as Strictly Come Dancing, or binge box sets before they’ve aired in full on normal telly, like The Ridge.
When they’re done, they’ll pivot to some of the best shows on Netflix or rummage through Amazon Prime’s films.
Trust us: whether you’re into horror films, action, or comedies, there are amazing movies on BBC iPlayer.
Contents
30. Coriolanus
- Genre: War, Drama
- Year: 2011
- Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave
- Director: Ralph Fiennes
- Runtime: 2 hours 3 minutes
What it’s about: Coriolanus, a formidable and fearsome general, is banished from Rome despite protecting the city from its enemies. So, he decides to team up with a sworn enemy to take his revenge.
Why to watch: Coriolanus follows Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet playbook, modernising the story with visual flair and timely resonance while retaining the original text. It’s the best possible version of Shakespeare; a bloody, furious poem about violence.
29. The War Game
- Genre: War, Drama
- Year: 1966
- Cast: Michael Aspel, Peter Graham, Kathy Staff
- Director: Peter Watkins
- Runtime: 47 minutes
What it’s about: In 1960s Britain, Soviet forces launch a nuclear warhead that explodes near the south of England, causing enormous damage and changing the lives of the survivors forever.
Why to watch: Nearly 20 years before the BBC inflicted undreamt-of trauma on Britain with Threads, The War Game achieved similarly disturbing results. It’s a thorough warning; educational and horrifying.
28. The Longest Day
- Genre: War, Action
- Year: 1962
- Cast: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda
- Director: Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki
- Runtime: 2 hours 58 minutes
What it’s about: In 1944, the US Army and Allied forces barrel towards the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, one of the most significant events in World War II.
Why to watch: The Longest Day is a true war epic; a star-spangled monument of overwhelming (and, yes, occasionally dull) enormity that runs the gamut of conflict. We will never see anything like it again; an aged spectacle of a bygone cinematic era.
27. Bones and All
- Genre: Romance, Horror
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance
- Director: Luca Guadagnino
- Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes
What it’s about: After realising she has a taste for human flesh, a young girl falls in love with a fellow cannibal as they embark on a cross-country trip across the US.
Why to watch: Bones and All is a one-of-a-kind contradiction: a hideous horror that revels in outrageous barbarity, and a devastating, sweet romantic fable. It’s what cinema is all about (if you can stomach a bit of flesh-gnawing).
26. Indecent Proposal
- Genre: Drama, Romance
- Year: 1993
- Cast: Robert Redford, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson
- Director: Adrian Lyne
- Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes
What it’s about: A young married couple desperate for money travels to Las Vegas to gamble their savings. There, they meet John Gage, a rich stranger who offers them $1 million… for a night with the wife.
Why to watch: It’s laughable to think that Indecent Proposal caused controversy when it came out. It’s a simple erotic thriller with three movie stars and an unshakable proposition you’ll ponder in your head. Don’t take it too seriously.
25. The Others
- Genre: Horror
- Year: 2001
- Cast: Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston
- Director: Alejandro Amenábar
- Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes
What it’s about: Grace, a devout Christian mother of children with a sensitivity to daylight, starts to experience supernatural phenomena as she awaits her husband’s return from World War II.
Why to watch: The Others is a stately, spooky ghost story that’ll breathe new life into the seemingly corporeal forces lurking in your dark corners. Nicole Kidman is fantastic; high-strung, but vulnerable and true to the film’s horrors.
24. Man on the Moon
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Year: 1999
- Cast: Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Courtney Love
- Director: Miloš Forman
- Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes
What it’s about: Andy Kaufman, a struggling, unconventional comedian, lands a major television role that catapults him to fame, but some of his biggest hurdles are yet to come.
Why to watch: Jim Carrey is the only actor who could appropriately portray Andy Kaufman’s irreverent comedic style. The film is a fair, emotional representation of a comedian who made himself unknowable – don’t expect a run-of-the-mill biopic.
23. Fall
- Genre: Thriller
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
- Director: Scott Mann
- Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes
What it’s about: A year after losing her boyfriend in a mountaineering accident, Becky joins her best friend to climb a 2,000ft TV broadcasting tower… and they get stuck at the top.
Why to watch: Fall can be corny, but those moments are a reprieve from its white-knuckle, barf-bag-flooding thrills. Seriously, it doesn’t matter if you’re unafraid of heights: this thing will make you feel vertigo. In this film’s case, hell is on top of the world, not below.
22. All the President’s Men
- Genre: Drama, Thriller
- Year: 1976
- Cast: Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Warden
- Director: Alan J. Pakula
- Runtime: 2 hours 18 minutes
What it’s about: During the 1972 presidential elections, two reporters – Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein – uncover the details of Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
Why to watch: Nearly 50 years on, All the President’s Men is, understandably, often reduced to its timely story. It remains an astonishing film in pretty much every way; a work of diligent, mesmerising scripting and direction that somehow aligns Watergate’s complexity with the tenets of a cut-above crowdpleaser.
21. The Woman in Black
- Genre: Horror
- Year: 2012
- Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer
- Director: James Watkins
- Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes
What it’s about: In a remote coastal community, a widowed lawyer settling an estate discovers a supernatural presence endangering the town’s youngest residents.
Why to watch: The Woman in Black traumatised teens when it was released in cinemas with a 12A certificate. Over a decade later, it’s worth revisiting for the nostalgia alone – just don’t blame us if your kids get a taste for horror (or they get nightmares… or both).
20. Triangle of Sadness
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Woody Harrelson
- Director: Ruben Östlund
- Runtime: 2 hours 27 minutes
What it’s about: A celebrity couple find themselves stranded on an island after their cruise sinks under frightening circumstances, leaving them to squabble with the other survivors.
Why to watch: Triangle of Sadness is a post-Parasite eat-the-rich parable that’s a little too on the nose. But, for the most part, it’s an absolute hoot; a satire that obscenely skewers its feckless ensemble, and it’s armed with an extraordinarily disgusting set piece.
19. Blinded by the Light
- Genre: Drama, Music
- Year: 2019
- Cast: Viveik Kalra, Kulvinder Ghir, Hayley Atwell
- Director: Gurinder Chadha
- Runtime: 1 hour 57 minutes
What it’s about: In 1980s England, a teenager in a Pakistani family finds himself drawn to Bruce Springsteen’s music, “the direct line to all that is true in this world”.
Why to watch: Jeremy Allen White’s Springsteen biopic effectively distils his pain, but Blinded by the Light has an advantage: it conveys how the Boss’ music becomes the life force of hungry hearts. That’s more moving; it speaks to a feeling we’ve all had when we hear a tune that flutters our heart for the first time.
18. Point Break
- Genre: Action, Crime
- Year: 1991
- Cast: Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Lori Petty
- Director: Kathryn Bigelow
- Runtime: 2 hours 2 minutes
What it’s about: A rookie FBI agent investigates a string of unsolved bank robberies. He suspects a group of thrill-seeking surfers is responsible, so he goes undercover, but it isn’t long before he’s forced to choose between the law and their leader.
Why to watch: Testosterone: off the charts. There’s a reason Edgar Wright cited Point Break’s incredible “pointing a gun up in the air and going ‘ahh'” – they truly don’t make ’em like this anymore. It’s the pièce de résistance of pulp fiction; a glorious, careless escape of “100% pure adrenaline”.
17. Manhunter
- Genre: Thriller, Crime
- Year: 1986
- Cast: William Petersen, Tom Noonan, Brian Cox
- Director: Michael Mann
- Runtime: 2 hours
What it’s about: A former FBI profiler comes out of retirement to help pursue a deranged serial killer. This means he’ll need to meet Hannibal Lecktor, an imprisoned murderer who nearly killed him.
Why to watch: Seven years before Anthony Hopkins’ legendary portrayal of Hannibal, Brian Cox brought him to life in Manhunter, Michael Mann’s chilly, stylish, and influential psycho-thriller. Is he as good? No, but it’s a low-key, casually chilling variation on the serial killer.
16. Edward Scissorhands
- Genre: Fantasy, Romance
- Year: 1990
- Cast: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest
- Director: Tim Burton
- Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
What it’s about: Edward, a lonely synthetic man with scissors for hands, leaves his dark, desolate mansion to live with Peg and her family in a nearby town, where he befriends her daughter, Kim.
Why to watch: Edward Scissorhands is among the strangest pop culture phenomena, but its iconic stature is well-deserved. This is a filmmaker and actor working at the peak of their powers in a melancholic, swooning, and surreal fairytale for the ages.
15. Carrie
- Genre: Horror
- Year: 1976
- Cast: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving
- Director: Brian De Palma
- Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
What it’s about: Carrie, an outcast teen who’s bullied at high school and lives under her mother’s devout rule, discovers she has extraordinary telekinetic abilities.
Why to watch: Carrie is an unrivalled coming-of-age horror. As she stands on-stage, drenched in pig’s blood, her wrath evokes terror, awe, and even catharsis. It’s the ultimate revenge movie, and a cautionary tale to any bully out there.
14. Belfast
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Jude Hill
- Director: Kenneth Branagh
- Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
What it’s about: In 1969, a working-class protestant family in Belfast navigates the start of the Troubles as their lives become increasingly unsafe at home.
Why to watch: Is Belfast worth watching solely to see Jamie Dornan serenade Caitríona Balfe with ‘Everlasting Love’? Absolutely, but it’s also a powerful, affectionate crowdpleaser about how hatred and fear took root.
13. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Genre: Sci-fi
- Year: 1977
- Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Runtime: 2 hours 17 minutes
What it’s about: A blue-collar worker in Indiana becomes obsessed with UFOs after a close encounter, bringing humanity closer to extraterrestrial beings than ever before.
Why to watch: The brachiosaurus in Jurassic Park is arguably the defining image of Steven Spielberg’s filmography. Yet, Close Encounters has some of the most wondrous scenes not just in the director’s career, but in the entire medium. It’s the antithesis of Alien in a lot of ways, and that’s what makes it so good.
12. Starter for 10
- Genre: Comedy, Romance
- Year: 2006
- Cast: James McAvoy, Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall
- Director: Tom Vaughan
- Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
What it’s about: A working-class teen in 1980s England arrives at Bristol University, keen to join its University Challenge team and win over a female classmate.
Why to watch: Starter for 10 is the perfect charity shop DVD. That may not sound like a compliment, but it’s a lovely, funny, unassuming rom-com you’ll be happy to watch over and over again.
11. His House
- Genre: Horror
- Year: 2020
- Cast: Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu, Matt Smith
- Director: Remi Weekes
- Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes
What it’s about: After making a harrowing escape from war-torn South Sudan, a young refugee couple struggles to adjust to their new life in a small English town that has an unspeakable evil lurking beneath the surface.
Why to watch: His House is a sophisticated, emphatic horror movie, both in its scares and smart, affecting invocation of the refugee experience. Plus, as an extra bonus, it’s just over 90 minutes long.
10. Red Eye
- Genre: Thriller
- Year: 2005
- Cast: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox
- Director: Wes Craven
- Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes
What it’s about: Lisa boards a late-night flight home to Miami. She befriends Jackson, a handsome young man, in the airport, who ends up sitting next to her on the plane. Little does she know, he’s a terrorist – and she’s his target.
Why to watch: Red Eye, Wes Craven’s third film before his death, is a taut, nerve-wracking thriller with two big assets: Rachel McAdams as its lovable, smart heroine, and Cillian Murphy as the movie’s steely-eyed, menacing villain.
9. Miami Vice
- Genre: Action, Crime
- Year: 2006
- Cast: Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, Naomie Harris
- Director: Michael Mann
- Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes
What it’s about: Detectives Crockett and Tubbs go undercover to stop a drug trafficking operation in Miami, but the case takes a personal turn.
Why to watch: Miami Vice, Michael Mann’s bafflingly underrated adaptation, achieved a difficult feat: updating and retooling a show inseparable from its ’80s identity into a modern film without compromising its appeal. Just wait for that ‘Numb/Encore’ needle drop.
8. Waves
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2019
- Cast: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell, Sterling K. Brown, Renée Elise Goldsberry
- Director: Trey Edward Shults
- Runtime: 2 hours 15 minutes
What it’s about: When Tyler suffers a career-ending sports injury, his life spirals. However, things get worse when his family is forced to deal with an unexpected tragedy.
Why to watch: Waves is an immensely profound, stylish parable about redemption and grief over guilt. It’s also experimental and subversive; some may say to a fault, but this is a film that powerfully challenges the narrative form.
7. Gosford Park
- Genre: Drama, Comedy
- Year: 2001
- Cast: Maggie Smith, Clive Owen, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Helen Mirren
- Director: Robert Altman
- Runtime: 2 hours 17 minutes
What it’s about: In 1930s England, Sir William McCordle gathers his friends and other rich and famous people for a shooting party at his country estate. However, they all become suspects when a murder takes place.
Why to watch: The idea of a new Robert Altman movie being a box office success in 2025 is (sadly) laughable. It’s a testament to Gosford Park, a wickedly funny, perceptive mystery that directly led to Downton Abbey, that it made nearly $90 million at the turn of the millennium.
6. The Blair Witch Project
- Genre: Horror
- Year: 1999
- Cast: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard
- Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
- Runtime: 1 hour 21 minutes
What it’s about: In October 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary called ‘The Blair Witch Project’. A year later, their footage was found.
Why to watch: The Blair Witch Project is the scariest horror movie of all time. Nothing else we can say could top that.
5. Alien
- Genre: Sci-fi, Horror
- Year: 1979
- Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, John Hurt, Ian Holm
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Runtime: 1 hour 57 minutes
What it’s about: When the crew of the Nostromo responds to a transmission on a faraway moon, things go terribly wrong, pitting them against a dangerous alien creature.
Why to watch: Alien is a true all-timer; an immersive, brooding, viscerally invasive space opera that birthed cinema’s most iconic monster and one of its great heroines.
4. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
- Genre: Animation, Comedy
- Year: 2005
- Cast: Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Peter Kay
- Director: Nick Park, Steve Box
- Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes
What it’s about: As Wallace and Gromit help protect their town’s vegetables from pests, a carrot-munching monster starts ravaging people’s plots, so they decide to track the beast down.
Why to watch: Its audacious, meticulous claymation wizardry and brilliant casting aside, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is one thing above all else: hilarious. Whether you’re eight years old, 80, or anywhere in between, you’ll laugh, laugh, and laugh some more.
3. Scream
- Genre: Horror
- Year: 1996
- Cast: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard
- Director: Wes Craven
- Runtime: 1 hour 51 minutes
What it’s about: A year after her mother’s death, Sidney and her friends are targeted by a costumed serial killer: Ghostface, a horror movie-obsessed murderer who could be hiding in plain sight.
Why to watch: Ghostface is a horror icon. Even now, kids and adults alike don the mask (bonus points if you had the one that pumped blood) and run around with fake knives at Halloween.
Here’s something people should remember: Scream is still every bit as effective as it was in the late ’90s, whether it’s the kills (the opening murder is extremely distressing), the performances, or its airtight, meta screenplay. Try as it might, the series has never been better.
2. Aftersun
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio
- Director: Charlotte Wells
- Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes
What it’s about: At a fading vacation resort, 11-year-old Sophie treasures rare time together with her loving (but struggling) father, Calum.
Why to watch: “Masterpiece” is a word that’s thrown around willy-nilly, but Aftersun is truly deserving of that status.
This is a textured, tender, and painful drama that marries the glow of a memory with the nip of reality, and it boasts two pitch-perfect performances from Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio.
Watching it out of context isn’t advised, but its use of ‘Under Pressure’ may be the best movie scene of the decade to date. Also, it’s the clear inspiration for this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert.
1. Rye Lane
- Genre: Romance, Comedy
- Year: 2023
- Cast: David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah, Poppy Allen-Quarmby, Simon Manyonda
- Director: Raine Allen-Miller
- Runtime: 1 hour 22 minutes
What it’s about: Yas and Dom, two newly single twenty-somethings reeling from bad break-ups, have a chance encounter and end up spending an unusual day walking around South London.
Why to watch: Rye Lane is the best rom-com of the past 10 years; grin-inducing, achingly earnest, and wonderfully performed by two perfect leads. It’s indebted to the Before trilogy’s walk-and-talk format, but still feels original and vividly alive.
Read more: The best films on Netflix you can watch right now
