The 15 best BBC iPlayer films you can watch in May 2026
One of the best movies of the decade is available now
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 or binge box sets before they’ve aired in full on normal telly, like Babies.
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.
Licorice Pizza
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits
- Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
- Runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes
What it’s about: In 1970s California, Gary Valentine (a 15-year-old wannabe actor) falls in love with Alana Kane, a 25-year-old woman. They strike up a friendship and get up to mischief together, but could there be something more?
Why to watch: Licorice Pizza is one of the decade’s true masterpieces; a joyous, life-affirming story that freewheels through its impeccably realised world with two pitch-perfect performances. For someone whose filmography is near-untouchable, Paul Thomas Anderson has rarely been better than this.
The Martian
- Genre: Sci-fi, Drama
- Year: 2015
- Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Runtime: 2 hours 22 minutes
What it’s about: When Astronaut Mark Watney is left stranded on Mars, he tries to figure out a way to contact Earth in the hope that scientists can devise a plan to bring him home.
Why to watch: If you liked Project Hail Mary, there’s a good chance you’ll love (or have already seen) The Martian, also based on an Andy Weir novel. This is a brainer, more affecting movie that translates hefty jargon into a sci-fi adventure for the ages. It’s a film literally anybody could enjoy.
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Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
- Genre: Action, Drama
- Year: 2003
- Cast: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D’Arcy, Chris Larkin
- Director: Peter Weir
- Runtime: 2 hours 18 minutes
What it’s about: In 1805, Royal Navy captain Jack Aubrey’s dogged pursuit of a superior French frigate strains his ship, his crew and his friendship with surgeon Stephen Maturin as the chase takes them around South America.
Why to watch: Master and Commander may be the ‘dudes rock’ movie of all time: a swashbuckling, high-seas actioner all about strategy, brotherhood, and the desire to see beyond the horizon. Peter Weir should be worshipped as a god of cinema. Or, as one Redditor succinctly put it, “it rules”.
The Shallows
- Genre: Thriller, Horror
- Year: 2016
- Cast: Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen
- Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
- Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes
What it’s about: While paying tribute to her late mother at her favourite beach, Nancy becomes stranded just 200 yards from the shore… with a great white shark stalking the water around her.
Why to watch: Shark movies, more often than not, fall victim to bargain-bin, VOD slop. However, The Shallows occupies the same league as Deep Blue Sea (but certainly not Jaws): a genuinely tense, gorgeously shot nightmare with a movie star performance from Blake Lively. Plus, it’s less than 90 minutes long!
Nowhere Special
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2020
- Cast: James Norton, Daniel Lamont, Eileen O’Higgins, Valerie O’Connor
- Director: Uberto Pasolini
- Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes
What it’s about: John, a window cleaner and single father of one, discovers he has terminal brain cancer and only has a few months to live. So, he sets out to find a new family to look after his son after he dies.
Why to watch: Nowhere Special makes for a devastating counter-balance to Aftersun; a sweet, honest, understated portrait of fatherhood that will drain you (plus, James Norton delivers one of his best performances).
Legend
- Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Year: 2015
- Cast: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Paul Anderson
- Director: Brian Helgeland
- Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes
What it’s about: Twin brothers Reggie and Ronnie Kray build a powerful crime empire in 1960s London, becoming two of Britain’s most feared and notorious gangsters.
Why to watch: Writer-director Brian Helgeland is clearly a big Martin Scorsese fan, but Legend isn’t on Goodfellas’ level or anywhere near it. With its glossy presentation, comedic scenes (which are really funny), and surface-level probing, it verges on glamorising the Krays. Thank goodness for Tom Hardy, who commands the screen in a dual performance that makes the whole thing feel more than worthwhile.
The End We Start From
- Genre: Thriller
- Year: 2023
- Cast: Jodie Comer, Katherine Waterston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong
- Director: Mahalia Belo
- Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
What it’s about: When an environmental crisis sees London submerged by flood waters, a young family is torn apart in the chaos.
Why to watch: The End We Start From is an especially haunting companion piece to 28 Years Later: an anxious, nightmarish movie about what happens when our world collapses… that also features Jodie Comer in a similarly towering performance.
Hattie
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2011
- Cast: Ruth Jones, Robert Bathurst, Aidan Turner, Jeany Spark
- Director: Dan Zeff
- Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes
What it’s about: Carry-On star Hattie Jacques has been happily married to John Le Mesurier for over a decade. However, at the height of her popularity, she begins a secret affair with her driver, John Schofield.
Why to watch: In the words of (the ever-excellent, loveable) Ruth Jones, Hattie is a “terribly sad story”. And it is; we’d all rue the day of our temptations if we gave in. But, despite the inevitable heartbreak that underpins this drama, it’s warm, sweetly written, and thoroughly watchable.
Queer
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2024
- Cast: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman
- Director: Luca Guadagnino
- Runtime: 2 hours 17 minutes
What it’s about: In 1950s Mexico City, William Lee, an American ex-pat in his late forties, leads a solitary life. However, the arrival in town of Eugene Allerton, a young student, stirs William into finally establishing a meaningful connection with someone.
Why to watch: Queer, a surreal, psychedelic love story that’s as beautiful as it is crushing, won’t be a movie for everyone (particularly compared to Luca Guadagnino’s poppier Challengers). However, it boasts a tremendous performance from Daniel Craig, and you won’t forget it in a hurry.
The Hunger Games movies
- Genre: Action
- Year: 2012 – 2015
- Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banls
- Director: Gary Ross, Francis Lawrence
- Runtime: 9 hours 8 minutes
What it’s about: Katniss volunteers to compete in The Hunger Games, a nationwide tournament that pits “tributes” from 12 districts against each other in a fight to the death.
Why to watch: The Hunger Games elevated a hit series of novels into one of the most popular and fandom-focused franchises in the world. That doesn’t happen off the back of a bad film, and the first remains a triumph of young adult moviemaking.
Not only that, but it spawned even better films; Catching Fire should be in the conversation as one of the best blockbusters of the 2010s.
It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Katniss, either: Jennifer Lawrence is to her what Sigourney Weaver is to Ripley.
Thirteen Lives
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortensen, Tom Bateman, Joel Edgerton
- Director: Ron Howard
- Runtime: 2 hours 27 minutes
What it’s about: A rescue mission is assembled in Thailand where a group of young boys and their football coach are trapped in a system of underground caves that are flooding.
Why to watch: That synopsis should sound familiar. Thirteen Lives brings the heart-stopping heroics of the Tham Luang cave rescue to life on screen, honouring not just the (extra)ordinary divers who risked their lives to bring all of the kids home, but the thousands who did their part. It’s engrossing, well-acted, and it’ll probably make you cry.
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
- Genre: Drama, Comedy
- Year: 2018
- Cast: Neil Maskell, Sam Riley, Hayley Squires
- Director: Ben Wheatley
- Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes
What it’s about: When Colin organises a lavish get-together at a country estate to celebrate New Year, plans go awry with the arrival of his estranged brother, David.
Why to watch: Happy New Year is an affirmation of Neil Maskell’s position as one of Britain’s sharpest and spikiest dramatic talents, always best utilised by Ben Wheatley. Unlike other holiday-set efforts, it never gives into the yuletide smiles and cheer; like a Bailey’s bottle filled with acid.
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.
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.
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.
Read more: The best BBC dramas on iPlayer right now
