The 15 best movies on Channel 4 you can stream for free in May 2026
From Wild Rose to Dead Man's Shoes, these are the films worth watching
Channel 4 has a huge selection of free films you can watch – and whether it’s a brilliant British thriller or one of Pixar’s most underrated efforts, these are the best movies to stream this month.
The streaming bubble has yet to burst. Netflix is still the biggest platform of them all, but there’s no shortage of movies or TV shows to watch on Prime Video, Disney Plus, or another service (HBO Max just launched last month).
Here’s the benefit of the Channel 4 website (which you probably still call 4oD): all of its movies are completely free to stream!
So, if you’re looking for a film to watch that won’t cost you a penny, you’re in the right place.
Living
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Bill Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Sharp, Tom Burke
- Director: Oliver Hermanus
- Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes
What it’s about: Rodney Williams, a senior civil servant, learns that he has a terminal illness. So, he decides to break out of his decades-long, lonely routine and achieve personal fulfilment – and maybe even accomplish something wonderful.
Why to watch: This quiet, moving remake of a Japanese masterpiece (Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru) may have been nominated for Oscars, but it’s still underappreciated. You may find it speaks to you more than you’d expect; it’s a powerful, resonant thing, that feeling of life slipping away. If nothing else, it’s one of Bill Nighy’s best performances, and Aimee Lou Wood is absolutely fantastic in it.
Neds
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2011
- Cast: Conor McCarron, Steven Robertson, Marianna Palka, Peter Mullan
- Director: Peter Mullan
- Runtime: 2 hours 5 minutes
What it’s about: John McGill, a nice, studious teenager, finds himself seduced by a local gang of hooligans. As his life descends into violence and disorder, could redemption ever be possible?
Why to watch: Neds is Scotland’s answer to This is England; brutal, visceral, often funny, but genuinely troubling, rolling along with a fraught sense of volatility that will always keep you on edge. It’s one of the best Scottish movies ever made – though its nastiness, while truthful and never overplayed, could be a big ask.
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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
- Genre: Drama, Comedy
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack
- Director: Sophie Hyde
- Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
What it’s about: A recently widowed, retired teacher yearning for sexual fulfilment hires a sex worker, Leo Grande, to help her, but they end up striking a genuine, human connection.
Why to watch: Good Luck to You, Leo Grande could technically be classed as a sexy comedy, though it doesn’t fit all crudely, stupidly raunchy template that descriptor suggests. It’s almost a piece of theatre, with Thompson and McCormack (both on fabulous form) locked in a sensual, emotionally complex sparring match full of warmth, humour, and pathos.
Dead Man’s Shoes
- Genre: Thriller
- Year: 2004
- Cast: Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell
- Director: Shane Meadows
- Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
What it’s about: Richard, an ex-soldier, returns to his hometown to get even with the local thugs who’ve been cruelly mistreating his younger brother.
Why to watch: This isn’t an exaggeration: Dead Man’s Shoes is the greatest British thriller this side of the millennium. Unrelenting, enormously affecting, and surprisingly funny (“He looks like an elephant”), with Paddy Considine delivering an all-timer dose of northern fury.
Wild Rose
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2018
- Cast: Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, Sophie Okonedo, Craig Parkinson
- Director: Tom Harper
- Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
What it’s about: Upon release from prison, a Scottish mother-of-two chases her dreams of travelling to Nashville to become a country singer.
Why to watch: If you’re ever having a bad day, the sound of Jessie Buckley’s smooth, disarming, uplifting vocals in Wild Rose will set you right. This is a wonderfully poignant, life-affirming movie, full of country bangers and an all-time original song (especially if you’re from and around Glasgow).
Top Gun: Maverick
- Genre: Action
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell, Miles Teller
- Director: Joseph Kosinski
- Runtime: 2 hour 11 minutes
What it’s about: More than 30 years after graduating from Top Gun, Maverick is enlisted to train the next generation of fighter pilots for a high-profile mission – and it forces him to confront his past.
Why to watch: Top Gun: Maverick isn’t just good: it’s a contender for the best sequel of all time (yes, as preposterous as it sounds, better than The Godfather Part II). It has everything: laughs, awe-inspiring aero-action, tears, and Lady Gaga. What more could you possibly want from a movie?
Soul
- Genre: Animation, Fantasy
- Year: 2020
- Cast: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton
- Director: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers
- Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
What it’s about: Joe, a music teacher with dreams of becoming a professional jazz pianist, falls down a manhole. He’s transported out of his body into another realm, where he desperately tries to find his way home.
Why to watch: A balm for the soul as much as it is a wrecking ball, this is the most unreputably devastating movie in Pixar’s entire filmography. It came and went quietly in the middle of the COVID pandemic, so you may have missed it. Be warned: as gorgeous and amusing as it is, it’s profoundly moving, and you’ll be a soggy-eyed mess by the end.
Jerry & Marge Go Large
- Genre: Drama, Comedy
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Bryan Cranston, Annette Bening, Larry Wilmore, Rainn Wilson
- Director: David Frankel
- Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes
What it’s about: Jerry and Marge Selbee, a retired couple, uncover a mathematical loophole in the state lottery. Together, they decide to exploit it and use the winnings for a greater good.
Why to watch: Jerry and Marge Go Large’s true story is enough to capture your attention; who among us hasn’t dreamed of winning the lottery? It’s not especially sophisticated (unlike their plot to beat the system), but it is a breezy, amusing, occasionally emotional watch about good people doing something for themselves. You’ll smile the whole way.
The Inbetweeners Movie
- Genre: Comedy
- Year: 2011
- Cast: Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley, Blake Harrison
- Director: Ben Palmer
- Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
What it’s about: Will, Simon, Jay, and Neil mark the end of their school days with a lads’ holiday in Malia. Despite many embarrassing mishaps, they manage to meet four young women.
Why to watch: It’s hard to overstate the impact of The Inbetweeners (and especially the movie) on British pop culture. It’s a relief that the film was watchable – but, better yet, it was just as good – crude, filthy, ridiculous and painfully well-observed – as the show. Somewhere, every night, someone does the dance.
Four Lions
- Genre: Comedy
- Year: 2010
- Cast: Riz Ahmed, Nigel Lindsay, Kayvan Novak
- Director: Chris Morris
- Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
What it’s about: A group of young, radicalised Muslim men are determined to be jihadists, so they train to become suicide bombers and begin planning a terrorist attack in London.
Why to watch: “Is he a martyr or a f*cking jalfrezi?” 15 years ago, Four Lions put the ‘ha’ in jihad. Through an unprecedented blend of guffaws, heartbreak and horror, the film is both an outrageous tonic and grounded warning. Comedy and tragedy, united in death.
The Child in Time
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2017
- Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kelly Macdonald, Stephen Campbell Moore
- Director: Julian Farino
- Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
What it’s about: Stephen, a children’s author, has a happy family with a wife and a child. However, his world turns upside down when his three-year-old daughter goes missing.
Why to watch: The Child in Time is an endurance test, going to enormously affecting lengths to illustrate the stress and mental agony of every parents’ worst nightmare. It’s a difficult watch; deeply sad, strongly performed, and worth the pain.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2015
- Cast: Richard Madden, Holliday Grainger, James Norton, Jodie Comer
- Director: Jed Mercurio
- Runtime: 1 hour 29 minutes
What it’s about: After her husband is injured fighting in the First World War, a beautiful young aristocrat embarks on a forbidden affair with a servant
Why to watch: Yes, you read correctly: this is an adaptation of the famously smutty love story from the creator of Line of Duty, with some of the UK’s most recognisable acting talent. Strangely, it’s far more chaste than other versions of the story – but it’s still a loyal, effective telling with undeniable star power.
Beast
- Genre: Thriller
- Year: 2017
- Cast: Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, Geraldine James
- Director: Michael Pearce
- Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes
What it’s about: Moll, a fragile young woman, falls for Pascal, an enigmatic local poacher who soon becomes the prime suspect in a string of murders across Jersey.
Why to watch: Long before her (well-deserved) Oscar win, Jessie Buckley showed her beguiling, engrossing capabilities in Beast, a drama that turns a twisted fairytale into an involving psychological thriller (and it’s inspired by a real-life case!).
Sexy Beast
- Genre: Thriller, Crime
- Year: 2000
- Cast: Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane
- Director: Jonathan Glazer
- Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes
What it’s about: Gal, a retired British criminal, is enjoying peace, quiet, and the scorching sun in Spain… until his psychotic ex-boss turns up to try to make him do one last job.
Why to watch: Ben Kingsley delivers an acting masterclass in Sexy Beast; the scene of him convincing Ray Winstone’s Gal to “do the job” is perhaps the greatest evocation of nervous laughter in any movie ever. It’s also a psychologically rich, individual entry in the genre.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
- Genre: Musical
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Max Harwood, Sarah Lancashire, Lauren Patel, Richard E. Grant
- Director: Jonathan Butterell
- Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes
What it’s about: Jamie New, a gay 16-year-old from Sheffield, tries to overcome bullying and bigotry to pursue his dream of becoming a drag queen.
Why to watch: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie may be a little corny, and it isn’t especially deep. But it is fantastically uplifting, with catchy tunes and charming performances (Richard E. Grant is a standout), and any fan of the musical will be contented with this adaptation.
Read more: The best movies on BBC iPlayer you can stream now
