The best films on BBC iPlayer (11th March 2024)
David Farnor | On 11, Mar 2024
Who needs to pay for a subscription when you can stream new and old cinematic gems alike for free on BBC iPlayer?
What films are currently available on BBC iPlayer? We round up the best movies on BBC iPlayer right now, with their expiry dates listed so you know how long you have to stream them. (Click here to see our reviews of the best TV shows on BBC iPlayer.)
True Things
Ruth Wilson delivers a remarkable performance in this intense portrait of a woman lost in a bad romance.
Available until: 2nd April 2024
The Souvenir
Joanna Hogg’s semi-autobiographical drama is an aching articulation of dignified destruction.
Available until: 3rd April 2024
The Souvenir Part II
Joanna Hogg’s raw, self-reflective exploration of processing trauma is a creative tribute to the transformative power of cinema.
Available until: 10th April 2024
After Love
Joanna Scanlan delivers a knockout performance in this moving, delicate exploration of grief and identity.
Available until: 2nd April 2024
Tove
Alma Pöysti is outstanding in this effervescent biopic of Moomins creator Tove Jansson.
Aftersun
Paul Mescal is heartbreakingly good in this poignant, absorbing trip through a summer memory.
A Bigger Splash
A steamy thriller driven by four superb performances, A Bigger Splash is cinema to soak up and savour.
Available until: 8th April 2024
The Third Man
This timeless classic, one of the greatest British films, lavishly marries a perfect script, an unforgettable theme tune and the star power of Orson Welles.
Available until: 31st March 2024
Official Secrets
Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes and Matthew Goode star in this thriller about Katharine Gun, the British intelligence specialist who leaked a secret memo to the press to try and avoid the Iraq invasion by the US and UK.
Available until: 22nd March 2024
Candyman (2021)
Nia DaCosta’s artful horror sequel reflexively rewrites both the traditions of its own franchise and the white narratives of American history.
Available until: 8th April 2024
The Impossible
Juan Antonio Bayona’s retelling of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami is a gruelling, harrowing, moving experience.
Available until: 31st March 2024
If Beale Street Could Talk
A beautiful story of love, dignity and respect, this lyrical masterpiece is one of the best films of the year.
Available until: 21st March 2024
Selma
David Oyelowo is unrecognisable in Ava DuVernay’s stirring, powerful biopic of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Benediction
Terence Davies tells the story of English poet, writer and soldier Siegfried Sassoon.
Available until: 19th March 2024
Purple Rain
This autobiographical musical vehicle for Prince sees the music icon play a young and disillusioned Minneapolis musician struggling against a miserable and violent domestic life.
Available until: 24th March 2024
Jesus Christ Superstar
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rousing rock opera reimagines the last six days of the life of Jesus Christ, as seen by Judas.
Available until: 19th March 2024
Full Time
Call My Agent’s Laure Calamy is sensational in this gripping domestic drama that’s shot and edited like a high-stakes thriller.
Sicario
Denis Villeneuve’s thriller is so intense it has blisters on its blisters.
Available until: February 2025
The Gift
Joel Edgerton is perfectly unnerving in this masterful psychological horror.
Decision to Leave
Park Chan-wook’s psycho-romance is the South Korean master’s most mature work to date.
Baby Done
Matthew Lewis and Rose Matafeo are a hugely charming couple in this endearing, funny comedy about parenthood.
Only You
Josh O’Connor and Laia Costa deliver powerful performances in this earnest, intimate and intense romantic drama.
Available until: 24th March 2024
Coco
This vivid celebration of family, love and memories doesn’t quite take a seat among Pixar’s greats.
Available until: 19th March 2024
Missing Link
It may not look like an evolution for Laika, but this big-hearted comedy is still an outstanding animated adventure.
Available until: 26th March 2024
Trolls
The Trolls are creatures that sing, dance and love to hug – but when they are kidnapped, it is up to the one grumpy troll to save the village.
Available until: 14th March 2024
Bill
This funny Shakespeare biopic from the Horrible Histories team is Monty Python for kids.
Available until: September 2024
Relic
Natalie Erika James’ thoughtful, terrifying debut is a haunted house tale with heart.
What We Do in the Shadows
Taiki Waititi’s vampire comedy is moving, clever and mercilessly quick, but most of all, it’s exceedingly funny.
The Babadook
Unsettling Australian horror tale. Widow Amelia’s worries about her highly strung young son’s behaviour worsen when a mysterious pop-up book inspires fresh fears.
Cat People
The first horror film producer Val Lewton made for RKO Pictures redefined the genre by leaving its terrors to the audience’s imagination. A Serbian émigré in Manhattan believes that, because of an ancient curse, any physical intimacy with the man she loves will turn her into a feline predator.
I Walked with a Zombie
A nurse tending a paralysed woman on a Caribbean island discovers that her charge hides a terrifying secret. Jacques Tourneur’s 1943 classic stars Frances Dee and Tom Conway.
Available until: 23rd October 2024
Ali & Ava
Clio Barnard’s beautifully warm tale of acceptance and affection is an understated delight.
This Beautiful Fantastic
When a reclusive young woman is threatened with eviction unless she gives her garden a makeover, she sets to work, watched by her curmudgeonly neighbour.
Twelve Monkeys
Brad Pitt plays a convict from 2035 is sent back in time to find the cause of a virus which has wiped out most of the planet’s population in Terry Gilliam’s time travel classic.
By the Grace of God
François Ozon’s timely drama about victims of abuse within the Catholic church is a powerful display of restrained, urgent filmmaking.
Persian Lessons
A strong cast elevates this unusual, uneven but ultimately moving wartime drama.
Mr Jones
James Norton is excellent in this tough but essential drama about the 1930s famine in the Ukraine.
Clemency
Alfre Woodard delivers a heartbreaking performance in Chinonye Chukwu’s powerful death row drama.
A Bunch of Amateurs
This warm-hearted documentary about a film club in Bradford is a winning celebration of community and cinema.
Wildlife
Paul Dano directs a stellar cast in this enthralling all-American drama.
My Summer of Love
Natalie Press and Emily Blunt star in Paweł Pawlikowski’s drama about an unlikely relationship that develops over the course of a summer.
Moonlight
This brooding deconstruction of masculinity and profound tale of identity is one of the best films of 2017.
Available until: 1st September 2024
A Farewell to Arms
Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper are on iconic form in this adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novel about an American serving as an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I, who falls in love with a nurse.
Man on the Moon
Jim Carrey is remarkable in this biopic of controversial comedian Andy Kaufman. Star of Taxi and Saturday Night Live, Kaufman’s unorthodox humour was often misunderstood.
Available until: December 2024
Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House
Cary Grant and Myrna Loy star in this comedy about a family forced out of their Manhattan apartment court disaster when they buy a dilapidated country house, fit only for demolition.
The Young Offenders
A smartly written, brilliantly acted and very funny comedy that’s well worth seeking out.
Blue Story
Rapman leaps to the big screen with this authentic, urgently told story of young lives in a gang war.
Fort Apache
The first of John Ford’s cavalry trilogy, in which a demoted commanding officer takes his resentment out on the men of Fort Apache, a remote outpost in the Arizona desert.
Available untiL: February 2025
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Western drama with John Wayne as a US cavalry officer on his last duty before retiring, escorting two women civilians to a stagecoach. The second in John Ford’s cavalry trilogy.
Available until: February 2025
The Outlaw
Unconventional western about the life of outlaw Billy the Kid, including his partnership with Doc Holliday and clashes with lawman Pat Garrett. Stars Jane Russell and Jack Buetel.
Available untiL: February 2025
Rancho Notorious
Unusual western about a young man hunting for the brutal killers of his fiancee. A rare foray into the genre for director Fritz Lang.
Available until: February 2025
Silver Screen Classics
Silver Screen Classics: Collection 1
BBC iPlayer has the rights to a bunch of classics from old Hollywood studio RKO, including Citizen Kane (1941), King Kong (1933), Suspicion (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) and Top Hat (1935). Others include Angel Face (1952), Beautiful But Dangerous (1954), Blackbeard the Pirate (1952), Bringing Up Baby, Carefree (1938), Fort Apache (1948), The Gay Divorce (1934), Kitty Foyle (1940), Love Affair (1939), Miracle of the Bells (1948), Mr Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse (1948), My Favourite Wife (1940), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Sky’s the Limit (1943), The Spanish Main (1945), The Velvet Touch (1948), Vivacious Lady (1938) and Wagon Master (1950).
Available until: November 2024
Silver Screen Classics: Collection 2
Just when you think BBC iPlayer can’t spoil us any more, up pops a second wave of classic films from RKO Pictures, one of Hollywood’s Golden Age studios. This collection includes the classic Gershwin musical A Damsel in Distress, classic 1950s chiller The Thing from Another World, and more Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Cary Grant than you can shake a stick at. Other titles include: Second Chance, I Remember Mama, Holiday Affair, Bachelor Knight, Yellow Canary, Primrose Path, Sylvia Scarlett, Hotel Reserve, Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Windy Poplars.
Available until: November 2024
iPlayer Originals and Exclusives
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
Tragicomedy directed by Ben Wheatley about the difficulty of family relations. Middle-aged Colin organises a New Year’s Eve gathering for his extended family. Read our review
Available until: December 2024
The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist
The Exorcist is, without a doubt, one of the scariest films ever made – and, without a doubt, the man most determined to convince you of that fact is Mark Kermode. The BBC critic is known for his ardent love of William Friedkin’s seminal horror, so it is no surprise that in 1998, he wound up presenting a documentary marking its 25th anniversary. 21 years on, however, it is a surprise that BBC iPlayer should bring it back to our screens for Halloween, after the documentary has existed in various cuts in various places but never available to stream legally until now. Read our full review
Available until: November 2025/a>
Family Shorts
The Gruffalo
The definitive adaptation of Julia Donaldson’s book tells the magical tale of a mouse who takes a walk through the woods in search of a nut – and tells everyone he meets of his imaginary creature.
The Gruffalo’s Child
A little Gruffalo ignores her father’s warnings and tiptoes out into the snow in search of the Big Bad Mouse in this charming sequel.
Zog
The story of a keen young dragon in his first years at Dragon School.
Room on the Broom
A kind witch invites a surprising collection of animals to join her on her broom, much to the frustration of her cat.
The Highway Rat
A greedy rat (David Tennant) travels the highway in search of other animals’ food, before his sweet tooth finally leads him to a sticky outcome.
Stick Man
Stick Man tells the tale of a happy-go-lucky father’s epic journey to make it home in time for Christmas.