Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "british-government"

1. The Crown (2016–2023)

TV-MA | 60 min | Biography, Drama, History

Follows the political rivalries and romances of Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped Britain for the second half of the 20th century.

Stars: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton, Matt Smith

Votes: 256,955

2. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi

In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke

Votes: 881,769 | Gross: $6.21M

3. MI-5 (2002–2011)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama

The missions of MI-5, the UK's domestic intelligence organization.

Stars: Peter Firth, Hugh Simon, Nicola Walker, Rupert Penry-Jones

Votes: 18,412

4. Children of Men (2006)

R | 109 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.

Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Caine

Votes: 529,683 | Gross: $35.55M

5. The King's Speech (2010)

R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History

The story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.

Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi

Votes: 708,207 | Gross: $138.80M

6. The Foreigner (I) (2017)

R | 113 min | Action, Thriller

A humble businessman with a buried past seeks justice when his daughter is killed in an act of terrorism. A cat-and-mouse conflict ensues with a government official, whose past may hold clues to the killers' identities.

Director: Martin Campbell | Stars: Katie Leung, Jackie Chan, Rufus Jones, Mark Tandy

Votes: 123,361 | Gross: $34.39M

7. Primeval (2007–2011)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

When strange anomalies start to appear all over England, Professor Cutter and his team must track down and capture all sorts of dangerous prehistoric creatures from Earth's distant past and near future.

Stars: Andrew Lee Potts, Hannah Spearritt, Ben Miller, Juliet Aubrey

Votes: 15,448

8. Official Secrets (2019)

R | 112 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

The true story of a British whistleblower who leaked information to the press about an illegal NSA spy operation designed to push the UN Security Council into sanctioning the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Director: Gavin Hood | Stars: Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans

Votes: 54,651 | Gross: $0.40M

9. The Last King of Scotland (2006)

R | 123 min | Biography, Drama, History

Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s.

Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: James McAvoy, Forest Whitaker, Gillian Anderson, Kerry Washington

Votes: 196,103 | Gross: $17.61M

10. SAS: Red Notice (2021)

R | 124 min | Action, Thriller

A small army of well trained criminals led by Grace Lewis have hijacked a train deep beneath the English Channel.

Director: Magnus Martens | Stars: Sam Heughan, Ruby Rose, Andy Serkis, Hannah John-Kamen

Votes: 21,322 | Gross: $0.15M

11. The Constant Gardener (2005)

R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

A widower's transcontinental quest to find answers about his wife's death leads him to explosive secrets.

Director: Fernando Meirelles | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Hubert Koundé

Votes: 148,510 | Gross: $33.58M

12. The Thick of It (2005–2012)

TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy

The Minister for Social Affairs is continually harassed by Number 10's policy enforcer and dependent on his not-so-reliable team of civil servants.

Stars: Chris Addison, James Smith, Peter Capaldi, Joanna Scanlan

Votes: 26,155

13. The Ghost Writer (2010)

PG-13 | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A ghost writer, hired to complete the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister, uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.

Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Jon Bernthal

Votes: 170,861 | Gross: $15.54M

14. Hunger (2008)

Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.

Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw

Votes: 73,577 | Gross: $0.15M

15. Mr. Jones (2019)

119 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller

A Welsh journalist breaks the news in the western media of the famine in Ukraine in the early 1930s.

Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Joseph Mawle

Votes: 16,264

16. Scandal (1989)

R | 106 min | Drama, History

Based on the Profumo Scandal of 1963, an affair between an exotic dancer and the Minister of War shakes up the British government.

Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: John Hurt, Joanne Whalley, Bridget Fonda, Ian McKellen

Votes: 5,527 | Gross: $8.80M

17. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)

PG-13 | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A fisheries expert is approached by a consultant to help realize a sheik's vision of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to the desert and embarks on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible possible.

Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Amr Waked, Kristin Scott Thomas

Votes: 67,134 | Gross: $9.03M

18. 6 Days (I) (2017)

R | 94 min | Action, Drama, History

Based on the Iranian Embassy siege of 1980, this action-thriller dramatizes a six-day standoff between armed Iranian Arabs and SAS soldiers ready for a counterattack.

Director: Toa Fraser | Stars: Jamie Bell, Mark Strong, Abbie Cornish, Martin Shaw

Votes: 24,677

19. Yes Minister (1980–1984)

TV-PG | 679 min | Comedy

The Right Honorable James Hacker has landed the plum job of Cabinet Minister to the Department of Administration. At last he is in a position of power and can carry out some long-needed reforms, or so he thinks.

Stars: Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne, Derek Fowlds, Diana Hoddinott

Votes: 16,566

20. The Machine (I) (2013)

R | 91 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

In efforts to construct perfect android killing machines in a war against China, UK scientists exceed their goal and create a sentient robot.

Director: Caradog W. James | Stars: Toby Stephens, Caity Lotz, Denis Lawson, Sam Hazeldine

Votes: 32,071

21. Traitors (2019)

TV-MA | 60 min | History, Thriller

A British civil servant agrees to spy on her own government for the Americans in the aftermath of WWII.

Stars: Emma Appleton, Brandon P Bell, Keeley Hawes, Luke Treadaway

Votes: 3,924

22. The Duke (2020)

R | 95 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime

In 1961, Kempton Bunton, a 60 year old taxi driver, steals Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London.

Director: Roger Michell | Stars: Jim Broadbent, Heather Craney, Stephen Rashbrook, James Wilby

Votes: 13,208

23. Yes, Prime Minister (1986–1987)

TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy

James Hacker was propelled along the corridors of power to the very pinnacle of politics - Number 10.

Stars: Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne, Derek Fowlds, Diana Hoddinott

Votes: 12,932

24. Apple Tree Yard (2017)

TV-14 | 58 min | Drama, Thriller

A provocative thriller which sees an eminent scientist caught up in a damaging and compromising lie. Based on the novel by Louise Doughty.

Stars: Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin, Mark Bonnar, Syreeta Kumar

Votes: 5,781

25. Khartoum (1966)

Approved | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

In the Sudan, in 1884 to 1885, Egyptian forces led by British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon (Charlton Heston) defend Khartoum against an invading Muslim Army led by a religious fanatic, Mohammed Ahmed el Mahdi (Sir Laurence Olivier).

Directors: Basil Dearden, Eliot Elisofon | Stars: Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier, Richard Johnson, Ralph Richardson

Votes: 8,277 | Gross: $6.54M

26. The Salisbury Poisonings (2020)

TV-14 | 58 min | Drama, History, Thriller

Three episode, fact based drama from the BBC, about the 2018 Novichok poisoning crisis in the city of Salisbury.

Stars: Rafe Spall, Anne-Marie Duff, Annabel Scholey, Judah Cousin

Votes: 7,299

27. Rang De Basanti (2006)

Not Rated | 167 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

The story of six young Indians who assist an English woman to film a documentary on the freedom fighters from their past, and the events that lead them to relive the long-forgotten saga of freedom.

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra | Stars: Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi

Votes: 122,381 | Gross: $2.20M

28. Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland (2023)

Documentary, History, War

Twenty-five years on from a peace agreement being reached, Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland shares intimate, unheard testimonies from all sides of the conflict.

Votes: 930

29. Juggernaut (1974)

PG | 109 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

A blackmailer demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he placed aboard the transatlantic liner Britannic.

Director: Richard Lester | Stars: Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, David Hemmings, Anthony Hopkins

Votes: 6,328 | Gross: $1.56M

30. Oranges and Sunshine (2010)

R | 105 min | Biography, Drama, History

Set in 1980s Nottingham, social worker Margaret Humphreys holds the British government accountable for child migration schemes and reunites the children involved -- now adults living mostly in Australia -- with their parents in Britain.

Director: Jim Loach | Stars: Emily Watson, Aisling Loftus, Stuart Wolfenden, Lorraine Ashbourne

Votes: 5,906

31. A United Kingdom (2016)

PG-13 | 111 min | Biography, Drama, History

The story of King Seretse Khama of Botswana and how his loving but controversial marriage to a British white woman, Ruth Williams, put his kingdom into political and diplomatic turmoil.

Director: Amma Asante | Stars: David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Tom Felton, Jack Davenport

Votes: 16,989 | Gross: $3.90M

32. Ultraviolet (1998)

TV-14 | 300 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

The six-episode series, first aired in 1998, stars Jack Davenport as Detective Sergeant Michael Colefield, who discovers a secret government vampire-hunting unit while investigating the disappearance of his partner.

Stars: Jack Davenport, Susannah Harker, Idris Elba, Philip Quast

Votes: 2,824

33. Viceroy's House (2017)

Not Rated | 106 min | Biography, Drama, History

The final Viceroy of India, Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (Hugh Bonneville), is tasked with overseeing the transition of British India to independence, but meets with conflict as different sides clash in the face of monumental change.

Director: Gurinder Chadha | Stars: Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi

Votes: 8,563 | Gross: $1.11M

34. Cleanskin (2012)

Not Rated | 108 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A British secret service agent is faced with the task of pursuing and eliminating a British-born suicide bomber and his terrorist cell.

Director: Hadi Hajaig | Stars: Sean Bean, Charlotte Rampling, Abhin Galeya, Tom Burke

Votes: 21,148

35. No Blade of Grass (1970)

R | 96 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

An environmental catastrophe destroys civilization. Led by father John and mother Ann, the Custance clan sets out on a quest for safety in a savage world that may just end up turning them into the very thing they are fleeing.

Director: Cornel Wilde | Stars: Nigel Davenport, Jean Wallace, John Hamill, Lynne Frederick

Votes: 2,059 | Gross: $0.35M

36. Operation Crossbow (1965)

PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Drama, War

Allied agents attempt to infiltrate a German rocket research site.

Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard, John Mills

Votes: 5,508

37. The Secret Army (2024)

89 min | Documentary

Darragh MacIntyre reveals the strange story of the lost documentary that unmasked the IRA. Right at the bloodiest point of the conflict, IRA bombers were filmed unmasked, and most of its underground leadership appeared on camera.

Star: Darragh MacIntyre

Votes: 63

38. Glorious 39 (2009)

R | 129 min | Drama, History, Mystery

The adopted daughter of a privileged British politician uncovers a family secret in the weeks leading up to World War II.

Director: Stephen Poliakoff | Stars: Romola Garai, Eddie Redmayne, Juno Temple, Toby Regbo

Votes: 5,704

39. Hidden City (1987)

108 min | Mystery, Thriller

Sharon Newton (Cassie Stuart) leads the uncooperative James Richards (Charles Dance) into a world of misplaced government secrets, capitalistic artists and bungling secret agents.

Director: Stephen Poliakoff | Stars: Charles Dance, Cassie Stuart, Bill Paterson, Richard E. Grant

Votes: 278

40. Operation Buffalo (2020)

52 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

In Maralinga, South Australia, at the height of the Cold War, at a remote army base carrying out British nuclear testing, paranoia runs rife and nuclear bombs are not the only things being put to the test.

Stars: Ewen Leslie, Jessica De Gouw, James Cromwell, Tony Martin

Votes: 890

41. Chinese Box (1997)

R | 99 min | Drama, Romance

The story of Hong Kong, from New Year's Day to June 30th, 1997, when the British left their colony and turned it over to the People's Republic of China.

Director: Wayne Wang | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, Maggie Cheung, Michael Hui

Votes: 3,595 | Gross: $2.20M

42. The Apocalypse Watch (1997 TV Movie)

240 min | Action, Drama

While gathering data on political bribes in Europe, CIA agent Harry is exposed to brainwashing. When killed, his CIA analyst brother and agent Karin try to find the killers etc. Is there a powerful neo-Nazi organization? CIA leak?

Director: Kevin Connor | Stars: Patrick Bergin, John Shea, Virginia Madsen, Benedick Blythe

Votes: 322

43. Three Families (2021– )

118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

Dramatisation of three real-life stories of how three families were each affected by Northern Ireland's restrictive abortion law before it was lifted in 2019.

Stars: Sinéad Keenan, Lola Petticrew, Amy James-Kelly, Colin Morgan

Votes: 726

44. You've Been Trumped (2011)

Not Rated | 79 min | Documentary

In this David and Goliath story for the 21st century, a group of proud Scottish homeowners take on celebrity tycoon Donald Trump as he buys up one of Scotland's last wilderness areas to build a golf resort.

Director: Anthony Baxter | Stars: Michael Forbes, Donald Trump, Anthony Baxter, Kevin Brown

Votes: 2,309 | Gross: $0.03M

45. The Hunger (II) (2020)

90 min | Documentary, History

The Story of the Irish Famine of the 1840s.

Director: Ruán Magan | Stars: Liam Neeson, Cormac Ó'Gráda, Niamh Gallagher, Mary C. Kelly

Votes: 99

46. The Executioner (1975)

PG | 93 min | Drama, Thriller

Western intelligence agents try, by all means necessary, to prevent a Communist-bloc defector from leaving the West in his bid to return home to lead an uprising.

Director: Cyril Frankel | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Ava Gardner, Bekim Fehmiu, Timothy Dalton

Votes: 345

47. The War You Don't See (2010)

97 min | Documentary, War

Thought-provoking documentary on war propaganda: how governments manipulate the facts and how most media let them get away with it.

Directors: Alan Lowery, John Pilger | Stars: John Pilger, Stuart Ewen, Melvin Goodman, Dan Rather

Votes: 1,527

48. The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom (2007)

180 min | Documentary

The many ways in which Western notions of personal and political freedom are changing in the 21st Century are explored in this three-part documentary from writer and filmmaker Adam Curtis.

Stars: John Nash, Robert Spitzer, Jerome Wakefield, Paul McHugh

Votes: 2,019

49. Titanic Town (1998)

100 min | Drama

A Belfast, Northern Ireland housewife takes up the peace cause, which causes her family trouble with I.R.A. sympathizers.

Director: Roger Michell | Stars: Julie Walters, Ciarán Hinds, Nuala O'Neill, James Loughran

Votes: 459 | Gross: $0.06M

50. When We Speak (2022)

80 min | Documentary

WHEN WE SPEAK follows three incredible stories of women who risked everything to tell the truth. Their stories became worldwide scandals and took a personal toll on each of their lives

Director: Tas Brooker | Stars: Rose McGowan, Helen Evans, Katharine Gun

Votes: 80