The 20 best films set in London, from Passport to Pimlico to Mangrove

This weekend, Steve McQueen’s new film anthology, Small Axe, kicks off with Mangrove - set in and around the eponymous Caribbean restaurant in 1960s/70s Notting Hill. But the capital has long served as a backdrop, a catalyst, often almost another character, for filmmakers - they just can’t get enough of the Big Smoke. Here are our top 20 London movies.

Passport to Pimlico, 1949

A small part of London becoming, technically, foreign territory was the plotline for this golden age Ealing comedy. Too silly to ever happen in real life, you’d think – until the bureaucracy around Brexit earlier this year seemed to suggest Kent would get its own border. Released in 1949, Passport to Pimlico sees residents of the (admittedly slightly set apart) area become an independent nation, exempt from the miseries of food rationing – and was nominated for an Oscar and a Bafta for its script. JT

The Ladykillers, 1955

Steam and speed, fog and filth, tea and cake. That’s what characterises the London of The Ladykillers, a fabulous black comedy in which Alec Guinness’s gang of ruthless criminals, who have committed a van robbery at Kings Cross Station, are painfully and lethally outwitted, quite by accident, by the ultimate sweet little old lady, Katie Johnson’s twinkly Mrs Wilberforce. I saw it as a child and I will never forget its weirdness, its macabre air and how much it made my Dad laugh. I love it too. ND

Mary Poppins, 1964

Ok, the real Cherry Tree Lane was actually just Stage 4 of Disney Studios, California - but that doesn’t make the London of 1964’s Mary Poppins any less magical. From the grandeur of the Banks’s family townhouse to the soot-crusted rooftops of the chim-chimineying sweeps, the film firmly grasps two distinct sides of London and brings them together to form the all-singing, all-dancing film we know and love. JB

Blow Up, 1966

This was screen god Michelangelo Antonioni’s first entirely English language film and stars Michael Hemmings as a London fashion photographer in swinging 60s London who inadvertently captures a murder on film. Come for the stars – which include everyone from Sarah Miles to Jane Birkin, Vanessa Redgrave and cult 60s model Veruschka - stay for the incredible cinematography depicting an eerily empty and atmospheric 1960s London. AVP

Performance, 1970

Fifty years on, the Notting Hill Gate depicted in Performance is a very different place. But even now, hang around there long – and late – enough and chances are you will eventually end up invited into the world of some washed up west London bohemian in the mould of Mick Jagger’s Turner: still as good a cinematic example as you’ll find of the dark-yet-enticing crazies-in-residence that make London a city like no other. HM

The Long Good Friday, 1980

A glamorous gangster flick with plenty of blood and guts, the Long Good Friday shows a London long-gone: one of barrow boys done good and the Docklands marked by derelict terraces instead of banking behemoths. Bob Hoskins terrifies as Harold Shand, an ambitious, gentrification-keen Stepney thug trying to woo American mobsters while ducking the IRA. His rage shakes the screen, while Helen Mirren purrs as she puts plans gone awry back together again. DE

My Beautiful Laundrette, 1985

Directed by Stephen Frears and adapted from a screenplay by Hanif Kureshi, My Beautiful Launderette is a gay coming of age tale set in London during the Thatcher years, set amid the complex relationships between the Pakistani and English communities. Full of fascinating characters (including Johnny, played by a young Daniel Day-Lewis) and unforgettable cinematic moments, London is luminous in this quirky, unmissable film. AVP

Naked, 1993

Written and directed by Mike Leigh and starring David Thewlis, Naked follows the mental unravelling of an unemployed Mancunian conspiracy theorist venting his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey. A lot of the script was improvised which gives the film a wonderfully unexpected edge. London, as ever, is mesmerising in this dark, monochromatic and claustrophobic work of genius. A must watch. AVP

Sliding Doors, 1998

Usually the difference between being five or ten minutes late for work, missing the tube is a matter of life and death for Gwyneth Paltrow in this charming/heartbreaking, split-narrative rom-com that ponders how every moment matters. We follow Paltrow as she does and doesn’t make her train, though she goes through the ringer - slimy boyfriends, job woes, unforeseen accidents - either way. Love with impish John Hannah perseveres throughout; a happy moral for those who believe in 'the one’. DE

Notting Hill, 1999

It may be one of the most improbable plotlines ever - glitzy Hollywood actress (Julia Roberts) falls for down-at-heel travel bookshop owner (Hugh Grant, making the first of several appearances in this piece), but this has to be the most wonderful love letter to Notting Hill as it used to be, before the wa**er-bankers moved in. Scenes of Portobello Road’s fruit ’n' veg market and antique stalls, together with all those indie boho boutiques and caffs - most of which are long gone - are atmospherically captured. The famous blue door - at 280 Westbourne Park Road - was sold at auction later that year, for almost £6,000. KL

Bridget Jones’s Diary, 2001

Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) striding across Tower Bridge on her way to work the morning after her first shag with unscrupulous boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, again), or charging through the freezing snow by Borough Market in satin tiger print undies to catch up with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) are just two reasons to watch this glorious romcom again. 19 years on, the movie adaption of Helen Fielding’s novel remains fresh and funny, the only difference being that Bridget’s mother Pamela, who has the best - and extremely un PC - lines, would probably be censored today. KL

About a Boy, 2002

There’s a terrific moment in this film adaption of Nick Hornby’s comic novel about selfish, entitled Will (Hugh Grant, yet again) befriending troubled young Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), when they go to Regents Park, and Marcus throws his mother’s home-baked loaf of bread into the pond, accidentally killing a duck. The film is really a celebration of contemporary London at its most ordinary and lovely: kids mucking about in school playgrounds, mums wandering around Mothercare, couples smooching in bars. Nothing too fancy, just London as it was then, and largely still is, underneath it all. KL

28 Days Later, 2002

It’s not often that we’re able to find solace in a post-apocalyptic zombie film, but such is 2020 — at least our own viral outbreak isn’t quite as bad as the one in 28 Days Later. Danny Boyle’s horror is enticing for another reason, though; it’s incredible to see central London depicted as it is here, utterly deserted. The zombie chase scene in Balfron Tower means you won’t ever pass through that part of Tower Hamlets without getting the chills, either. JE

Shaun of the Dead, 2004

This is unconfirmed, but I suspect this is the only movie, and certainly the only comedy horror, to be set in the leafy environs of Crouch End. In a way you couldn’t find anywhere better than this perfectly ordinary, rather chi-chi London neighbourhood to kick off the zombie apocalypse. If it can happen here... Sadly the Winchester Tavern, where Shaun and his pals hunker down, doesn’t actually exist - those scenes were shot at the Duke of Albany in New Cross (south of the river!), since converted into flats. ND

V for Vendetta, 2005

There are stand-offs in tube carriages and iconic London buildings going up in smoke in this adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel. Set in a dystopian future where America has been torn apart by civil war and a pandemic is ravaging Europe (and they say you couldn’t make it up), a masked freedom fighter encourages the country to unite against the government. It was the film for which Natalie Portman famously chopped off her locks, and its moustachioed mask has become a symbol for protest movements around the world. JE

Happy Go Lucky, 2008

The ode to North London that is Mike Leigh’s Happy Go Lucky is a bit of a slap in the face for those of us feeling nostalgic for a pre-Covid capital (read: all of us). Bustling shots of Camden market segue into pumping club scenes, while afters at Poppy’s grungy Finsbury Park flat almost make you long for that sad 6am walk home. Top tip: use Poppy’s maniacal driving lessons as a helpful guide to the winding backstreets of Haringey. JB

Attack the Block, 2011

A South London council estate is the setting for Joe Cornish’s hilarious, thrilling sci-fi comedy horror, which gave John Boyega his first space-themed break. Nobody actually went into space, instead the gang of lads who mug a neighbour in the opening minutes end up protecting their concrete jungle from terrifying extra-terrestrials. The dinginess of a tired estate was beautifully captured - as was the ingenuity and wiliness of the kids who know their territory like the backs of their hands. ND

Paddington and Paddington 2, 2014 & 2017

“When is Paddington 3 coming out?,” Desert Island Discs presenter Lauren Laverne tweeted last month. “I feel like we really need it at this point.” Laverne understands what the capital needs reminding of: the neighbourly spirit of our fellow city-dwellers, the charm of Notting Hill’s bustling street markets and candy-coloured crescents, the majesty of our landmarks from the Natural History Museum to Buckingham Palace. If you’re feeling disenchanted by lockdown, dig out the toast and marmalade. It turns out all you need is to see them anew through the childlike eyes of a small Peruvian bear (and of course, Hugh Grant). KS

Rocks, 2020

This story of a Hackney schoolgirl and her friends is one of the most joyful and vibrant portraits of the contemporary capital. Written by Theresa Ikoko – who herself described it as “a love letter to London” - and Claire Wilson, the city looks as gorgeous from an East London rooftop as it does from the top deck of a bus. And the gaggle of girls – a young cast chosen from real schools around the city and brought together to become real pals – capture it all on Snapchat. JT

Mangrove, 2020

The first film of Steve McQueen’s forthcoming Small Axe anthology (starting on Sunday) is set in and around the Trinidadian-owned Mangrove restaurant on the All Saint’s Road, where repeated Metropolitan Police raids gave rise to protests and violent clashes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Both serious and sombre, and giddy and gleeful, McQueen’s portrait of a rising up and coming together of a community, that resulted in a landmark court case, is glorious. ND

Small Axe begins with Mangrove on November 15 at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer