Even if Thatcher did not seem to understand the importance of cinema in British society, she certainly inspired a new breed of film directors - Ken Loach, Stephen Frears, Peter Greenaway, Neil Jordan and Mike Leigh created some of their best work in the eighties. Looking back now, it could be argued that the Thatcher period was the golden age of British film.

"Make a film based on the Olympics," is your only instruction. What would YOU do? Four celebrated British filmmakers were given this very challeng...

Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party is an iconic play which has a home in the hearts of many thanks to it's 1977 Hampstead Theatre production and subsequent BBC airing. If you knew it then, you'll still love it now, but what for a young whippersnapper like me, who wasn't even alive when the play landed on the scene?

A costume drama set during the French revolution and starring Diane Kruger as Marie Antoinette has kicked off the annual Berlin Film Festival - the fi...