Robert Elms

Ray is an aging ex-socialist who has become a bankrobber after seeing the demise of socialism in 1980s Britain. Teaming up with a gang of other has-beenish crims, he commits one bank job too many. The gang dissolves in a murderous flurry of recriminations.

Culture Club, Spandau Ballet, Visage, Marilyn, Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran, ABC... At the dawn of the 80s, a whole host of strangely dressed men in make-up burst forth onto the music scene brandishing synthesisers and kicking against the visual ugliness of punk.

This British documentary is more than an analysis of John Lennon's song "Imagine" and its ramifications for the world we live in, it's a tentative documentary on John (and Yoko)'s art and songs' influence on a lot of people in all parts of the world and from all walks of life. As such, it should be better known and considered part of the Beatles "canon". The footage shows everything from a John Lennon Museum in Japan to a John Lennon elementary school in Liverpool to his influence on the thinking of a former Communist from Georgia (of the former USSR). It is provocative and very well made with a serious contribution from Yoko.

Two rival youth cults emerge - the mods and the rockers - with explosive consequences. For Jimmy (Phil Daniels) and his sharp-suited, pill-popping, scooter-riding mates, being a mod is a way of life, it's their generation. Together they head off to Brighton for an orgy of drugs, thrills, headline-making, and violent clashes with the rockers. Set to the music of The Who's seminal rock opera, Quadrophenia is still one of the most definitive films of its time, vividly capturing the youth culture of Britain in the 1960s. It's over 30 years since the film Quadrophenia hit the world's cinema screens. Jimmy the Mod's search for identity against the backdrop of the May Bank Holiday riots of the 1960s, is regarded as the finest example of a British "youth" movie and a warmly remembered timepiece for a generation.

Hackney-born Kapadia combines epic aerial images and the voices of Londoners to chart the city's turbulent yet inspiring journey from 2005 to the 2012 Olympics.

Out of one small London venue called The Blitz came a generation of outrageous teenagers, working class and art school kids, who would define the look, the sound, the style and the attitude of the '80s and beyond. This is their story.

The story of the big names that have shaped the musical genres, plus an occasional stopgap for the new rock 'n' roll - comedy.