
Mike Leigh
Director · b. 1943 · Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK
Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is a retired British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s his career moved between work for the theatre and making films for BBC Television, many of which were characterized by a gritty "kitchen sink realism" style. His well-known films include Life is Sweet (1990), the comedy-drama Career Girls (1997), the Gilbert and Sullivan biopic Topsy Turvy (1999), and the bleak working-class drama All or Nothing (2002). His most notable works are arguably Naked (1993) for which he won the Best Director Award at Cannes, the BAFTA-winning (and Oscar-nominated) Palme d'Or winner Secrets & Lies (1996) and Golden Lion winner Vera Drake (2004). His films and stage plays, according to the critic Michael Coveney, "comprise a distinctive, homogenous body of work which stands comparison with anyone's in the British theatre and cinema over the same period." Coveney further noted Leigh's role in helping to create stars – Liz Smith in Hard Labour, Alison Steadman in Abigail's Party, Brenda Blethyn in Grown-Ups, Antony Sher in Goose-Pimples, Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in Meantime, Jane Horrocks in Life is Sweet, David Thewlis in Naked – and remarked that the list of actors who have worked with him over the years – including Sheila Kelley, Paul Jesson, Phil Daniels, Lindsay Duncan, Lesley Sharp, Kathy Burke, Stephen Rea, Eric Richard, Julie Walters – "comprises an impressive, almost representative, nucleus of outstanding British acting talent." Ian Buruma, writing in the New York Review of Books in January 1994, noted: "It is hard to get on a London bus or listen to the people at the next table in a cafeteria without thinking of Mike Leigh. Like other wholly original artists, he has staked out his own territory. Leigh's London is as distinctive as Fellini's Rome or Ozu's Tokyo." Description above from the Wikipedia article Mike Leigh, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movies19
Movie5.4DocumentaryLooks at the glamour, red carpets, movies, craziness, stunts, deals, parties and personalities that have been part of the Cannes Film Festival over eight decades, as well as looking to the future.
Cannes Uncut
2023 · 7 votes
Movie5.2This critically acclaimed DVD contains 16 of the best classic and award winning British short films and delivers a snapshot of British cinema past and present. It includes films from Britain's most exciting new talent alongside early shorts from it's most successful filmmakers' amongst them Chris Nolan (Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins), Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Alien), Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies) and Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours). 01 About a Girl - Brian Percival 02 Boy & Bicycle - Ridley Scott 03 Dear Phone - Peter Greenaway 04 Doodlebug - Christopher Nolan 05 Eight - Stephen Daldry 06 Gasman - Lynne Ramsay 07 Girl Chewing Gum - John Smith 08 Home - Morag McKinnon 09 Joyride - Jim Gillespie 10 Inside Out - Tom & Charles Guard 11 Je Taime John Wayne - Toby Macdonald 12 The Sheep Thief - Asif Kapadia 13 The Short & Curlies - Mike Leigh 14 Telling Lies - Simon Ellis 15 UK Images - Martin Parr 16 Whos My Favourite Girl? - Adrian J. McDowall
Cinema16: British Short Films
2003 · 6 votes
MovieDocumentaryA multi-part documentary about Alan Clarke, featuring interviews with various actors, writers and producers.
Movie6.5DocumentaryA behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for the live broadcast of the 69th Annual Academy Awards ceremony.
Inside the Golden Statue
1998 · 4 votes
Movie4.2ComedyA film director decides to chart the course of a young actor as he tries to make it in Hollywood...
Welcome to Hollywood
2000 · 15 votes
Movie6.0DocumentaryIn this second installment of his exploration of creativity, Hermann Vaske looks for factors that inhibit it. He asks artists, activists, and thinkers about things that kill their creativity.
Why Are We (Not) Creative?
2021 · 1 votes
Movie6.4DocumentaryUsing the words and ideas of great filmmakers, from archival interviews with Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Bresson to new interviews with Mike Leigh, David Lynch, and Jonas Mekas, Oscar-winning filmmaker Chuck Workman shows what these filmmakers and others do that can't be expressed in words - but only in cinema.
What Is Cinema?
2013 · 25 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryWriter and Director Mike Leigh discusses the techniques used to create his plays.
Mike Leigh: Making Plays
1982 · 1 votes
- Movie9.0Documentary
In a revealing documentary, Mike Leigh, director of Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake and Abigail's Party among many others, talks to Alan Yentob about a unique body of work and a lifelong struggle to make films on his own terms. On day one of a Mike Leigh film, there is no script, no story and the actors do not know if they will even be in the final film. It is a process that has yielded some of cinema's most celebrated performances, and Leigh's new film Mr Turner is already winning critical acclaim. Actors including Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan, Sally Hawkins, Lesley Manville and James Corden give fascinating insights into the director and his distinctive method of working.
The One and Only Mike Leigh
2014 · 1 votes
Movie6.3DocumentaryA documentary about Vittorio de Sica with clips of his films and testimonials from friends and family.
Vittorio D.
2009 · 10 votes
MovieDocumentaryA documentary about cutting film... the way it used to be done.
MovieDocumentaryMarking Play for Today’s 50th anniversary, Drama Out of a Crisis is a compelling exploration of the series, its origins, achievements, controversies and legacies. Featuring a rich and surprising range of archive extracts and original interviews with many who created the series, including producers Kenith Trodd, Margaret Matheson and Richard Eyre, and directors Mike Leigh, David Hare and Ken Loach.
Movie6.3TV MovieDocumentaryA look at the production of Play for Today: Abigail's Party (1977).
All About 'Abigail's Party'
2007 · 3 votes
Movie10.0DocumentaryDocumentary about Humphrey Jennings, an English documentary filmmaker from the 1930s to 1950.
Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain
2025 · 1 votes
Movie6.9DramaCrimeIn Notting Hill's jazz club, coffee bar and bedsit land of the early 1960s, Joe Beckett is a young unemployed misfit and drifter whose life takes a turn for the worse when he encounters Richard Dyce, an ex-army officer.
West 11
1963 · 14 votes
Movie6.0ComedyBased on David Stuart Leslie's novel Two Left Feet is a story about Alan Crabbe (Michael Crawford a callow youth desperate for a date with any girl who can offer him the experience he lacks. Every time Alan tries a manful stride into the jungle of sex, his two left feet turn the attempt into a trip-and-stumble. Then he meets Eileen (Nyree Dawn Porter), the new waitress at the corner cafe, who signal unmistakable messages with her large inviting eyes.
Two Left Feet
1963 · 2 votes
- Movie7.0Documentary
Documentary about François Truffaut who is one of the most respected directors in the history of cinema.
Looking for Truffaut
2009 · 1 votes
Movie0.5DocumentaryDocumentary showing behind-the-scenes footage of the film 'Nader and Simin, A Separation'. Director Asghar Farhadi himself talks about his film and how the idea for it came about.
- MovieDocumentary
An interview with British film director Mike Leigh produced for BBC-TV.
Series13
TV4.4Talk ShowA topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.
The One Show
2006 · 31 votes
TV7.0An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.
The Oscars
1953 · 84 votes
TV7.2DocumentaryOmnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.
Omnibus
1967 · 9 votes
- TV4.5Talk Show
The Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 and currently airs on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" theme with many of the shows' segments focusing on fashion, health, nature, cookery and animals.
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
2007 · 4 votes
- TV5.1
The BBC's flagship cinema review TV program featuring reviews of new releases, news items and interviews. The title of the program changes each year to incorporate the year of broadcast.
Film '72
1971 · 8 votes
TV6.6NewsDocumentaryA weekly BBC Two magazine programme focusing on the best of the week's arts and culture news, covering books, art, film, architecture and more.
The Culture Show
2004 · 8 votes
TV7.1CrimeDramaBBC series based on the novels by Georges Simenon which starred Rupert Davies as Inspector Maigret, a French police detective who preferred to watch and listen in order to solve crimes. The series ran from 1960-63 on British television.
Maigret
1960 · 15 votes
TVTalk ShowSquare
2012
TV7.0DocumentaryTalk ShowWhat are the secrets of our favourite TV shows? Famous names from both sides of the camera reflect on making some of the most popular and influential programs of all time.
Remembers…
2022 · 1 votes
TVTalk ShowAs long as there is cinema, LE CERCLE will be there. It is the only television program of critical debates 100% devoted to cinema. Each week, it offers fiery, joyful and non-condescending jousts on the films on the bill; and invites with "Le questionnaire du CERCLE" directors to come and share their passion for cinema.
Le Cercle
2005
TV5.5DocumentaryRunning for seven weeks from July 2007, each week focused on a different genre, examining British film by genre. Presented by Jessica Stevenson the series featured over 200 exclusive interviews with leading actors and directors including Sir Michael Caine, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Kate Winslet.
British Film Forever
2007 · 2 votes
TV8.5DocumentaryComedian Nick Helm narrates this bold new documentary series exploring the dramatic history of British cinema. Discover how cinema held a mirror up to society from 1960 through to the 00s.
Reel Britannia
2022 · 4 votes
- TVTalk Show
In Confidence is a British television series presented by Laurie Taylor and executive produced by Victor Lewis-Smith, in which a one-on-one in depth interview with a public figure takes place over the course of about an hour. The object of the interview is to try to get to the bottom of who the subject really is and how they think. The show airs on Sky Arts in the UK.
In Confidence
2010