Britain has history and lots of it. Some of it might be far away from the facts such as King Arthur or Robin Hood.
Mark Kermode examines British History Movies, a never ending field that is always ripe to be mined. Get it right as Helen Mirren, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Olivia Colman, Paul Schofield, Judi Dench and Charles Laughton did and there might be an Oscar in it.
The Private Life of Henry VIII made in 1933 was the first British talkie to be a hit in the American box office. It was a prestige production and Charles Laughton won the best actor Oscar.
Kermode looks at movies from the Roman invasion onwards to the Vikings, Medieval times, the Tudors, the Elizabethan age the English civil war, the Restoration period, the Victorian era and to the 20th century which had two world wars.
There are detours courtesy of the Carry On team and Monty Python and even more bizarrely Pier Paolo Pasolini's saucy romp The Canterbury Tales.
The Hammer Horror films got mileage from The Witchfinder General set during the civil war period. Mel Gibson got critical acclaim with his Scottish epic William Wallace. Sean Connery went autumnal as an older Robin Hood who was past his prime.
Kermode notes that in recent years, British History has turned to pop music for inspiration with biopics on the band Queen and Elton John.
