The Timeline

This is the master timeline, sorted by period and by English and British monarch, which we will follow during this project. It is subject and highly likely to change. We are trying to create as definitive a list as possible before we begin, so that we may watch the films in uninterrupted order — but as we get closer to each period, the list becomes more refined.

This list owes a debt to Great-Britain.co.uk for its delineation and description of historical periods, and this list of historical films in chronological order for helping us fill in the blanks.

Methods: We have tried to select films and television series that are representative of historical and political events in the development of England and Britain. However, in cases where this isn’t possible, we’ve chosen either creative adaptations or fictional stories set in the correct time period.

Preference is given to films considered “quintessentially British” (for example, Quadrophenia). Some films are added for historical context, or may occasionally be redundant but are left in because we love the director.

We have also tried to select quality films which are readily available to the public.

Film titles in brackets indicate copies which we can’t find, but are searching for.

Questions, comments, suggestions for films? Please let us know, and be sure to alert us if anything is out of order or misplaced. (Email us at lehall-at-gmail-dot-com)

Click on the title of the film or program to read our post about it. For the intro to the Anglofilmia project, please click here.

Pre-prehistory

4000 BC to 1500 BC (Prehistory: Stone Age man, first farmers, Stonehenge)

1500 BC to 43 AD (Ancient Britain: Hill forts, Celts)

43 AD to 410 AD (Roman Britain: they came, they saw, they conquered)

  • 26 AD – Ben Hur
  • A History of Britain: Beginnings (covers pre-history to the invasions up to 1000 AD)
  • 60 AD – The Viking Queen
  • 60 AD – Boudica
  • 117 AD – Centurion
  • 117 AD – Eagle of the Ninth
  • 192 AD – Gladiator

410 to 1066 (Sub-Roman Britain: Romans leave, Anglo Saxons arrive, Normans conquer)

  • 440s – St. Patrick: The Irish Legend
  • 470s – Tristan + Isolde
  • early 500s – Beowulf
  • 500s – King Arthur
  • 500s – Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  • [650s - Penda's Fen]

774-796 (House of Mercia, Offa Rex)

802-1016 (House of Wessex)

  • The Saxon Chronicles
  • 800s – The Vikings
  • late 800s – Alfred the Great

1016-1035 (Danish line, King Kanute the Great)

1042-1066 (House of Wessex restored, St. Edward the Confessor)

  • Lady Godiva of Coventry
  • 1066: A History of Britain: Conquest (covers 1000-1087, Battle of Hastings and Norman invasion)

 

1066 to 1154 (Normans consolidate their conquest)

1066-1087 (House of Normandy, William I the Conqueror)

  • A History of Britain: Dynasty (covers 1087-1216 and Norman dynasty)
  • Blood Royal: William the Conqueror

1087-1100 (House of Normandy, William II Rufus)

1100-1135 (House of Normandy, Henry I)

1135-1154 (House of Normandy, Stephen)

  • Cadfael
  • The Pillars of the Earth

 

1154 to 1485 (the Middle Ages)

1154-1189 (Plantagenet Angevin line of English King Henry II the Curtmantle)

  • The Lion in Winter
  • Becket

1189-1199 (Plantagenet Angevin: Richard 1 the Lionheart)

  • 1194 – Ivanhoe
  • Robin Hood
  • Lionheart
  • Kingdom of Heaven

1199-1216 (Plantagenet Angevin: John Lackland)

  • A History of Britain: Nations (covers 1216-1348 and British identity post-Longshanks)

1216-1272 (Plantagenet Angevin: Henry III)

1272-1307 (Plantagenet Angevin: King Edward I Longshanks)

  • Braveheart

1307-1327 (Plantagenet Angevin, King Edward II)

  • Edward II

1327-1377 (Plantagenet Angevin, King Edward III)

  • The Canterbury Tales
  • A Knight’s Tale
  • A History of Britain: King death (1348-1500, plague)

1377-1399 (Plantagenet Angevin, King Richard II)

1399-1413 (Plantagenet Lancastrian, Henry IV)

1413-1422 (Plantagenet Lancastrian, Henry V)

  • Henry V

1422-1461 (Plantagenet Lancastrian, Henry VI first reign)

  • Joan of Arc
  • The Messenger
  • The Passion of Joan of Arc

1461-1470 (Plantagenet Yorkist, Edward IV first reign)

1470-1471 (Plantagenet Lancastrian, Henry VI second reign)

1471-1483 (Plantagenet Yorkist, Edward IV second reign)

1483-April to June (Plantagenet Yorkist, Edward V)

1483-1485 (Plantagenet Yorkist, Richard III)

  • Richard III

 

1485 to 1603 (Early modern Britain: The Tudors)

1485-1509 (House of Tudor, Henry VII)

  • Princes In The Tower

1509-1547 (House of Tudor, Henry VIII)

  • A History of Britain: Burning convictions (1500-58, religious upheaval)
  • The Tudors
  • Anne of the Thousand Days
  • A Man For All Seasons
  • The Other Boleyn Girl

1547-1553 (House of Tudor, Edward VI)

July 10-19 1553 (Jane, the Nine Days Queen)

  • Lady Jane

1553-1558 (House of Tudor, Mary I)

  • A History of Britain: The body of the Queen (1558-1603, Elizabeth and Mary)

1558-1603 (House of Tudor, Elizabeth I)

  • Elizabeth
  • Elizabeth: the Golden Age
  • Shakespeare in Love
  • Mary, Queen of Scots

 

1603 to 1660 (Union of the Crowns & Jacobean and Caroline Eras: the Divine Right of kings to rule, and be executed)

1603-1625 (Stuart line, James I [formerly James VI of Scotland])

  • A History of Britain: The British wars (1603-1649, civil wars)
  • Guy Fawkes, V For Vendetta
  • The New World

1625-1649 (Stuart line, Charles I)

  • To Kill A King
  • The Devil’s Whore

Interregnum: Commonwealth from 1653-1658, Oliver Cromwell

  • A History of Britain: Revolutions (1649-1689, Cromwell’s reforms)
  • Cromwell

Interregnum: Commonwealth from 1653-1658, Richard Cromwell

 

1660 to 1715 (Restoration and Glorious Revolution, the beginning of Empire)

1649-1685 (Stuart line restored, Charles II)

  • Restoration
  • Stage Beauty
  • The Libertine

1685-1688 (Stuart line restored, James II)

  • Lorna Doone

1689-1702 (Houses of Orange and Stuart, English king William III and Mary II)

  • A History of Britain: Britannia incorporated (1690-1750, Britain of Scotland and England)
  • Gulliver’s Travels
  • Captain Kidd

1702-1707 (Stuart line restored, Anne)

1706, Kingdoms of England and Scotland become Kingdom of Great Britain

 

1600 to 1783 (Britain in North America)

  • The Patriot
  • 1776

1714 to 1830 (Second British Empire and Georgian Era: the German Georges rule Britain)

1714-1727 (Brunswick Hanover line, George I)

  • Rob Roy

1727-1760 (Brunswick Hanover line, George II)

  • Barry Lyndon
  • Last of the Mohicans
  • A History of Britain: The wrong empire (1750-1800, settlements and prosperity, exploitation and loss)

1760-1820 (Brunswick Hanover line, George III)

  • A History of Britain: Forces of nature (1780-1832, political energy, nature and revolution)
  • Wuthering Heights
  • early 1700s – Blackbeard
  • 1719 – Rob Roy
  • 1774 – Marie Antoinette
  • 1787 – Botany Bay
  • 1792 – The Scarlet Pimpernel
  • 1795 – Becoming Jane
  • Pride & Prejudice
  • Amazing Grace
  • Mansfield Park
  • Persuasion
  • Shaka Zulu
  • 1805 – Master and Commander
  • 1810s – The Madness of King George
  • 1818 – Bright Star

1820-1830 (Brunswick Hanover line, George IV)

  • The First Gentleman

 

1815 to 1914 (Britain’s Imperial Century: peace and prosperity, the growth of Empire)

1830-1837 (Brunswick Hanover line, William IV)

  • Oliver
  • A History of Britain: Victoria and her sisters (1830-1910, Victorian era)

1837-1901 (Brunswick Hanover line, Victoria)

  • Mrs. Brown
  • The Young Victoria
  • Young Sherlock Holmes
  • Around the World in 80 Days
  • The Elephant Man
  • From Hell
  • An Ideal Husband
  • Dorian Gray
  • The Time Machine
  • A History of Britain: The empire of good intentions (1830-1925, empire)
  • Zulu
  • 1820s – Gunga Din
  • 1860s – River Queen
  • 1830s – Disraeli
  • 1840s – Florence Nightingale
  • Wilde

1901-1910 (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha line, Edward VII)

  • Miss Potter
  • The Hours
  • Moulin Rouge
  • League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
  • Finding Neverland
  • Mary Poppins
  • Titanic
  • The Secret Garden
  • The Lost Prince
  • Lillie
  • Gandhi
  • Shackleton

 

1914 to 1918 (The First World War)

1918 to 1939 (Aftereffects of WWI, General Strike, Coalition and Conservative Governments)

1910-1936 (House of Windsor, George V)

  • A History of Britain: The two Winstons (1910-1965, imperial past influencing the future)
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • All the King’s Men
  • The Wind that Shakes the Barley
  • Nora

20 Jan-11 Dec 1936 (House of Windsor, Edward VIII)

  • Chariots of Fire
  • Edward & Mrs. Simpson

 

1939 to 1945 (Hitler’s War)

1945 to 2000 (Post-war Britain, lost empire, searching for role)

11 Dec 1936-6 Feb 1952 (House of Windsor, George VI)

  • Bridge on the River Kwai
  • The English Patient
  • 1938 – Brief Encounter
  • Tea With Mussolini

6 Feb-1952-present (House of Windsor, Elizabeth II)

  • The Full Monty
  • This Is England
  • Trainspotting
  • 1932 – Gosford Park
  • Quadrophenia
  • To Sir, with Love
  • Beyond A Joke
  • Bloody Sunday
  • Hunger
  • Vera Drake
  • The Wicker Man

Contemporary

  • 28 Days Later
  • Casino Royale
  • The Queen

 

THE FUTURE

  • Brazil
  • A Clockwork Orange
  • If…
  • Children of Men