The 25 best films set in London

Basically, every Sherlock Holmes movie is a London movie. The man famously lives on Baker Street. However, we can’t cover them all. There are literally dozens of Holmes films. One of our favorites is the first of the Robert Downey Jr. movies with him as the world’s greatest detective.

Much like Sherlock, James Bond often spends time in London. Some of his films are more London-focused than others, though. While Skyfall ends in Scotland, much of the action takes place in London, including on the Tube.

This is an old-school version of London, but London is a city with a lot of history. It is only fitting to go back to Dickensian times. Based on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, this musical won Best Picture.

Austin Powers is a parody of James Bond, so of course, he’s big on London. He’s a fixture in the Swingin’ Sixties Era of London but travels through time after being frozen and wakes up in a more modern version of the city. Dr. Evil’s lair with the mutant sea bass is not so London-y, but the movie still counts.

Oliver! may be a street-level version of London, but a family-friendly musical version of it. Withnail and I is a different story. Withnail and “I" are two struggling actors who live in London in squalor. They seem to have only one friend, and he’s their drug dealer. It’s a bleak life. The kind where you drink lighter fluid. But it’s got a lot of London in it.

The Beatles are memorably from Liverpool. They didn’t stay in that city forever, though. A Hard Day’s Night takes place at the peak of the Fab Four’s fame and sees the band traveling to London to perform. It’s a romp of a comedy, and of course, it has a killer soundtrack.

London is a giant of the rom-com genre. There are so many you could choose from. To represent London and the romantic comedy, we decided to go with Four Weddings and a Funeral. It may have more Andie MacDowell than many would prefer, but it’s a quintessential ‘90s rom-com nonetheless.

Alfred Hitchcock set a few movies in London, but not as many as you might think. They tend not to be his best movies. On the other hand, there’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. It’s a movie that Hitchcock made twice, and this second version with James Stewart and Doris Day is definitely better.

Guy Richie loves himself a London crime movie. He made his name with Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. It’s a street-level crime comedy about a couple of small-time crooks, but it’s a solid film that introduced some future stars to the masses.

This is another London crime film, but it ramps up the sheen and budget. The unnamed protagonist, played by Daniel Craig, is more of a medium-time criminal, but he’s still in over his head. The movie is slicker than Lock, Stock, but it’s considered responsible for getting Craig the role of Bond.

We had to include a version of Christmas Carol. What version to choose, though? Decisions, decisions. Of all the adaptations of Dickens’ story, our favorite is the Muppets. Is it the most “London” of the bunch? Perhaps not, but there’s plenty of London to it.

London has a lot of “upstairs, downstairs” to it and a lot of accents. It’s perfect for a story like My Fair Lady. Henry Higgins is a haughty, pompous professor of phonetics. He meets cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle and declares he can turn her into a “proper lady.” That’s the starting point for this musical, which won Best Picture.

Music plays a role in Sid and Nancy just like in "My Fair Lady,” but it’s a slightly different film. This movie tells the story of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Sid was a member of the Sex Pistols. He and Nancy had, shall we say, a complicated relationship. It’s not the cheeriest film.

Few films of recent memory have as fervent a following as Paddington 2. No, really. People love this movie. They like Paddington, but they love the sequel. We had to include this movie on our list of London films for all you marmalade heads out there.

There’s a bit of globetrotting to the Jason Bourne movies. Naturally, they would eventually end up in London. In the third movie in the series, which basically ended the trilogy before they decided to make a fourth, Bourne spent some time in London’s capital as the conspiracy took him there. He doesn’t stay in London for the entire film, but critical action takes place there, so it counts.

Children of Men takes place in a dystopian future, but it’s not as science fiction-y as a lot of future movies. This film about a world where people have stopped giving birth for years still feels like a London movie. It’s a tweaked version of London, but the vibe is still there. Maybe it’s all the Pink Floyd references.

Animated films can be set in London, too! Perhaps the most famous of the bunch is 101 Dalmatians. It’s about two Londoners and their London dogs, all 101 of them, and of course Cruella de Vil. Yes, Cruella is a London gal.

This caper comedy stars John Cleese and Michael Palin from Monty Python, British comedy royalty. Of course, it also includes Americans Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline. Yes, they are “Ugly Americans,” but it’s perfect for this movie. Kline is particularly loathsome but hilarious. He even won an Oscar for Best Supporting Oscar.

Because Hogwarts is a place for wizards, sometimes it doesn’t feel like the Harry Potter movies are London movies. They are, though. We could only go with one of them, so we chose the one that had the best rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also happens to be the final of the movies, which feels fitting.

Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky follows Sally Hawkins all around London. She plays a woman with a bubbly personality. You know, one of those chatty extroverts always starts a little conversation. Oh, and she’s an elementary school art teacher. We get a lot of shots of London, and the movie is down to earth in a way that makes it feel like a true London movie.

What if you woke up one day and your city had been taken over by zombies? That’s the premise of Shaun of the Dead. The movie was a breakout project for director Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg. It’s a letter-perfect horror-comedy, bringing the gore and the laughs in equal measure.

Look, we’re not saying that The King’s Speech is better than The Social Network. That Best Picture decision still annoys a lot of people. The King’s Speech is still a good movie, set in the world of the British royal family. If you are going to go nuts for The Crown, you have to at least acknowledge The King’s Speech.

London is right in the title here, which is a point in its favor. It’s also all in the nooks and crannies of London. It begins on the moors of Scotland, but David ends up back in London, and that’s where his werewolf problems really kick in.

Did you enjoy Armando Iannucci’s Veep? Then you should watch In the Loop. This movie crosses the pond to bring in politicians from both the United States and England. Hey, London is the capital of the United Kingdom. Any good British political film is going to take place here, and In the Loop is one of the best.

Paul Thomas Anderson made a movie about the San Fernando Valley in the late ‘70s/early ’80s, which he had first-hand experience with. That was Boogie Nights, a sign of the incredible director Anderson would become. He may not have had the same experience with ‘50s London, but that didn’t stand in his way. It helped that Daniel Day-Lewis was involved, and according to the actor, this was his last film before retiring.