Beautiful Thing returns to UK cinemas for its 30th anniversary in a new Reclaim The Frame-led nationwide campaign

Today, in partnership with BFI Film Audience Network and Film4, we announce a UK-wide season of screenings and events celebrating the 30th anniversary of Hettie Macdonald's acclaimed debut feature.

Thirty years after its original release, Reclaim The Frame is bringing Beautiful Thing back to cinemas with a coordinated anniversary campaign celebrating one of the most beloved British films of the 1990s.

Running from 01 September to 31 October 2026, the campaign forms part of BFI FAN's Rip It Up season, while also supporting standalone anniversary screenings. Rip It Up is made possible thanks to Good Cause National Lottery funding via the BFI. 

September – Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow

35mm screening + introduction from Reclaim The Frame’s Eilidh Akilade

2 September – Hebden Bridge Picture House, Hebden Bridge

4, 6, 9 & 10 September – Pictureville Cinema, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford

35mm screenings

5 September – Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff

6 September – Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds

35mm screening

9 September – The Garden Cinema, London

Introduction from Reclaim The Frame’s Melanie Iredale

14 September – Filmhouse, Edinburgh

20 & 24 September – Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle

30 September – Genesis Cinema, London

35mm screening + Q&A with director Hettie Macdonald, hosted by Reclaim The Frame’s Melanie Iredale

2 October – Phoenix, Leicester

15 October - Plymouth Arts House, Plymouth

19, 20 October - Showroom Cinema, Sheffield

22 October - Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry

35mm screening + introduction from Reclaim The Frame’s Daljinder JohalBooking link coming soon

With further venues to be announced throughout the campaign.

Directed by film, theatre and television director Hettie Macdonald in her acclaimed feature debut, Beautiful Thing marked the beginning of a career that would go on to include Doctor Who (2007-15), Howards End (2017), Normal People (2020) and, 27 years later, her second feature film, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2023).

Written by Jonathan Harvey, adapting his own acclaimed stage play for the screen, Beautiful Thing follows neighbours Jamie and Ste as their friendship develops into first love over the course of one long, hot summer on a South East London housing estate. Alongside them are Jamie's irrepressible mum Sandra and their outspoken neighbour Leah, whose devotion to Mama Cass provides the unforgettable soundtrack to a story filled with warmth, humour and hope.

Originally commissioned by Channel 4 Films (now Film4) as a television film, Beautiful Thing exceeded expectations following its premiere at the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, now BFI Flare, where it won the festival's Best Film Award. The film went on to screen in Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival before receiving a UK theatrical release in June 1996, and has since become a landmark of British Queer Cinema.

For the first time, Beautiful Thing will be available to UK cinemas on DCP through a collaboration between Reclaim The Frame, Film4 and BFI. Participating venues will also have the rare opportunity to screen the original 35mm print, returning to cinemas after around fifteen years.

Melanie Iredale, Executive Director of Reclaim The Frame, said:

"What I love about Beautiful Thing is that it sees beauty everywhere. It takes an ordinary housing estate and fills it with colour, warmth and life. Jamie and Ste's love story has endured for thirty years, but it's also a film about community, where every character, especially Sandra and Leah, is given the space to be fully themselves.

We're incredibly proud to have partnered with BFI Film Audience Network and Film4 to bring Beautiful Thing back to audiences in cinemas across the UK. Thanks to that collaboration, people will have the chance to discover it for the first time or rediscover it together on the big screen.”

This project is delivered by Reclaim The Frame in partnership with BFI Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) and Film4. With support from BFI Film Audience Network, awarding National Lottery funding to bring this project to audiences across the UK. Supported by Film4.

Find out more about Beautiful Thing.

Additional cinemas interested in participating in the campaign should contact mail@reclaimtheframe.org.

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