Brassed Off on 30th Anniversary Blu-ray from the BFI in November
Film4’s classic British drama Brassed Off, starring a host of beloved British actors including Pete Postlethwaite, Ewan McGregor, Tara Fitzgerald, Stephen Tompkinson and Sue Johnston, celebrates its 30th Anniversary this year. The winner of the Evening Standard Film Award’s Peter Sellers Award for Comedy in 1997 and a French César Award for Best Foreign Film, it also received three BAFTA nominations. It comes to BFI Blu-ray in November, with extras including a newly recorded audio commentary and newly recorded filmed interviews with writer and director Mark Herman and actor Tara Fitzgerald.
It’s 1992, and the miners of Grimley Colliery are facing uncertainty. Not only is their pit, and therefore their livelihoods, under threat but the Grimley Colliery Band is on the verge of breaking up – that is, until Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) arrives. As the only female member of the band, she somehow manages to revive their enthusiasm for the forthcoming National Championships, as well as rekindling a childhood romance with Andy (Ewan McGregor).
Led by the passionate Danny (Pete Postlethwaite), the band plays on. Danny has his pride and his trombonist son, Phil (Stephen Tompkinson), has his problems. Problems which not even Mr Chuckles the clown can seem to help solve. With the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall looming, can they hold it all together and secure a famous victory for Grimley?
Brassed Off will be released as a on Blu-ray by the BFI on 9 November 2026 at the RRP of £19.99.
BFI BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- Presented in High Definition
- Newly recorded audio commentary by Scott Harrison
- Toilet Breaks and Brass Band Shame (2026, 16 mins): a newly recorded interview with writer and director Mark Herman
- Brassing Around (2026, 25 mins): a newly recorded interview with Tara Fitzgerald
- Unusual Ground Floor Conversion (1988, 11 mins): Mark Herman’s early short film starring Adrian Dunbar (My Left Foot, The Crying Game) as a writer who becomes increasingly frustrated by his upstairs neighbour
- Archive interviews (1996, 9 mins): a series of short interviews recorded on location
- Balletomines (Mining Review 7th Year No.12) (1954, 3 mins): a group of burly Yorkshire miners form a ballet-dancing troupe to raise money for charity
- The Big Meeting (1963, 28 mins): Sam Watson, former general secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association, explains the origin of the Durham Gala Day and its purpose
- 40 Years On (1978, 20 mins): the changes in coal mining that have taken place during one man’s working lifetime
- Stills gallery
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY – Illustrated booklet featuring a new essay on the film by Johnny Mains, plus writing by the film’s producer Steve Abbott, Mark Herman on his short film Unusual Ground Floor Conversion and on the archive films by Ros Cranston, Patrick Russell and Katy McGahan