Cast: Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Helen Fraser, Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne, Leonard Rossiter Review by Colin Dibben
Our Billy (Courtenay) is in his early 20s, living with his parents in a respectable part of a fictional Yorkshire city (film locations include central Bradford and Shipley, the former undergoing regeneration at the time). He has a dead end job at an undertaker’s, ruled over by the stern and pompous Mr Shadrack (Rossiter). Billy spends most of his time dreaming of a country called Ambrosia, ruled by a populist dictator – himself.
When Billy meets free spirit Liz (Christie, incandescent in her first big film role) he spies the chance of moving to London to further his other dream – to be a comedy scriptwriter
The film’s tone is interesting: a blend of ‘kitchen sink’ realism and gentle satirical comedy. Scenes with Billy and his family are actually quite bitter; those between Billy and his two (!) fiancees look pretty toxic from today’s perspective. Billy’s oneiric political persuasion is also interesting, given the UK’s current political climate: it certainly isn’t democracy and worker’s rights he sees as the answer to his problems. Comic turns, when they come, for example in Rossiter’s scenes, also have a hard, authoritarian edge.
One of the most surprising elements of the film is the widescreen cinematography, which is an uneasy fit with the tone. After all, wide vistas of Bradford cannot be in many people’s list of epic or sublime views. I suppose it adds to the mock heroic aspect of Billy’s dreams but sometimes it feels like Schlesinger doesn’t know what to do with the format.
Courtenay’s character and performance are also interesting: Billy cannot be totally likeable, nor can he be a storm or energy, plus he has to feel disengaged from his real life. Courtenay’s performance is subtle, but that is probably why Christie gets all the fan mail for this film, despite being onscreen for only 14 minutes
The British New Wave was inspired by French New Wave cinema. Billy Liar has no meta or narrative form-breaking sequences, but it does have some dancing around public monuments as well as a very atmospheric dancehall sequence. It may be that the film’s major debt to French culture lies with its very British take on existentialism. Billy Liar is a film about the failure of dreams: for all his daydreaming Billy cannot take the big step – his dreams are as much vacillation as they are rebellion
This special 4K UHD collector’s edition of the film is a 2-disc set featuring the film on both UHD and Blu-ray with brand-new extras, a 64-page booklet, poster of the new artwork by Sam Smith plus calendar and will be the first time the film is available to own in 4K
This 2026 restoration of Billy Liar was scanned in 4K 16bit in the UK, from the original 35mm negative. Colour grading and restoration were completed by Silver Salt Restoration, who dedicated over 300 hours to manually clean and carefully remove sparkle, dirt and scratches, repair of missing frames and tears. This new restoration is presented in 4K UHD Dolby Vision.
Extras include:
- Billy Liar: Alice Lowe and Danny Leigh in Conversation
- The More Things Change: Samira Ahmed on Billy Liar
- Audio commentary with John Schlesinger, Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie*
- Audio commentary by Kat Ellinger
- Remembering Billy Liar with Tom Courtenay and Helen Fraser
- Interview with Richard Ayoade
- A look through the Keith Waterhouse Archive with British Library Curator Zoe Wilcox
- Interview with Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley
Billy Liar is out in a 4K UHD collector’s edition, featuring the film on both UHD and Blu-ray, on 3 August 2026.
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