Trainspotting

Set in grey Edinburgh, this is a portrait of five addicted mates: more junkie than rebel. This first major feature by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) is Cool Britannia at its best.

Trainspotting is the story of unemployed Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), who, along with his mates, tries to add some color to drab 1990s Edinburgh. Their lives mostly consist of drinking beer, going out, taking drugs and playing football. Mark does his best to choose a new life and break away from his drug-addled past. He moves to London, but his friends and his past keep coming back to haunt him.

To the beats of Underworld's 'Born Slippy', Iggy Pop's 'Lust for Life' and songs by Blur and Pulp, viewers were pulled into the dark, hilarious drug world of Renton, Begbie, Spud and Sick Boy, only to pop back out via 'the filthyest toilet in Scotland'.

Despite a number of deeply mournful scenes, Trainspotting marked the arrival of Tony Blair's upbeat, neoliberal 'Cool Britannia', where grabbing whatever you could became the moral code.