"Outstanding" British movie with John Simm and Ralf Little lands new UK streaming home

24 Hour Party People, the 2002 British biographical comedy that tells the story of Tony Wilson, the man who catapulted New Order, Joy Division and Happy Mondays to fame, has found itself a new streaming home in the UK.

As of last week, it's available to stream on Disney+, which is currently the only subscription service that it's on.

Directed by Michael Winterbottom, the man behind TV series The Trip, and written by Millions author Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the film boasts an impressive cast.

Related: Best streaming services UK 2026 – including Disney+, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV

Steve Coogan plays the lead role, with John Simm, Lennie James, Andy Serkis, Ralf Little, Shirley Henderson, Sean Harris, Chris Coghill, Christoper Eccleston, Keith Allen, Peter Kay, Dave Gorman, Rob Brydon and Simon Pegg all in the cast.

The film takes a liberal approach to its source material with frequent fourth-wall breaks, as people point out how postmodern they're being, along with a cameo from a real-life Buzzcocks member who comments on a scene starring his fictional counterpart.

24 Hour Party People was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002, while The Guardian said it was the 49th best film of the 21st century in a 2019 ranking.

Over on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a very strong 87% positive score from 107 critic reviews.

Related: Exclusive: Wicker star recalls hilarious "out of body" experience filming with Alexander Skarsgård

Musician Moby called it "outstanding", while Rolling Stone said: "Like the music, the film is outspoken, roaringly funny, defiantly sexual and relentlessly in your face. I couldn't have liked it more."

"Thanks to an excellent script from Frank Cottrell Boyce, brilliant cinematography by the legendary Robby Muller and intelligent direction by Winterbottom, the film is constantly amusing and fascinating", wrote The Hollywood Reporter (all reviews via Rotten Tomatoes).

24 Hour Party People is streaming now on Disney+.

Visit our Streaming Guide now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.

The new edition of Legends, a 100-page celebration of Dolly Parton's life, is here. Buy Dolly in newsagents or online.

Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.