Shifty (2025) by Adam Curtis

Part One - The Land of Make Believe

The dream world that Mrs Thatcher promised. And the ghosts that came back to disrupt it.

When power begins to shift in society, everything becomes unstable, exciting and frightening. Adam Curtis’ new films tell the dramatic story of what it was like to live through the extraordinary change in Britain over the past forty years. It wasn’t just the decline of political power it was also a seismic shift in consciousness in Britain at the end of the 20th century.

Gay Scottish Disco. Intersex dog. Mrs Thatcher. Encounter group. Ghosts of the Empire. Jimmy Savile. The Cheese and Onion computer. Video dating. Ian Curtis. Monetarism. Dead pilot. Stephen Hawking and Black Holes. National Front. Fat-shaming ventriloquist. Dub clash sound system. Party elephant. W****r on the line. Racist attacks. Bucks Fizz.

Part Two - Suspicion

On your own in a world of individual freedom. It's wonderful. But can you trust the old institutions? Suspicion begins to grow.

Taxidermist and owl. Rupert Murdoch and the Royal Family. Mrs Thatcher and the Yorkshire Ripper. Avant-garde hair. Video vigilantes. Inflatable giraffe. Fairlight sampler. Square-dance in Worthing. Paedophile spy. Skinhead poem. The corrupt British establishment. Relax. Dame Edna and the Freemasons. Shoot to Kill. Two policeman interrogating a rape victim. Penguins. How to manipulate interviewees on TV. Remixes. The past becomes untrustworthy.

Part Three - I Love a Millionaire

Money replaces ideology as a way of ordering Britain. It was supposed to make things rational. But the money got mixed with old forces from the past. And wasn't as predictable as it seemed.

Shoes from Russell & Bromley. Mrs Thatcher's luminous earrings. Dolly the horse. Liberal intellectuals who know their power is over. Leeks by moonlight. The Duke of Westminster. The Bitch. Modern art. Morrissey’s nostalgia. Make-up by Rimmel. Dodi Fayed. Ken Dodd's suitcase. Data extraction. The first Islamist group. The covenants of old English power. MDMA. Mrs Thatcher reads a poem. White rasta.

Part Four - The Grinder

Those in power begin to distrust you. Once you were a heroic individual. Now you are a creature of HR. And the prime minister is just a man in blue underpants.

UFO over Surrey. Water is contaminated. Pigs walking into walls. Traitors in Downing Street. Night sweats. Ram-raiding Currys. ERM underwear. Dreaming of Sutton Coldfield. Nuns play ping pong. Sod Off. HR comes to the Zoo. The official report insists it’s anxiety, not water. Jane Hawking hates her husband's rational smile. Cleaning up dragon shit.

Privatised companies play mathematical games. The rabbits are not anxious. But there may be alternative dimensions where they are. The politicians lose control of the economy.

Part Five - The Democratisation of Everything

Who needs politicians in a magical world of free individuals? So they give away their power. But Alexander McQueen sees what is really happening. The monstrous rise of the handbag.

The Prince of Wales and his hidden smutty word. Christian Heavy Metal. Sleazy politicians. Imaginary Time. Mohamed al Fayed. King Rat. Censorship in Bollywood. The disappeared from the mental hospital. Highland Rape. Labour gives the last real power away. Sugababes. The pool, the sauna and the lifestyle. Artists become agents for property developers. There are Black Holes in your head. Factories close in the North East. A scanner from Maplin. The empty zones in the Dome. Toad in the Hole. Margaret Thatcher's handbag. The hidden backbeat. Subprime. The fake show at the end of the century. And the real one.

Trailer: