10 Best British Gangster Movies Ever

10. Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Guy Ritchie's Snatch just barely missed out on the top ten, but the director's storming 1998 debut is an unquestionable contemporary gangster classic, with its pin-sharp dialogue and cheeky humour proving hugely influential on a litany of inferior imitators over the last two decades.

Furthermore, Ritchie himself has never been quite able to replicate the hungry, fiery panache of his first time up to bat, which made international stars out of Vinnie Jones and Jason Statham, while serving as one of the very best "post-Tarantino" thrillers to emerge in the mid-to-late 90s.

The music, the hilarious one-liners, the breakneck editing and the perfectly-matched cast: it all adds up to a damn fun time.