9. Tom Harper
Tom Harper is probably the director with the least amount of name recognition on this list. His most famous work - and to date his only feature film - is The Scouting Book for Boys - a dark coming-of-age tale starring Thomas Turgoose, Holliday Grainger, Rafe Spall and Steven Mackintosh. The film received very little attention but after being championed by critics and those that saw it at film festivals, it has sold well on dvd and been broadcast on Film4. Harper has received considerable acclaim for his short films, including the excellent and Bafta nominated Cubs. He has also been prolific in tv and his direction of Misfits is arguably the best on British television. He has also directed episodes for the highly anticipated BBC crime drama, Peak Blinders, which stars Cillian Murphy, and it will hopefully live up to the hype. It was announced late last year that Harper is going to direct the sequel to The Woman in Black, which was a surprise hit last year and it will mark Harper's first foray into feature length directing since 2009. It will certainly be interesting if Harper can continue having success on a bigger budget and within the tight constraints of genre.