The British film industry's campaign for more TV showings for British-made films was given a major fillip yesterday when it was revealed that Billy Elliot was the most popular film screened on terrestrial channels last year.

The story of a miner's son turned dancer was the first of four British movies topping the 2003 ratings - despite the UK film industry accounting for only 2.8% of films shown on the main channels.

The poll coincided with a survey for the UK Film Council showing that 81% of UK viewers want terrestrial channels to show more recent British films, many of which had only brief showings in cinemas because of commercial pressure from Hollywood blockbusters.

The other British top 10 entries were The Full Monty (eighth), The World is Not Enough (sixth) and Goldeneye (ninth).