Terry Gilliam HAS become a British Citizen.

Gilliam is not British. He is American.
Female Brit director:
Andrea Arnold

christopher nolan - memento
sam mendes 5b4- american beauty
stephen daldry - the hours
terry gilliam - 12 monkeys
joe wright - atonement
why on earth were these guys missed off?

christopher nolan?
and yeah danny boyle
Please don't spoil my day, i'm miles away,
leave me where i am, i'm only sleeping.

EBFilms, I'm sure the original poster was intending this to be a debate and for people to post their own lists in relation to his.
My favourite directors would be (in no order)
Shane Meadows
Ken Loach
Mike Leigh
Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction and Jacob's Ladder were good films)
Ridley Scott (for Alien and Blade Runner only)
If Gary Oldman would count for Nil By Mouth then he would definately be on there.

it's not sexsist but the only female director who makes good movies in sofia copala
Hopelessly off-topic BUT: that's crazy talk! Agns Varda, Jane Campion, Catherine Breillat and Samira Makhmalbaf were responsible for some of the most memorable films I've yet seen. (To name just the first few women who come to mind.)

it's not sexsist but the only female director who makes good movies in sofia copala

Isn't it incredibly sad that there are no female directors mentioned in the list or the ensuing conversation. White males still rule the industry.
"It's like jello on springs."

Edgard Wright and Guy Ritchie

agreed alan parker is hit or miss. but calling him a terrible filmmaker is really absurd.
the guy directed midnight express..one of the most intense films ever. how is this not a great film. the music alone gives me the creeps just thinking about the atmosphere. have you people seen this film?
mississippi burning is another great film by parker with gene hackman.
and possibly my favorite parker film, angel heart with de niro and rourke. its insanely underrated.
if you are going to argue that all those films are terrible dont even bother, just stick w boring mike leigh, he seems to be on a roll with movies that tend to wallow in boringness the whole time.

Ridley Scott hasn't made a great film in nearly thirty years. Paul Greengrass and Alan Parker are both very hit-and-miss, and neither has made a great film. The jury's still out on Michael Winterbottom, but I could see him placing here in a decade or so.
Either way, at this point, Mike Leigh has directed more great films than all of those on your list (plus Danny Boyle, plus Meadows) combined.
I suppose on a clear day you can see the class struggle from here

Greengrass might get on there, for United 93. But Parker? Surely not. He is one of the worst film-makers of all time. (I will argue for this if you want.) Winterbottom has not made a great film, and nor - in my view - has Scott, even though he is a supreme stylist. (There is a case to be made for Alien and Blade Runner as great films, even though they are not to my taste.)
I think it's an excellent list. Cox and Watkins definitely belong on there, as do Leigh and Loach. Davies belongs at the top. The only person who does not belong there is Frears, who is really a journeyman, with no distinctive visual style (unlike Davies, Roeg, Watkins, even Leigh), and - dare I say it - has never made a great film. I would consider replacing him with Ken Russell. Even though Russell has made some of the worst films of all time (Tommy, Lair of the White Worm), there is some great work there (the stuff on Elgar and Debussy, The Devils) that mark him out as a master filmda0-maker, albeit a massively erratic one. In my humble opinion - I should add.

Michael Winterbottom, Paul Greengrass, Alan Parker, Ridley Scott? I would rank all of them ahead of Mike Leigh.

If we're talking about living Brits (or just English) who r STILL making indespensible cinema, where's Ridley Scott, or Danny Boyle? Tch..

Totally agree. There is no way that Shane Meadows coul be out of this list

What, no Shane Meadows? (I loved his This Is England and Dead Man's Shoes, and A Room For Romeo Brass and 24/7 weren't bad either.)
Some nice picks, though.
"I know I'm not normal but I'm trying to change!" ~ Muriel's Wedding

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just because a director isnt well knwn how does that make him a 'bad director'. besides, danny boyle is a top notch filmmaker.
you say that taste dictates the original poster's choices, but isn't that the same with you.
not everyone is going to like the things

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I was specifically trying to limit myself to
English
directors on this list, as opposed to Irish, Scottish, or Welsh filmmakers. Ironically, your post just caused me to realize that Peter Greenaway is actually Welsh, so I've replaced him with your excellent suggestion of Stephen Frears.
Neil Jordan is definitely my favorite Irish director as well, by the way.

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If nobody cares, then this discussion probably isn't worth continuing.
Thanks anyhow for your response.

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Cox & Leigh don't belong on that list.
Care to elaborate on that? I would expect an argument against Cox, but Leigh strikes me (and many others) as being fairly indispensable to the last several decades of English cinema. A blanket dismissal invites being treated in kind.
Watkins is good, but nobody really knows him.
I fail to see how a filmmaker's current "name-recognition" status is at all relevant to the quality of his work. The same "nobody" who hasn't heard of Watkins is probably ignorant of Jean Renoir as well. Should those of us who are aware of Renoir begin downgrading his work on the same grounds?
Your list is flawed because of your own personal taste.
This statement is undoubtedly true. It also happens to be trivially obvious and universally applicable. Subjective opinion is the only evaluative form any of us can provide in relation to the arts. However, the degree of knowledge, comprehension and insight which shapes one's opinion is what finally determines its practical worth. Some tastes reflect a wider spectrum of understanding than others, while some people simply don't have the first cb68lue as to what they're talking about.