YouTube Movies launches in the UK

YouTube goes to the movies in the UK
The Dark Knight: available to rent now

YouTube has finally brought its film streaming service to the UK, with over a thousand films available to rent on the Google owned video site.

The service, which was previously available in the US and Canada, includes classics such as Reservoir Dogs, Casablanca and

Mongolian Death Worm

. It also lets you stream more recent titles like

Hanna

,

Red Riding Hood

and

Mega Piranha

.

The films cost between £2.49 and £3.29 to rent, with some older titles - such as Nosferatu and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil - available for free.

30 Days of Knight

Once you've paid for the film, you receive a 48 hour pass, which gives you 30 days to begin watching, and 48 hours to finish the film - although we're not sure if this applies if you buy Eddie Murphy vehicle Another 48 Hrs.

Free films are available to watch indefinitely, but they are supported by (unskippable) ads. The titles we looked at don't come in HD formats, either, with most being DVD-equivalent 480p.

However, the films are compatible with Android devices such as phones and Google TV.

In addition to the films, viewers can also access extras like behind-the-scenes videos, interviews, parodies, clips and remixes - though most of this content is on YouTube anyway.

YouTube's biggest rival in the UK is likely to be LoveFilm, which has a similarly-sized catalogue of pay-per-view films at around the same prices, but offers almost five thousand titles to its monthly package customers.