Set in the appropriately Gothic surroundings of contemporary Edinburgh, Shallow Grave presents a trio of affluent characters whose feckless lives are disrupted when they discover the corpse of their recently arrived flatmate, plus a suitcase bulging with money beneath his bed. The stage is thus set for a morality play about friendship and filthy lucre. The story balances on a knife-edge between ebullience and violence as the forces of destruction gather to claim their greedy victims.

Shallow Grave won the Alexander Korda award for Best British Film of 1994, and established the partnership of writer John Hodge, producer Andrew Macdonald, director Danny Boyle and actor Ewan McGregor - a partnership to be renewed triumphantly the following year on Trainspotting.