51 cultural events to catch this autumn — from film and music to TV

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The Eras tour is over and the Edinburgh festival is coming to an end. Plus there aren’t many Proms left. So what’s next? Lots — we’re entering a bumper season for culture. The cinema industry amps up its releases at this time of year, pop and rock tours start taking off again after festival season and there are blockbuster exhibitions opening. Plus exciting plays, operas, TV series and more.
Our critics have rounded up all the best events to look forward to and book. What are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.
Can the youthful creators of that Tudor history juggernaut Six hit the bull’s-eye again? This latest musical from Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss takes a wry look at the modern dating game. Garrick Theatre, London WC2, Tue-Feb 13, whyamisosingle.com
Time to get reacquainted with Room 101, Big Brother and doublethink. In this adaptation of Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece, Keith Allen takes the role of O’Brien, the cynical inquisitor and Mark Quartley plays the rebellious Winston Smith.Theatre Royal Bath, Sep 20-28, then touring to Nov, theatreroyal.org.uk
After a long spell in the doldrums, the Royal Court is pinning its hopes on Mark Rosenblatt’s play exploring the well-documented antisemitic beliefs of the children’s author Roald Dahl. And it’s directed by Nicholas Hytner, no less. Royal Court, London SW1, Sep 20-Nov 16, royalcourttheatre.com
While the Rolling Stones have been around long enough to be inducted into the ranks of the good and the great, Charlotte Jones’s play recreates the furore around the infamous Sixties police raid on Keith Richards’s mansion. It was a different world back then. Chichester Festival Theatre, Sep 20-Oct 18, cft.org.uk
Elton John provides the music while Vanessa Williams dons the glad rags and killer heels in the stage spin-off of the fear-and-loathing film comedy set inside the New York fashion-mag trade. Dominion, London W1, from Oct 24, devilwearspradamusical.com
Yes, another movie comes to the stage. Steve Coogan stars in a reworking of Stanley Kubrick’s classic Cold War satire about a rogue nuclear bomber. Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley have collaborated on the script. Bombs away. Noël Coward Theatre, London WC2, Oct 8-Jan 25, drstrangelove.com
In the director Emma Rice’s hands, Hanif Kureishi’s multicultural novel has become a glorious, sexy musical play. When it opened in Stratford this year, a vintage Stevie Wonder song sent audiences and actors dancing into the night. Barbican, London EC2, Oct 22-Nov 16, barbican.org.uk
Could this be the classiest show of the festive season? Nancy Harris adapts Hans Christian Andersen’s timeless fairytale about a young girl whose fancy footwear develops a life of its own, with sinister results. Kimberley Rampersad directs. Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon, Nov 7-Jan 19, rsc.org.uk
It has been five years since his terrific previous tour ended — not quick by most standards, but its predecessor took place 14 years previously. The ageing radical and We Will Rock You wordsmith is back with another clarion call for common sense. Touring, Sep 1-Oct 21, benelton.live
This Canadian has become one of our most reliably entertaining stand-ups. She mines her background, marriage and grooming routine for laughs, but can bring acidity and affection to almost any topic. Touring, Sep 5-Jun 27, livenation.co.uk
Gilligan is a fine observational comic who uses his copious skills as a performer — his online performances first garnered attention — to make something exciting from the sort of everyman routines that once made Lee Evans a superstar. Touring, Sep 5-Apr 12, mogilligan.com
Events may have changed — the early tour publicity referred to an impending autumn election — but the incensed yet ever-inventive Kumar should be more than match-fit for his latest show, having performed a work-in-progress version of it throughout the Edinburgh Fringe. Touring, Sep 6-Nov 28, nishkumar.co.uk
• The night OJ Simpson pretended to stab me with a banana, by Ruby Wax
Filleting her book I’m Not as Well as I Thought I Was, Wax has come up with one of her finest live shows (first seen last year): a deeply thoughtful yet resolutely frothy look at the grim recurrence of her depression after 12 years and the globe-trotting quest for enlightenment that preceded it. Touring, Sep 4-Nov 2, including Ambassadors Theatre, London WC2, Sep 16-28, rubywax.net
This belated sequel to the beloved Eighties comedy-horror arrives with much buzz and a prestige slot at the Venice Film Festival. The original cast members Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton are joined by the Wednesday star Jenna Ortega. In cinemas from Sep 6
Demi Moore takes a bold starring role in the gross-out body horror of the year. She plays a Hollywood icon who dabbles in illegal age-regression medication, resulting in a purulent, gore-spewing bio monster. You’ll love it or hate it. But you’ll definitely watch it. In cinemas from Sep 20
How do you make a sequel to Joker, an audacious Oscar-winning movie that snagged more than $1 billion at the box office, without losing credibility? Why, you hire Lady Gaga and make it a musical, of course. In cinemas from Oct 4
A timely, politically urgent, biographical drama featuring a never-better Sebastian Stan in an unsparing profile of the brittle, thin-skinned, scamming, back-stabbing early years of Donald Trump. Let’s hope the subject never sees it. In cinemas from Oct 18
Everyone’s favourite cuddly bear franchise takes a big swing and abandons its London setting for a wacky jungle adventure as the Browns take a trip to see Aunt Lucy in the Amazon rainforest. Consider all breaths bated. In cinemas from Nov 8
Ridley Scott, the world’s busiest octogenarian film-maker (two Alien sequels, plus Gucci and Napoleon biopics etc), finally delivers a follow-up to his 2000 sword ’n’ sandals epic. This one places the pumped-up Normal People star Paul Mescal in the Colosseum. In cinemas from Nov 15
• Pecs! Swords! Sandals! Why we can’t get enough of Roman gladiators
Christmas comes early for musical fans and Wizard of Oz completists with this first film in a two-part adaptation of the hit stage production. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are the starring witches and unlikely besties who are manipulated by Jeff Goldblum’s nasty Wizard. In cinemas from Nov 22
The self-appointed Midwest Princess reached No 1 on the UK album charts this month — and for good reason. Her Kate Bush/Lady Gaga/Cyndi Lauper-inspired cocktail of bangers combine witty, camp lyrics and big beats. Prepare to get hooked. Touring Sep 15-21, iamchappellroan.com
This art pop/indie rock British group, formed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, stormed to popularity last year with an exciting first single, Nothing Matters, then topped the charts with their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, before bagging a prominent Glastonbury slot with their fantastic live act. Touring Sep 18-Oct 5, thelastdinnerparty.co.uk
The Noughties are back in fashion so it’s a good time to see the garage-rock band back on stage for the tour of their fourth album, All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade. Pete Doherty and Carl Barât will both be there, don’t worry. Touring Sep 24-Nov 21, thelibertines.com
The Cambridge rockers were nominated for the Mercury album of the year award in 2021 for their debut, For the First Time, and have continued to impress with their rich sound, which includes sax, banjo, accordion and plenty of yowls. Sep 3, The Lexington, London N1, Nov 9, O2 Arena, London SE10, blackcountrynewroad.com
If you haven’t already, now is the time to get into this Irish band, especially after their magnetic Glastonbury Park Stage headline set. With the release of Romance, their fourth, least Dublin-focused and most genre-bending album yet, comes a multi-date UK tour. Touring Nov 20-Dec 4 and Finsbury Park, London N4, Jul 5, fontainesdc.com
• Fontaines DC — how did they storm the world when bands are struggling?
Kate Prince takes the creative lead in a large-scale immersive show (hip-hop meets kathak dance, no less) that promises “an unflinching look” at the role the Historic Dockyard Chatham played in building the British Empire. Historic Dockyard Chatham, Sep 25-28, thedockyard.co.uk
Birmingham Royal Ballet pays tribute to its home city with a two-act abstract ballet inspired by “the pioneering and socially enterprising women” who helped to shape Birmingham. But can it match the success of last year’s Black Sabbath ballet? Birmingham Hippodrome, Oct 3-5, Sadler’s Wells, Oct 22-23, brb.org.uk
The Royal Ballet presents the UK premiere of Wayne McGregor’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s epic dystopian novel about the aftermath of a bio-engineered apocalypse. Max Richter provides the score. Royal Opera House, London WC2, Nov 14-30, rbo.org.uk
Finally, a much-needed fresh take on The Nutcracker for English National Ballet. Hopes are high for a fun take on Tchaikovsky with the buzzy young choreographer Arielle Smith teaming up with the company director, Aaron Watkin. Mayflower, Southampton, Nov 28-30; Coliseum, London WC2, Dec 12-Jan 12, ballet.org.uk
You may think of the Silk Roads as trade routes between East and West. But the skeins of silk were far more tangled, linking merchants, smugglers and adventurers from Britain to China, Scandinavia to Madagascar. This autumn, more than 300 objects in the British Museum, including Indian garnets discovered in Suffolk and Iranian glass from Japan, will tell a story of trade across five continents.British Museum, London WC1, Sep 26-Feb 23, britishmuseum.org
Over two years in Arles and at the asylum at Saint-Remy, Vincent van Gogh painted unstoppably, producing many of his most famous masterpieces. The Sunflowers, the Irises, Van Gogh’s Chair, The Yellow House, Starry Night Over the Rhone … this exhibition promises once-in-a-century loans and a radical re-examination of the Van Gogh we think we know. Not a madman, but a man on an artistic mission. National Gallery, London WC2, Sep 14-Jan 19, nationalgallery.org
Forget Rouen Cathedral, forget the Haystacks, forget the Water Lilies; the great Claude Monet series is the foggy, smoggy Thames. In his lifetime Monet had hoped to show his paintings of Charing Cross Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and the Houses of Parliament in London, but plans fell through. Now, 120 years later, you can see the exhibition he imagined. Courtauld Gallery, London WC2, Sep 27-Jan 19, courtauld.ac.uk
• TikTok’s new art lovers miss the big picture
Michael Craig-Martin is artistic Marmite. You either love his garden spades, sneakers and safety pins in colour-saturated outline (and many collectors do) or you loathe his blown-up everyday objects (Brian Sewell was splenetic). Visit this retrospective of his 60-year career with its elements of pop art and minimalism and decide which camp your sneakers stand in. Royal Academy, London W1, Sep 21-Dec 10, royalacademy.org.uk
Will we ever weary of the Bloomsbury Group? Not yet, say two exhibitions dedicated to the art of Vanessa Bell (at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes) and of Dora Carrington (at Pallant House in Chichester). Both women contributed to the pioneering Omega Workshops, both designed brilliant illustrations and book jackets and both lived dizzyingly unconventional lives. MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, Oct 19-Feb 23, mkgallery.org; Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, Nov 9-Apr 27, pallant.org.uk
Seven orchestras and an array of top soloists including the pianist Igor Levit and the viola virtuoso Lawrence Power take part in a five-day celebration of classical music. Highlights include Rachmaninov’s The Bells and symphonies by Glass and Gorecki. Southbank Centre, London SE1, Sep 25-29, southbankcentre.co.uk
Before taking up her appointment as joint chief executive of Welsh National Opera, Adele Thomas directs the company’s new Verdi production. Hit by funding cuts and threatened with a musicians’ strike, WNO needs a knockout. Millennium Centre, Cardiff, Sep 21-Oct 4, then touring, wno.org.uk
After 25 years of Mark Elder, Manchester’s illustrious Hallé Orchestra has a new principal conductor. The Singaporean-born Kahchun Wong opens the season with Mahler’s First Symphony and music from Britten’s ballet. The Prince of the Pagodas. Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Sep 26, halle.co.uk
Unlike anything else Offenbach wrote, The Tales of Hoffmann follows a poet’s surreal evocations of four women whom he loved. Full of melody, it is staged for the Royal Opera by Damiano Michieletto and conducted by Antonello Manacorda. Royal Opera House, London WC2, Nov 7-Dec 1, rbo.org.uk
This festival of art songs is nothing if not eclectic. In its 23rd year, its programme ranges from German Lieder to a new Kafka-inspired work and a “re-imagining” of the Bhagavad Gita. Top recitalists present 70 concerts in 16 days.Various venues, Oxford, Oct 11-26, oxfordsong.org
The rising British composer Helen Grime derives her new song-cycle from Zoe Gilbert’s novel Folk, which itself draws on Scottish, Manx and Irish legends. It’s sung by Claire Booth in a BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra concert also including Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. City Halls, Glasgow and Music Hall, Aberdeen, Sep 26-27, bbc.co.uk/bbcsso
Series four of the peerless adaptation of Mick Herron’s books, about the secret service rejects led by Gary Oldman’s boozing, belching, farting, chain-smoking Jackson Lamb, is eagerly awaited for many reasons — not least the brilliant storytelling and sheer charisma of the leading man. Apple, Sep 4
This latest high-gloss drama about an ultra-wealthy family heading into crisis takes us to beachside Nantucket, where a dead body rather spoils the wedding of the season. Just how perfect are the central couple, played by Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber? Netflix, Sep 5
The latest adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s novel about high-rolling folly (witness Big Little Lies, The Undoing etc) has Annette Bening and Sam Neill playing former tennis coaches whose comfy lives are upended when a young woman knocks on their door. BBC1, Sep
This is a heart-pumping thriller set on a Glasgow-to-London sleeper train under attack. Attempting to avert disaster are Joe Cole’s off-duty cop Joe Roag and Alexandra Roach’s cybersecurity officer Abby Aysgarth. Think Idris Elba’s drama Hijack, but on rails. BBC1, Sep
When the brother of David Mitchell’s reclusive puzzle-setter, John “Ludwig” Taylor, disappears, our man takes on the police officer’s identity to track him down. It’s a nifty idea bolstered by a fabulous ensemble that includes Derek Jacobi and Felicity Kendal. BBC1, Sep
It has been nearly a decade since the first two of Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell novels were crammed into six episodes. Now the final instalment of the trilogy arrives, promising our man’s downfall at the hands of Damian Lewis’s capricious Henry VIII and another mesmerising, intelligent turn from Mark Rylance. BBC1, this autumn
A TV rule of thumb is that anything with Anna Maxwell Martin is worth watching. Here she plays Delia Balmer, a loner wowed by the free-spirited gent John Sweeney (Endeavour’s Shaun Evans). Alas, she soon finds out he’s a murderer. ITV1/ITVX, Dec
You would like more zombies and outlandish gore on TV, you say? Look no further than the director Ben Wheatley’s darkly comic series, which is really about the political faultlines in society. Robert Lindsay stars. Channel 4, this autumn
Red stilettos! Insatiable libidos! The aristocratic cad Rupert Campbell-Black! All elements of Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster are present and correct, with added David Tennant and Aidan Turner. This can hardly fail to be a lot of fun. Disney+, Oct 18
BBC1’s autumn is big on new drama (there will also be the sequels Return to Paradise, Showtrial and Moonflower Murders), but this mystery is the most intriguing. It stars Rebecca Hall as a teacher who starts noticing a low humming sound that no one else can hear. BBC1, later this autumn
You remember the film, of course; now the international, master-of-disguise assassin is played by Eddie Redmayne in what looks to be a super-sleek rethink of Frederick Forsyth’s tale. The exploding watermelon is still here, though. Sky Atlantic/Now, Nov 7
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