Going out: Cinema
Wicked
Out now
This long-gestating big-screen version of the Broadway musical is finally here, with a star-studded cast including Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jeff Goldblum. A revisionist take on L Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, it’s one of those “what if they weren’t always that evil” deals.
Layla
Out now
Queer Arabic joy is front and centre in this story of British drag queen Layla (Bilal Hasna) and her efforts to square the different facets of her identity with a burgeoning relationship with fish-out-of-water finance guy Max (Louis Greatorex). A debut feature by Amrou Al-Kadhi, themselves a drag performer with Iraqi Muslim roots.
Blink
Out now
In this moving documentary, the Pelletier family are off on the trip of a lifetime, to see giraffes and hike the Himalayas and other such bucket-list activities. The difference here is the reason for their quest: tragically, three of the four children will lose their sight before long, due to a congenital condition.
Silent Men
Out now
Bafta-winning Scottish film-maker Duncan Cowles heads off to find out what on earth is going on with men these days: how they express themselves, how they define their masculinity, and whether it’s possible to ever come to terms with talking about the mushy stuff. Catherine Bray
Going out: Gigs
Sleep Token
25 November to 3 December; tour starts Glasgow
Featuring members called Vessel, II, III, IV, and wedded to their anonymity via year-round Halloween masks, progressive metal pioneers Sleep Token are a curio slowly taking over the mainstream. This huge arena tour follows last year’s UK Top 3 album, Take Me Back to Eden. Michael Cragg
Fred Roberts
King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, 27 December; Omeara, London, 29 December
London-based singer-songwriter Roberts had an inauspicious start to his music career as part of Unwritten Rule, a boyband formed on 2019’s forgotten The X Factor: The Band. Five years later he’s bounced back, accumulating a discography packed full of anthemic pop-rock stompers, such as live favourite Runaway. MC
London jazz festival
Various venues, 23 & 24 December
The style-spanning final weekend winds up featuring Irish singer-songwriter Imelda May, singer/violinist Alice Zawadzki with her folk/jazzy Za Górami repertoire, and psychedelic jazz from saxophonist James Allsopp (Sat). Sunday includes the formidable Nu Civilisation Orchestra, and powerful mainstream-to-Coltrane saxophonist Xhosa Cole. John Fordham
Secret Kiss
Wigmore Hall, London, 26 November; CBSO Centre, Birmingham, 27 November
The Hungarian composer and conductor Péter Eötvös died in March.Alongside works by Julian Anderson, Harrison Birtwistle and Rebecca Saunders, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group are giving the first performances of the English-language version of one of Eötvös’s final compositions, Secret Kiss, a melodrama for narrator (Meg Kubota) and five instruments, based upon Alessandro Baricco’s novel, Silk. The English version of Secret Kiss, based on Alessandro Baricco’s novel Silk, gets its first performance, by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Andrew Clements
Going out: Art
Adam Dant
Newlands House, Petworth, to 16 February
The mythic history of “Albion” has run parallel to that of the real British Isles ever since the medieval chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his mainly made-up history of Gog and Magog, Arthur and Merlin. Conceptual cartoonist Dant has fun with Albion’s legends here, replete with richly drawn comic detail.
On Kawara
David Zwirner, London, to 11 January
This haunting conceptual artist, who died a decade ago, turned everything into a memento mori. This exhibition of his Date Paintings takes you to the heart of his lifelong metaphysical performance. Each painting records the date it was made in plain white numerals against black. Watch the universe wind down.
Jeff Wall
White Cube Bermondsey, London, to 12 January
Few photographers have changed contemporary art as much as Wall. He is one of the artists who gave camera-made work its current status as fine art. Posing his scenes with a strong sense of the history of painting, as well as restaging art’s masterpieces, he constantly asks what reality is.
Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes
The Hepworth, Wakefield, to 21 April
The original surrealist landscape artist was Max Ernst, whose thickly matted forests and molten islands make him a modern version of the Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. Here, the uncanny landscape is surveyed from Ernst, Salvador Dalí and Leonora Carrington to modern earthly dreamers such as Helen Marten and Nicolas Party. Jonathan Jones
Going out: Stage
Rob Beckett
Wyvern theatre, Swindon, 24 November; touring to 18 April 2026
It has been five years since Beckett took a new show on the road, but thanks to his podcast (Parenting Hell), TV series (Rob & Romesh Vs…), book (A Class Act) and Bafta hosting gig, he’s never been a bigger star. Now he’s making up for lost time by reviving his whip-smart class observations for an 18-month UK tour. Rachel Aroesti
English National Ballet: Nutcracker
Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, 28 to 30 November
However many Nutcrackers you’ve seen, a new production is always worth getting off the sofa for. This one’s created by English National Ballet’s director Aaron S Watkin (his first major ballet for the company) along with choreographer-of-the-moment Arielle Smith. It’s family-friendly festive frivolity, with Tchaikovsky’s glorious music played live. Lyndsey Winship
Here Marks the Spot
Various venues, Leeds, 25 to 28 November
This dance-art piece maps spots of queer joy across the city as part of Compass festival with illuminations and projections of dancers. When so many spaces for queer nightlife have closed, Melanie Whitehead Smith’s work celebrates the freedom of dancing without restriction. Kate Wyver
My Fair Lady
Curve theatre, Leicester, 23 November to 4 January
The beloved Eliza Doolittle returns in this new production of Lerner and Loewe’s eccentric musical for the Curve’s Christmas show. Directed by Nikolai Foster, our lovely protagonist goes from rags to riches as the devilish Henry Higgins tries to teach her to be a proper lady, but ends up learning a lesson or two himself. KW
after newsletter promotion
Staying in: Streaming
Smoggie Queens
BBC Three & iPlayer, 28 November, 10.10pm
Phil Dunning has been an uproarious fixture of London’s alternative comedy scene for a while; now he’s getting the chance to channel his offbeat flamboyance into his very own sitcom. Set in Middlesbrough (hence Smoggie), the series follows a group of pals who make up the town’s small LGBTQ+ community (hence the Queens).
Irresistible: Why We Can’t Stop Eating
BBC Two & iPlayer, 25 November, 9pm
Ultra-Processed People – Chris van Tulleken’s bestselling 2023 book about the adverse effects of manufactured foods – was a wake-up call for many. Now its author is doubling down on his message with a documentary investigating how food companies create compulsively delicious products, and the impact they’re having on our bodies.
The Trunk
Netflix, 29 November
Much like K-pop, K-drama is a massive global phenomenon – yet it remains a cult concern here in the UK, where no show has properly cut through since Squid Game. Can this high-end, intriguingly cryptic thriller about a company that provides spouses for one-year marriage contracts change all that?
Matlock
Sky Witness & Now, 26 November, 9pm
Despite its title, this new drama starring Kathy Bates as a woman who goes undercover at a law firm (in what she’s claimed will be her final role) isn’t quite a reboot of the 1980s crime series. Instead, the original show is used as a wry reference point, as Bates’s Matty seeks justice in the wake of her daughter’s death. RA
Staying in: Games
On Your Tail
Out now; Switch, PC
A graphic novel-style detective game set on the Spanish Riviera, in a town full of anthropomorphic animals, this is a gentle holiday escape to a laid-back life mixed in with deductions and puzzles.
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Out now; PC, Xbox
Developed by a Ukrainian studio, this atmospheric survivalist shooter has you striking out into an irradiated wasteland in search of treasure and truths. Keza MacDonald
Staying in: Albums
Poppy – Negative Spaces
Out now
After collaborating with Max Martin affiliate Ali Payami on last year’s pop-tinged industrial opus Zig, Poppy returns to her hard rock beginnings on this sixth album. Produced alongside former Bring Me the Horizon member Jordan Fish, tracks such as They’re All Around Us are heaving slabs of emotional exorcism.
Father John Misty – Mahashmashana
Out now
US singer-songwriter and recent Lana Del Rey collaborator Josh Tillman returns with his sixth album as Father John Misty. As with 2022’s Chloë and the Next 20th Century, its unfurling epics are buffeted by sumptuous strings, but tracks such as She Cleans Up find him almost strutting on to the dancefloor.
Kim Deal – Nobody Loves You More
Out now
Former Pixies bassist and certified indie rock royalty Kim Deal releases her debut solo album in the shape of the elegantly crumpled Nobody Loves You More. Coast is a brass-assisted singalong, full of Deal’s melodic flair, while the fractured Crystal Breath takes a more experimental approach.
Juice Wrld – The Party Never Ends
Out now
Since his death at the end of 2019 aged 21, US emo-rapper Juice Wrld’s estate has released two posthumous albums that have just about buoyed his legacy. This third, and apparently final, album features input from Young Thug on the fried acoustic lament Lightyears, alongside the party starter World Tour (Aquafina). MC
Staying in: Brain food
The Process
Podcast
London’s Somerset House produces this engaging series exploring the big ideas behind their exhibiting artists’ works. Highlights include Imran Perretta examining the legacy of the 2011 London riots and the history of civil unrest in Britain.
Wilf Lovatt
Online
Law student Wilf Lovatt has spent the past year embarking on an in-depth research project to study the world’s major religions. Beginning with Islam, his videos are a remarkable study into lesser-known aspects of Muslim practices.
Rise of the Freemen
PBS America, 29 November, 8.45pm
Examining the rise of a 90s anti-government militia in Montana and their ensuing 81-day armed standoff with the FBI, this fascinating film provides a timely insight into the ways that radical beliefs can take root. Ammar Kalia