This week brings a diverse array of entertainment options across cinema, live music, theatre, visual art and streaming platforms. The Guardian has compiled highlights spanning from new film releases to gaming remakes, alongside festival programming and stage productions running through November and beyond.
The week ahead offers something for every taste, whether you prefer immersive cinema experiences, live performance, or staying home with streaming content and interactive entertainment.
What films are worth watching at the cinema?
Several notable releases are arriving in cinemas this week. Wicker stars Olivia Colman as a solitary fisher who constructs a husband from wicker in this fantasy romance, supported by a stellar ensemble cast including Alexander Skarsgård, Richard E Grant, Peter Dinklage and Elizabeth Debicki. According to Screen Daily, the film opened in 676 UK and Ireland cinemas, marking distributor Black Bear's widest release to date.
Nightborn features Seidi Haarla delivering an unhinged performance as a woman convinced her newborn baby is something sinister, with Rupert Grint playing the sceptical father in this tense supernatural comedy. The film won best film at the Fantasia film festival earlier in 2026.
Primetime showcases Robert Pattinson in a characterful role as Chris Hansen, the television personality renowned for fronting To Catch a Predator, the American programme that exposed men attempting to solicit minors. Director Lance Oppenheim brings his recent momentum from You Can See Everything to this project. According to Screen Daily, the film earned more than £245,000 in preview screenings across 405 cinemas on 28 October.
I Love Boosters, directed by Boots Riley, tackles shoplifting, teleportation, sweatshop labour consequences, designer fashion, workers' rights and supernatural horror through a comedy lens. Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie and Taylour Paige portray the Velvet Gang, a Bay Area shoplifting crew, with Demi Moore as a powerful designer. The film premiered at SXSW and had earned $3.8 million in the United States by the time of the UK release preview.
Which live music events should not be missed?
Pitchfork Music Festival London returns with its sixth edition, running from 2 to 8 November across multiple venues. The festival showcases alternative soundscapes with highlights including the Avalanches, Olof Dreijer, Jacob Alon and Keiyaa, alongside Nigel Godrich's new project Dragonflies. The band Psychedelic Porn Crumpets claims the distinction of the most memorable name on the lineup. According to Time Out, the programme includes a special 10 Years of Telefone set by Noname on Saturday 7 November, marking a decade since her breakout mixtape.
Papa Roach continues their arena tour from 1 to 9 November, beginning in Glasgow. Twenty-six years after their breakthrough with the album Infest, the nu-metal band remains active and energetic, with the tour emphasising material from that seminal record and its follow-up Lovehatetragedy.
Guildhall School's Opera Double Bill takes place at Silk Street theatre in London from 2 to 9 November, featuring students from one of the country's leading conservatoire opera courses performing two mid-century works: the UK premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's comic one-acter Amelia Al Ballo and Leonard Bernstein's jazz-influenced modern classic Trouble in Tahiti.
Pianist and composer Fergus McCreadie performs at the Glasshouse, Sage Two in Gateshead on 5 November. Since 2021, McCreadie has grown in prominence within contemporary global jazz as a Mercury Prize nominee, blending traditional Scottish folk music with cutting-edge chamber music. This performance showcases an adventurous wildlife-inspired co-commission through the Glasshouse's Innovators programme and Chamber Music Scotland.
What art exhibitions are opening this week?
The Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize opens at the National Portrait Gallery in London on 5 November, running until 17 January. The country's largest photographic portraiture prize has rebranded from its previous name but maintains its commitment to showcasing exceptional work from both established professionals and amateurs. Featured work includes James Clifford Kent's long-term project Yuma, which includes his portrait of aspiring pentathlete Neisser Yoel Gálvez Tabares.
Mad Bloomsbury opens at Charleston Firle in Lewes on 4 November, continuing until 11 April. Coinciding with the centenary of Virginia Woolf's essay On Being Ill, the exhibition examines how the Bloomsbury Group—including Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant—engaged with concepts of madness, disability and neurodiversity.
Steve McQueen: Resistance launches at Leeds Gallery on 6 November, extending through 25 April. The exhibition documents acts of resistance and rebellion that have transformed the United Kingdom, conceived by Turner Prize-winning artist and Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen.
The Nue Black Aesthetic opens at the Design Museum in London on 6 November, remaining on view until 8 August. This display of more than 100 objects celebrates Black creatives shaping the future of design in Britain, including Taiba Akhuetie, Ini Archibong and Tejumola Adenuga.
Which stage productions deserve attention?
Jordan Brookes tours his new standup show The Part of You That's Always Screaming to 27 November, beginning in Bristol. In 2019, the Surrey-raised comedian expressed his ambition to become the existential Michael McIntyre. His latest production achieves this goal through an unlikely combination of laugh-out-loud observational comedy and genuinely unsettling evocations of existential dread.
Peanut Butter and Blueberries transfers to Leeds Playhouse, running until 7 November. Following strong reviews at Kiln theatre, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan's thoughtful romantic comedy follows two university students and practising Muslims who relocate to London from the north, fall in love, and confront harsh realities and pervasive racism.
Hamlet Hail to the Thief lands at the Barbican theatre in London, continuing until 23 January. Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones's music- and movement-infused production uses Radiohead's 2003 album Hail to the Thief as its backbone, with frontman Thom Yorke having stripped back, rewired and threaded the material through the show with electrifying intent.
Luail: Nōs performs at the Mac in Belfast until 7 November. Formed only two years ago, Luail is Ireland's all-island national dance company, spanning Northern Ireland and the Republic. Their triple bill includes works by Belfast's own Oona Doherty, Liz Roche and a classic from Akram Khan.
What streaming content is worth your time?
Yaga arrives on Sky Atlantic on 31 October at 9pm. Hudson Williams transitions from romance to folklore fantasy, playing two characters—the missing scion of a wealthy family and his peculiar housemate—in Kat Sandler's adaptation of her own play. A witchy professor may hold the key to unravelling the mystery.
The Rise of the Rockstar Chef airs on BBC Two on 5 November at 9pm. This documentary series examines three rule-breaking, gamechanging chefs from the 2000s: Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay, whose production company is behind the series. The show capitalises on the collective nostalgia for early 2000s monoculture.
The Greatest launches on Prime Video on 4 November. Boxing dramas have long been a Hollywood staple, but this year the genre is expanding to television with productions including Fightland, A Thousand Blows and this new Muhammad Ali biopic. The first season chronicles the dramatic early 1960s rise of the then Cassius Clay, played by Jaalen Best.
Allies in Exile premieres on BBC Four on 3 November at 10pm. BBC Four's Storyville strand now showcases briefer documentary films alongside its traditional feature-length offerings, beginning with this account of two Syrian filmmakers navigating the UK's asylum system. An Unknown Substance, examining the poisoning of a Russian politician, airs immediately afterwards.
Which games are releasing this week?
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time arrives on Switch 2 on 5 November. This lively, stylish remake of Nintendo's 1998 adventure classic features series hero Link as a time traveller working to save the land of Hyrule from the evil warlock Ganondorf. The game represents a nostalgic experience for players of all ages and stands as the only major gaming release challenging Grand Theft Auto 6 this month.
Where the Seeds Fall launches on PS5, Switch 2 and PC on 5 November. This intriguing action adventure follows human inhabitants of a vast tree as they descend its branches and attempt to rediscover the land they were once forced to abandon. The game blends mystical role-playing elements with climbing challenges.
What new music is worth listening to?
Ex:Re – Save As is available now. With her band Daughter currently between albums, Elena Tonra returns to her Ex:Re solo project with this second album of textural alternative rock. Tracks such as Sleep progress with a hint of menace, while the opener Radio Station evolves into a trippy road trip anthem.
DIIV – Zirp! is out now. American alternative rock act DIIV returns with this fifth album, produced by AG Cook. While maintaining their characteristically opaque, shoegazey textures, songs including the pop-adjacent Kid and chunky lead single The Fountain emphasise melody and frontman Zachary Cole Smith's hushed vocals.
Chloe Qisha – Fantasize is available now. After abandoning a psychology degree for pop music, Malaysia-born, UK-based singer-songwriter Qisha achieved immediate success with 2024's sultry I Lied, I'm Sorry. She amplifies the sexual content on this debut album, particularly on the gloriously overblown track YDH, an acronym for young, dumb and horny.
The Big Moon – Forever is out now. London quartet the Big Moon return with a sunnier interpretation of their indie rock sound. Created as an imaginary utopia following a period of personal upheaval in frontwoman Juliette Jackson's life, songs such as the buoyant Three Things and Fun provide sweet solace.
What podcasts and documentaries merit attention?
A new podcast series hosted by Nihal Arthanayake serves as essential listening for those uncomfortable with numerical concepts. Experts deconstruct major financial stories, including shifts in lending policies and technology's influence on banking.
An unnamed video series presents itself as a lighthearted guessing game pairing photographs of domestic interiors with their inhabitants, but actually uncovers revealing truths about how our living spaces expose our concealed identities.
Concorde: The Untold Story airs on PBS America on 2 November at 8.40pm. Encompassing engineering breakthroughs, espionage and political deliberation, this film chronicles the international race to construct the first supersonic airliner, involving Europe, the Soviet Union and the United States. The documentary proves surprisingly engaging viewing.
