Widely popularised by an episode of Friends in which Ross makes an ass of himself with Isabella Rossellini, the notion of the “celebrity sex pass” completes some sort of cultural loop here as another Friends star, Jennifer Aniston, comes full circle to play a version of herself, the subject of Tom’s (Michael Cassidy) get-out-of-jail lust freebie. A romcom from David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer).
This British comedy follows a pair of isolated siblings, Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O’Rourke), whose parents disappeared 30 years ago. Having fended for themselves ever since, they aren’t eager to welcome Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson), who has been given the task of relocating them from their remote Scottish island home.
Filmed on Super 8mm film via cameras sent to 40 collaborators across 25 countries and five continents, this nature documentary is the brainchild of director Ed Sayers, and edits together footage of all creatures great (including rhinos) and small (snails).
Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee star in Kent Jones’s adaptation of a posthumously published novella by Austrian modernist author Arthur Schnitzler. Dafoe plays a post office worker and former poet living in downtown Manhattan who is flattered by the attention of a group of wealthy young writers who apparently want to revive his career. Catherine Bray
After breaking a decade-long musical hiatus with February’s Top 5 album, Luck … Or Something, the artist formerly known as Lizzie McGuire keeps up the momentum with this arena tour. Probably best to save your voice for 2003 teen-angst classic So Yesterday. Michael Cragg
The O2, London, 11 September ; touring to 12 September
With the follow-up to March’s alt-pop opus Hades apparently due by the end of the year, the gloriously OTT New York curio brings her head-spinning show to the UK. Expect elaborate set pieces, skin-singeing flames and theatrical, dark-hued anthems. MC
It may be annual, but this showcase by the Cornwall-based new opera powerhouse is always one of a kind. This year’s crop of novelties features Orpheus and Mary, Queen of Scots, folk horror, morris dancing and Old Norse: a typically colourful retort to anyone who thinks that opera is dead. Flora Willson
London, 5 September ; Manchester, 9 September ; Gateshead, 10 September
The whirlwind evolution of UK sax original Emma Rawicz since her 2022 debut album at 19 now finds her leading her own exciting orchestra, working with A-list players, and gigging all over Europe. She brings the big band to Ronnie Scott’s (5 September), then follows that up with shows with her fusion-angled Inkyra quintet. John Fordham
South London Gallery, London, 10 September to 22 November
Ultra-minimal installation and half-tonne hanging sculptures all about architecture and its impact on everyday life by this Polish artist, who uses a whole raft of industrial materials to look at the legacies of modernism and communism.
The British Museum, London, 10 September to 11 July
The world-famous Bayeux tapestry is finally making its long-awaited journey back to England for the most hyped, hotly anticipated and sure-to-sell-out blockbuster exhibition in a decade.
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 8 September to 7 March
A fascinating, colourful, melodious look at the ornate pages of the Plowden songbook, a rare manuscript of songs from the Mughal empire, which ruled most of the Indian subcontinent from 1526 to 1857.
Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth, London, from 10 September
We’ve had a big thumb, a giant ship in a bottle and a huge dollop of cream; now the fourth plinth is going to be home to something more traditional for public sculpture: an enormous human figure, striding positively forwards in a blue dress, by American artist Tschabalala Self. Eddy Frankel
Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 10 to 12 September; touring to 3 October
A visually arresting ballet by Crystal Pite is the main draw here. Pite’s Emergence, from 2009, uses the impact of the corps de ballet en masse to great effect. There’s also a premiere from Julia Cheng, award-winning choreographer of Cabaret and Fiddler on the Roof. Lyndsey Winship
9 September to 27 November; tour starts Belfast
Impassioned but never pious, righteous but never smug, Kumar’s ability to temper strident takes with goofy likability means he’s fast becoming our premier progressive political comedian. New show Angry Humour from a Really Nice Guy sees the 41-year-old mine laughs from the threat of autocracy and the ageing process. Rachel Aroesti
Theatre Royal Stratford East, London , to 10 October
Brilliant new(ish) playwright Ava Pickett (1536) imagines what might have happened when Helen returned home from Troy, after a war fought in her name. Starring Michelle Dockery and Laura Aikman. Miriam Gillinson
Marylebone theatre, London, to 24 October
Mark Rylance stars alongside an ensemble of Intermission Youth graduates in Darren Raymond’s modern take on Molière’s classic comedy – which sees, in this case, a Nigerian-Jamaican family’s wedding plans blown apart by the arrival of a mysterious guest. MG
In what is quite the career gear change, Colin from Accounts star Patrick Brammall sloughs off his warm and fuzzy romcom associations to lead this chilling drama with Maxine Peake about a police dispatcher convinced he’s answered a call from his daughter, abducted a decade earlier.
Season one of this feelgood and impeccably performed US Office-universe comedy saw ambitious editor Ned (Domhnall Gleeson again) take the Toledo Truth Teller from depressing clickbait factory to award-winning bastion of actual journalism. Now he’s searching for a showstopping scoop to cement his reputation.
Alessia Camoirano Bruges’s 2022 film about the Italian mafia’s recruitment of young teenagers via social media was nominated for an Emmy; now the documentarian turns her attention to the vulnerable children abused and trafficked by drug-dealing gangs in the UK, and asks why the authorities have done so little to help.
This spin-off from the critically acclaimed Damson Idris series Snowfall shifts focus from LA’s 1980s crack epidemic to the following decade’s west coast hip-hop scene. Gail Bean’s Wanda is now clean and ready to capitalise on rap’s thrilling rise – something that requires a savvy navigation of street politics and nerves of steel. RA
Play as a hapless teenager or take on the role of masked psychopath Michael Myers in this multiplayer gorefest set during the original film’s timeline. It looks like an absolute scream.
The acclaimed Viking-inspired survival adventure is finally getting a full release after several years in “early access”. Survive in a hostile purgatory with up to nine pals as you conquer beasts, gather resources and, of course, build pretty houses. Keith Stuart
Flamboyant rock wizard Serge Pizzorno and his band of merry men are back with their ninth album. Co-produced by Mark Ralph (Years & Years, Clean Bandit), Act III mixes bright pop moments (Superpowers) with more noodly new wave songs such as the festival-ready Great Pretender.
Pop’s other Ramsay Street resident turned singer returns with this seventh album. The follow-up to 2021’s Firebird tackles Imbruglia’s ADHD and OCD diagnoses, and features the peppy soft-rock of single Upside Down, plus the Robyn-esque electropop bop, Just Drive.
Inspired by a life lived in transit, and influenced by New York, Paris and Tangier (where the American rapper and performance artist is now based), Cafe Paradiso is billed as a record for “artsy kids”. They should find a lot to love in the scuzzy art-rock of Butt Sex.
With the Bangerz-esque current single Ain’t in LA all over TikTok, the Slovak alt-pop experimentalist releases her long-awaited debut album. As you’d imagine for someone who auditioned to be in girl band Katseye, pop runs through Adéla’s veins, as shown on the bratty KGB and Red Bottoms’ sultry midtempo catharsis. MC
Writer Paul Weedon explores how artful design can enhance music, speaking to artists such as Adam Smith on his immersive stage visuals for the Chemical Brothers and Laura LiPuma on her 1980s work with Prince.
Video essayist InCinematic presents fascinating and often niche takes on the efficacy of different creative techniques in cinema. A recent highlight explores Leslie Nielsen’s deadpan delivery in Airplane! and the experimentalism of The Lion King.
Wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin takes his infectious enthusiasm for nature to Kenya in this beautiful film where he goes in search of some of Africa’s most threatened birds of prey, such as the crowned eagle. Ammar Kalia
This British comedy follows a pair of isolated siblings, Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O’Rourke), whose parents disappeared 30 years ago. Having fended for themselves ever since, they aren’t eager to welcome Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson), who has been given the task of relocating them from their remote Scottish island home.
This report is published with credit to The Guardian. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on The Guardian →
Source: The Guardian. Published 5 Sept 2026, 05:00 am.
