Going out: Cinema

Practical Magic 2
Out now
The beloved fantasy romance from the 1990s returns with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman reprising their roles as the Owens sisters. The story picks up 25 years later, with more family secrets and curses in the offing, plus a trip to the UK. Sure to be spellbinding stuff.

Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore?
Out 18 September for one night only
Captured during their 2025 tour, this music documentary blends footage from the live shows with archive material and new narration from Jarvis Cocker, to trace the band’s rise from outsider status in Sheffield to global fame, via megahits such as Common People and lesser-known fan favourites. Directed by Garth Jennings.

Pressure
Out now
Andrew Scott heads up an all-star cast in a drama exploring the second world war from a slightly quirky angle: the weather forecast. Don’t laugh: it was a crucial piece of the puzzle in the 72 hours leading up to D-day, with Britain’s chief meteorological officer James Stagg unexpectedly finding himself the man of the moment.

Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Out now
A winner at the Berlin festival, Grant Gee’s biopic explores the aftermath of the death of bass player Scott LaFaro, and the impact the tragedy has on jazz pianist Bill Evans, who is torn between New York and suburbia as he attempts to navigate his profound grief. Starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Bill Pullman and Laurie Metcalf. Catherine Bray

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Going out: Gigs

Saint Etienne
Birmingham, 12 September; Manchester, 15 September; Bristol, 16 September; London, 18 September; tour continues to 26 September
The beloved indie dance-pop trio head out on their final tour after more than 30 years. So expect songs such as the bangersome Glad from last year’s album International to rub shoulders with their 90s classics. Michael Cragg

CBSO/Yamada
Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 17 September
The dynamic Japanese conductor has embarked on one of classical music’s great endurance tests: a complete cycle of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies. Symphony No 2 promises to be a truly monumental season-opener – and also marks the CBSO Chorus’s 1,000th performance. Flora Willson

Chris Cheek
London, 15 September; Leeds, 16 September; Aberdeen, 17 September; Cambridge, 18 September
The album Dear Paul by this versatile saxophonist was dedicated to Paul Motian, his old employer and one of jazz’s most creative percussionists. These gigs with fine Swiss drummer Florian Arbenz, a true Motian inheritor, will confirm just why. John Fordham

Wu Lyf
Dublin, 15 September; London, 17 September; Brighton, 18 September
Released in April, A Wave That Will Never Break marked the return of the enigmatic Manchester experimentalists after their 2012 split. It luxuriates in what they call “heavy pop” so remember your earplugs. MC

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Going out: Art

Laura Porter
Irving Gallery, Oxford, to 10 October
This north Devon-based artist is seriously into recycling, taking discarded old clothes, breaking them down and turning them into a mouldable, papier mache-style pulp and twisting them into wobbly geometric shapes.

Liz Larner
Camden Art Centre, London, to 17 January
It’s the debut UK institutional show by this influential American sculptor and ceramicist, filled with rocky, prehistoric-looking references to cosmic matter, ancient mythology and the grizzly politics of resource extraction.

Gabriel Orozco
White Cube Bermondsey, London, 16 September to 8 November
Mexico’s leading conceptualist returns to London for another show of minimal, ephemeral geometric installation work, this time dealing with the idea that objects can act as historical records.

Celebrating Julia Carter Preston, Ceramicist
Various venues, Liverpool, to 28 February
Liverpool is rolling out the red carpet for home-town ceramics hero Julia Carter Preston (1926-2012) with five galleries across the city hosting displays of her work at the same time, including shows at the Bluecoat and Walker Art Gallery. Eddy Frankel

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Going out: Stage

Phil Wang
Stockton, 12 September; Leeds, 13 September; Tunbridge Wells, 16 September; Northampton, 17 September; Guildford, 18 September; touring to 23 May
Thanks to hit podcasts, presenting gigs and film cameos, a small cohort of millennial standups have finally ascended to the mainstream comedy firmament. Foremost among them is 36-year-old Wang, who returns to muse on ageing and his generation in new show Uh Oh. Rachel Aroesti

Jasmin Vardimon: Lullaby
JV Home, Ashford, 18 & 19 September; touring to 13 February
The work that got choreographer Jasmin Vardimon noticed 23 years ago was a dance-theatre piece called Lullaby, set on a hospital ward. Two decades later, she’s revisiting and reinventing it for today’s world. Lyndsey Winship

Golden Boy
Almeida theatre, London, to 31 October
Director Sam Yates has assembled a knockout cast for his revival of Clifford Odets’s classic American play. Josh O’Connor stars as a gifted violinist, drawn into the brutal world of professional boxing in depression-era New York. Miriam Gillinson

Till The Stars Come Down
Nottingham Playhouse, to 26 September
Beth Steel’s heartfelt and exquisitely observed comedy was an Olivier-nominated smash in the West End. It’s set in Mansfield, where a family gather for a wedding. MG

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Staying in: Streaming

Neagley
Prime Video, 16 September
The Alan Ritchson-led TV adaptation of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels has been a huge hit with critics and viewers, making a spin-off a no-brainer. This new series revolves around Maria Sten’s titular protege and private investigator.

Saturday Night Live UK
Sky One & Now, 12 September, 10pm
A new prime minister means plenty of fresh material for the British iteration of the US sketch behemoth, but let’s hope the show doesn’t change too drastically: series one’s subtle edginess and stubborn idiosyncrasy was a recipe for surprising, naysayer-silencing success.

Apocalypse
Channel 4, 13 September, 9pm
Channel 4 be Channel 4-ing with its latest discomfiting social experiment. A group of civilians are left in an abandoned town to test how they cope with the kind of end-of-civilisation situation (no running water, no heating, no electricity) that could in reality be merely a couple of cyber-attacks away.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story
Netflix, 17 September
Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s queasily contentious anthology series has previously dramatised the lives of some of America’s most notorious killers. This time round, however, the focus is on a more ambiguous figure in Borden, who was ultimately acquitted of the 1892 murders of her father and stepmother. RA

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Staying in: Games

Marvel’s Wolverine
PS5; out 15 September
The creators of the brilliant Marvel’s Spider-Man games take on an altogether more brutal hero in this pummelling slash-’em-up. Evil billionaire Bolivar Trask is kidnapping mutants and only you and your claws can stop him.

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
Nintendo Switch 2; out 17 September
In the vast, fantastical Dagdan empire, warriors gather to fight in a tournament where the winner is granted one wish – but dark forces are gathering on the horizon and the fate of young contender Cai is in your hands. Expect an epic narrative adventure with fiendish tactical combat. Keith Stuart

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Staying in: Albums

Bloc Party – Anatomy of a Brief Romance
Out now
Following a further lineup reshuffle in 2023 – new bassist Harry Deacon makes his debut here – art-rockers Bloc Party return with their seventh album. Produced by Trevor Horn, songs such as Love Bombs and Coming on Strong are full of frontman Kele Okereke’s tightly wound energy.

This Is Lorelei – The Singer in My Band
Out now
As one half of art-rock misfits Water from Your Eyes, Nate Amos, AKA This Is Lorelei, often deals in shape-shifting abstraction. On The Singer in My Band, however, he swaps that for twangy guitar riffs, crumpled Elliott Smith-esque singalongs and a surprising amount of sunshine.

Standing on the Corner – II
Out now
Formed in Brooklyn more than a decade ago, Standing on the Corner, who have previously worked with Solange, are a multidisciplinary collective led by Gio Escobar. On the frazzled II they blend psychedelia, rock, no-wave rap, R&B and post-hardcore into a heavy sonic soup.

Sylvan Esso – Ow ∞
Out now
Having built their own studio, the American electropop duo of Amelia Randall Meath and Nick Sanborn set about improvising, writing five to 10 songs a day. The result is this obscurely titled fifth album, which features the pogoing Hot Slob and the blown-out bop Sledge. MC

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Staying in: Brain food

Across the Horizon
Podcast
Musician Bob Holmes hosts this soothing series analysing the world of ambient country music. He and his guests, including guitarist Hayden Pedigo, discuss how Americana can conjure imaginative worlds.

RobWords
YouTube
YouTuber and linguist RobWords produces fascinating video essays on the many quirks of the English language. Highlights include the hidden logic behind typographical symbols, the literal meanings of body parts and sarcastic punctuation.

People Fixing the World: The Pictures That Help and Heal
BBC World Service, 15 September, 8.06am
Journalist Myra Anubi’s documentary on the creatives producing visual aids for disabled people is a hopeful insight into how technology can be harnessed for good. She hears from one app user who believes they saved his life. Ammar Kalia