Nosferatu
Out now
Director Robert Eggers has been carving out a niche for himself in the shadows for quite some time, with films such as The Witch and The Lighthouse taking a dark, artistic approach to both character and subject matter. Now he’s turned his hand to cinema’s founding vampire legend, with a toothsome remake of the 1922 classic.
We Live in Time
Out now
Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh star in a non-linear romance that cuts to different stages of a relationship between Weetabix rep Tobias (Garfield) and professional chef Almut (Pugh), to explore both love and grief. Directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn).
2073
Out now
Blending sci-fi and documentary to paint a dystopian portrait of life on Earth in 2073, Asif Kapadia’s vision of the future is not a happy one, with hazards ranging from drones to libertarians to tech bros. Kapadia uses actual footage of real places along with performances from actors to conjure an eerily familiar hellscape.
Nickel Boys
Out now
Based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer prize-winning book and directed by RaMell Ross in his fiction feature debut, this drama is set in a 1960s reform school,, the Nickel Academy, where a young African American, Elwood (Ethan Herisse), is sent after a false accusation that he has stolen a car. Inspired by the real-life Dozier school where dozens of inmates were buried in unmarked graves. Catherine Bray
Going out: GigsSuede head … Bernard Butler.
Bernard Butler
Green Note, London, 7 & 8 January
Since leaving Suede in 1994, Butler has collaborated with the likes of David McAlmont, Edwyn Collins and, in 2022, actor Jessie Buckley on the Mercury prize-nominated album For All Our Days That Tear the Heart. He ushers in 2025 with a return to his solo work, celebrating third album, Good Grief. Michael Cragg
Ili
King Tuts, Glasgow, 5 January
After finishing fourth on The X Factor in 2016, Scottish singer-songwriter Emily Middlemas regrouped and returned three years later as Ili. Over the course of a handful of EPs she’s perfected a sound that sits somewhere between the sugary bops of Sabrina Carpenter and 2010s Katy Perry. MC
London Symphony Orchestra premieres
Barbican, London, 9 and 12 January
Simon Rattle returns to his old orchestra to celebrate his 70th birthday and to conduct two high-profile LSO commissions. In the first concert, Barbara Hannigan is the soloist in George Benjamin’s Interludes and Aria, based upon music from his opera Lessons in Love and Violence. Andrew Clements
Dave O’Higgins Monkin’ Around Quartet
East Side Jazz Club, London, 7 January; Crookes Social Club, Sheffield, 10 January
Like the late soul-sax star David Sanborn, the UK’s Dave O’Higgins has long mingled dance grooves with the twists and turns of bebop-derived jazz. His new Monkin’ Around band leans into the latter with this tribute to post-bop genius Thelonious Monk, but everything the versatile O’Higgins plays invariably swings. John Fordham
Going out: ArtBringing home the Bacon … Human Presence. Photograph: Prudence Cuming Associates/The Estate of Francis Bacon/ DACS/Artimage 2024
Francis Bacon: Human Presence
National Portrait Gallery, London, to 19 January
Don’t miss your last chance to see this moving exhibition of an artist who put on a tough exterior and yet always said he wanted to “unlock the valves of feeling”. Those valves are wide open here as he portrays lovers and friends and looks deep into the human condition.
Artemisia Gentileschi
Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, to 4 September
This display of a recently discovered and restored painting by the powerful female baroque painter who painted scenes of oppression and resistance 400 years ago is a great introduction to her art. It is one of her versions of Susanna and Elders, which she had first painted as a teenager.
Lynne Drexler
White Cube Mason’s Yard, London, to 10 January
This American abstract painter, who died in 1999, gets a second look in a show full of her fiery reds and emerald greens. Drexler, taught by pioneering abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann, became part of a generation who mixed up the sublimity of abstract expressionism with a more relaxed natural beauty.
The Art of Wallpaper
York Art Gallery, to 23 February
Producing unrivalled wallpaper was at the heart of William Morris’s alternative design business. This Marxist with an instinct for the market transformed affluent Victorian homes with his abstracted, repeating wallpaper patterns that transform nature. Often it’s an insult to compare art with wallpaper but here that’s turned on its head. Jonathan Jones
Going out: StageThis act’s got legs … Julia Masli. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
Julia Masli: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Soho Theatre, London, to 11 January
If you think you hate audience participation, prepare to have your mind changed. Relying entirely on conversations with the audience, Estonian clown Julia Masli has won over audiences internationally with her wonderfully strange problem-solving show. It’s hilarious, rambunctious and surprisingly tender. Kate Wyver
Twelfth Night
Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, to 18 January
Catch Prasanna Puwanarajah’s new production of Shakespeare’s shipwreck story, where identities are as swappable as a pair of shoes, and love is as forceful as a riptide. Samuel West and Freema Agyeman star in this freewheeling farce, with original music from Matt Maltese. KW
Varna International Ballet
Buxton Opera House, 4 & 5 January; Bristol Hippodrome, 7 to 9 January; Empire Theatre, Liverpool, 10 & 11 January; then touring to 5 March
Not the cutting edge of ballet, but a good chance to see some of the best known ballet stories – Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet – at venues homegrown companies don’t always tour to, and with live music at every show. Tour continues across the country until March. Lyndsey Winship
Rob Copland
Soho Theatre, London, to 11 Jan; then touring 7 February to 4 June
Cult standup and winner of last year’s Victoria Wood award – given to the act who best encapsulates the spirit of the Edinburgh fringe – Copland is now one of British comedy’s best kept secrets. Now he’s taking Gimme (One With Everything), his chaotic and profound show about ADHD, bullies and the nature of success, on tour. Rachel Aroesti
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Staying in: StreamingPerfect crime … Laura Fraser in Patience. Photograph: Channel 4/Toon Aerts
Patience
Channel 4, Wednesday 8 January, 9pm
Patience catalogues evidence for Yorkshire police; she is autistic, and the job’s predictability suits her perfectly. Yet she’s also a preternaturally talented criminologist, and detective Bea Metcalf is keen to get her out of her comfort zone and on to crime scenes in this adaptation of the French series Astrid et Raphaëlle.
Dart Kings
Now/Sky Documentaries, Saturday 4 January, 9pm
Having chronicled last year’s world darts championships in Game of Throws, Sky is now documenting the sport’s late 20th-century heyday. With its pub roots still clinging on, darts was synonymous with fags, booze and banter, and the public immediately got on board. The era’s stars, including Bobby George and Phil Taylor, tell all.
7/7: The London Bombings
iPlayer/BBC Two, Sunday 5 January, 9pm
Tragedies become TV shows at a nauseating rate nowadays, but this four-part documentary about the 2005 terrorist attacks that upended Britain benefits from two decades of hindsight as it traces the subsequent police investigation in granular detail, with help from Tony Blair, ex-Met boss Sir Ian Blair and more.
American Primeval
Netflix, Thursday 9 January
Glow’s Betty Gilpin stars as a desperate mother voyaging into the unforgiving and lawless heart of the American west – where Mormons, pioneers and Indigenous people fight to the death – to search for her husband. Taylor Kitsch and Peter Berg – both of Friday Night Lights fame – co-star and direct respectively. RA
Staying in: GamesOnce more unto the beach … Alba: A Wildlife Adventure. Photograph: ustwo games
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
All platforms
With new releases at a premium, here are a couple of recent games that will make you feel like you’re on holiday. This environmentalist escape to a Spanish island has you photographing wildlife and soaking in the sun.
The Touryst
All platforms
You can sunbathe, scuba dive and doss about in the arcade on Caribbean-esque islands in this manageably short explorative adventure – or investigate suspicious alien ruins, whatever floats your canoe. Keza MacDonald
Staying in: AlbumsThere she goth … Ethel Cain. Photograph: Silken Weinberg
Ethel Cain – Perverts
Out 8 January
After her gothic, ethereal 2022 debut, Preacher’s Daughter, garnered a huge cult following online, singer, songwriter and producer Cain promised its follow-up would be even slower and more atmospheric. Perverts certainly makes good on that, stretching itsnine ambient, reverb-drenched tracks across 90 absorbing minutes.
Lil Baby – WHAM (Who Hard As Me)
Out now
There’s a lot riding on Atlanta rapper Lil Baby’s fourth album after 2020’s My Turn and 2022’s It’s Only Me topped the charts in the US. Certainly nothing’s been left to chance vis-a-vis guest stars, with Future, Young Thug and Glorilla joining the 30-year-old on an album that fuses emotional honesty with head-knocking heaters.
Edward Skeletrix – Museum Music
Out now
AI artist, fashion designer and musician Edward Skeletrix, AKA Edward Bass, makes zonked-out electronic rap that feels as if it’s on the verge of disintegrating. Originally started in 2019 as a more visual project, Museum Music is Skeletrix’s second album and features the blown-out club anthem, Love U.
Robbie Williams – Better Man
Out now
The soundtrack to the biopic of the same name, in which Williams is played as a CGI chimp, features the Rudebox hitmaker rerecording some of his biggest songs. Angels is turned into a five-minute symphony, while Feel and Come Undone are given extra piquancy by the now sober Williams revisiting past trauma. Michael Cragg
Staying in: Brain food
How to Be Fine
Podcast
Hosts Kristen and Jolenta bravely test out wellness theories from bestselling self-help books in this charming series. From The Secret to The Artist’s Way, their honest reviews of often vague wellbeing advice are a refreshing listen.
Oxford Mindfulness
Online
These weekly, free sessions from Oxford Mindfulness are an ideal way for beginners to understand guided meditation and to find a moment of peace in their day or for seasoned practitioners to drop in for help.
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action
Netflix, Tuesday 7 January
Going behind the scenes of the infamous reality TV show, this two-part film explores how Jerry Springer became an American phenomenon and how the programme’s practices might have caused more harm than good to its participants. Ammar Kalia