From The Dog Stars to Erykah Badu: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Jacob Elordi stars as a post-pandemic pilot in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi adventure, while the celebrated soul singer returns with a long-trailed collaboration
From The Dog Stars to Erykah Badu: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
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Going out:Cinema
The Dog Stars Out now Ridley Scott has got to be one of the most prolific octogenarians working today. The director’s latest, a sci-fi drama based on the 2012 novel, stars man of the moment Jacob Elordi as a former pilot surviving the aftermath of a pandemic, with Margaret Qualley as a medic/love interest and Josh Brolin as a pugnacious former marine.
Colony Out now Welcome to a Korean zombie horror where the twist is that the undead share a hive mind, making them a formidable threat to the not-so-merry band of survivors hoping to pull through against the odds. Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho returns with more gore and action thrills.
One Night Only Out now Will Gluck writes and directs a romcom starring zeitgeist-friendly actors Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro. It hit the headlines for not having any explicit sex in it despite its The Purge-meets-romance premise: premarital sex is illegal in the US, apart from on one no-holds-barred night each year.
I Want Your Sex Out now Another new release with banging on the brain sees Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman playing, respectively, a provocative artist and the assistant with whom she enters into a BDSM relationship. Being a Gregg Araki film, this one is rather bolder, with the young man soon finding himself in over his head, so to speak. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
Forwards The Downs, Bristol, 29 & 30 August The likes of Tems, Little Simz and Amyl and the Sniffers headline this two-day festival in one of the UK’s foremost music cities. The eclectic bill also includes UK legends (Tricky, Goldie) and electronic experimentalists (Oklou, Wesley Joseph). Michael Cragg
Gesualdo Six and the Colin Currie Group Royal Albert Hall, London, 2 September Two British musical trailblazers – a Renaissance-focused vocal consort and a new-music ensemble headed by one of the world’s leading percussionists – join forces for this late-night Prom. The programme mixes centuries-old Christian choral works with Steve Reich’s Tehillim to mark the composer’s 90th birthday. Flora Willson
A$AP Rocky 30 August to 5 September, tour starts London In the eight years since his last album, Testing, rapperA$AP Rocky ventured into acting, designing and modelling, before releasing his fourth album, Don’t Be Dumb, in January. He now brings that expertly curated shapeshifting record to UK arenas. MC
Swansea international jazz festival Various venues, 3 to 6 September Swansea not only hosts the UK’s longest-running weekly jazz club, but a prestigious weekender too. Guitar maestro Nicolas Meier splices Turkish music, flamenco, jazz and more (3 September), while ever-cool vocalist Claire Martin duets with bass virtuoso Laurence Cottle (4 September). John Fordham
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Going out: Art
Selected 16 Nottingham Contemporary, 2 September Touring art venues across the UK, this exhibition celebrates incredibly diverse new moving image work by early-career artists including Rhiana Bonterre, Rosanna Lee, Jack Guariento and Viviana Almas.
Mike Nelson Leeds Art Gallery, to 30 August It’s your last chance to see M62 (East, West) by the ever brilliant English conceptualist Mike Nelson, a minimal display of blown-out car tyres, collected from the verges of the M62 motorway that runs south of Leeds.
John Akomfrah Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, to 31 August Listening All Night to the Rain is a multichannel immersive video installation all about diasporic lives in the UK, dealing with ideas of racial injustice, the climate crisis and colonial history, all in Akomfrah’s signature dramatic, cinematic style.
Richard Tuttle Modern Art, London, 3 September to 3 October This American minimalist once filled the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall with vast reams of yellow and red fabric, but this show gives viewers a chance to see him operating at a much smaller, but no less radically experimental, scale. Eddy Frankel
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Going out: Stage
Kimberly Akimbo Hampstead theatre, London, to 7 November This five-time Tony award-winning musical is about a 16-year-old girl who, due to a rare genetic condition, looks 74. It’s all a bit barmy but heartfelt and truthful too. Starring the mighty Maria Friedman. Miriam Gillinson
Henry Paker 3 September to 30 May; tour starts Norwich Many comedians moonlight as artists, but few do both jobs at the same time. In Pencil Case, Paker – one-third of beloved podcast Three Bean Salad – combines standup with live drawing in what promises to be a gratifyingly clever and gently novel evening’s entertainment. Rachel Aroesti
Ballet Nights Theatre Royal Glasgow, 2 & 3 September Husband-and-wife dancers Harris Bell and Sae Maeda take a break from their day jobs at the Royal Ballet to perform on tour with Ballet Nights. The gala-style show is a smorgasbord of dance from classical pas de deux to new contemporary pieces, compered by ex-Scottish Ballet dancer Jamiel Devernay-Laurence. Lyndsey Winship
King Lear Crucible, Sheffield, 29 August to 19 September Ian McDiarmid returns to Sheffield to play Shakespeare’s Lear – a king on the wane, surrounded by his scheming daughters, thoughtful fools, fears and frailties. Directed by Titas Halder. MG
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Staying in: Streaming
Chad Powers Disney+, 3 September Glen Powell will continue cementing his Hollywood leading man status next year, with starring roles in new Judd Apatow and JJ Abrams movies; in the meantime he’s back with season two of this sweet comedy about a disgraced college American football player trying to get back in the game.
Vigil BBC One & iPlayer, 30 August, 9pm You may still think of Vigil as the sickeningly stressful Suranne Jones submarine drama, but these days the thriller takes place largely above ground; series three transports Jones’s intrepid detective to an Arctic research station where a British special forces operative has been murdered.
The Gentlemen Netflix, 3 September Guy Ritchie’s other gangster streamer series (the one that hasn’t been generating a slew of headline-grabbing behind-the-scenes gossip) re-enters the fray, as aristocrat Eddie (Theo James) expands his drug dealing business into Italy. Hugh Bonneville and Maya Jama join the cast for series two.
Live from the Lycett Arms Channel 4, 4 September, 10pm Forget post-pub TV, how about actual pub TV? Channel 4’s latest attempt to liven up their Friday night schedule comes courtesy of comedian Joe Lycett, who hosts this new series – part chatshow, part love letter to the great British boozer – from his own pop-up establishment in east London. RA
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Staying in: Games
Orbitals Nintendo Switch 2, out 3 September Local co-op games are rare, Nintendo Switch 2 exclusives even rarer. Orbitals is both, with an art style and sci-fi story inspired by anime, and an asymmetrical approach to its puzzle-platforming reminiscent of the likes of It Takes Two. Thankfully for those of us with an original Switch, it’s Gameshare compatible.
The Blood of Dawnwalker PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, out 3 September This dark fantasy RPG is set in an alternative 14th-century medieval Europe run by vampires. Player character Coen is a dawnwalker (human by day, vampire by night) whose choices affect how the story plays out as he races against time to save his family. Jordan Erica Webber
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Staying in: Albums
Flowerovlove – Mini Skirt Warrior Out now After a string of EPs showcasing her love for occasionally sour bubblegum pop, London singer-songwriter Joyce Cissé finally releases her debut album. The country-tinged American Wedding channels Kacey Musgraves, while the bouncy In My Victoria’s Secret is as sweet as candy floss.
Interpol – This Mirror Weighs a Ton Out now Seven albums in there was a sense that the New York doom-rockers had lost their spark. There’s very little evidence of that on the Andrew Wyatt-produced This Mirror Weighs a Ton, with the quintet’s brand of atmospheric balladry and fizzing art-rock anthems infused with newfound energy.
Erykah Badu and the Alchemist –Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment Out now This near-mythical collaboration between the mercurial soul icon and esteemed hip-hop producer Alan Maman has been on release schedules since spring 2025. Such procrastination, however, isn’t reflected in the gently hypnotic shuffle of lead single, Witch Doctor.
Alabama Shakes – I Must Be Dreaming Out now As their 2018 hiatus extended it was assumed the Grammy-winning US soul-rockers would stay on their own musical journeys. A one-off performance in late 2024 led to this, their eclectic third album, which takes on jazz (Garden) and heartfelt R&B excursions such as single Another Life. MC
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Staying in:Brain food
Recipe Club Podcast Chef Dave Chang and writer Chris Ying host this charming culinary series, which analyses the perfect ways to recreate movie foods, from Pulp Fiction’s burger obsession to the ratatouille from Ratatouille.
Ansel Adams: US National Archive Online In 1941, photographer Ansel Adams was commissioned by the US National Park Service to create a vast mural. Although never completed, his fascinating reference images are now available to view on the National Archives webstie.
Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly Netflix, 1 September Following her chaotic breakdancing performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Rachael Gunn became a viral internet celebrity. This often sobering film recounts the massive fallout for Gunn and the breakdancing community who sought sporting legitimacy. Ammar Kalia
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