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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Art’s Most Erotic
Now/Sky
Summed up in a sentence Critic Waldemar Januszczak begins a docu-trilogy on art’s most controversial topics with a blisteringly explicit, absolute hoot of a look at sex.
What our reviewer said “No amount of jackhammering antique buttocks can muffle your gasps of gratitude that there is still, in 2025, a place where Januszczak’s brand of factual entertainment – considered, accessible, unapologetically adult – is allowed to exist.” Sarah Dempster
Pick of the rest
How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge)
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence The triumphant return of Britain’s funniest comic creation, as he applies his brand of cack-handed broadcasting to mental health.
What our reviewer said “More laughs-out-loud per half-hour than anything else on telly ... whatever medium he inhabits, Partridge remains the funniest comic creation in Britain.” Jack Seale
Further reading ‘Partridge is more popular than me – that’s a given!’ Steve Coogan on Alan’s glorious return
Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence A fly-on-the-wall documentary which meant to follow the rock couple as they left LA for Buckinghamshire – but which turned into a compellingly intimate memorial following the Sabbath frontman’s death.
What our reviewer said “Don’t go into this programme expecting an unsanitised deep dive into Ozzy’s life and work – instead appreciate this compellingly intimate and extremely moving farewell.” Rachel Aroesti
Further reading Anthrax, Lamb of God, Rick Wakeman and more share memories of Ozzy Osbourne
Chad Powers
Disney+
Summed up in a sentence An improbably irresistible Ted Lasso-like sports comedy about a washed-up American football player trying to start again by passing himself off as someone else.
What our reviewer said “A funny, touching, deliberately uncomfortable character piece with one of the most magnetic central performances in recent memory.” Stuart Heritage
You may have missed …
Juice
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence Mawaan Rizwan’s enchanting sitcom morphs into a romcom for a second season that comes at you like a tidal wave of creativity.
What our reviewer said “This lovable, thought-provoking and visually arresting series lives up to its promises.” Rachel Aroesti
Further reading Mawaan Rizwan on clowning around, winning Baftas and the surreal new series of Juice
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
A House of Dynamite
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson and Tracy Letts star in Kathryn Bigelow’s immaculately constructed nightmare procedural that ticks down the minutes from an atomic bomb’s launch to its detonation.
What our reviewer said “Bigelow, with screenwriter Noah Oppenheim, broaches one of the most frightening thoughts of all: that a nuclear war could or rather will start with no one knowing who started it or who ended it. I watched this film with translucently white knuckles but also that strange climbing nausea that only this topic can create.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading All of Kathryn Bigelow’s films – ranked!
Pick of the rest
Urchin
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Harris Dickinson’s homelessness drama is a terrific directorial debut with a superb central turn from Frank Dillane.
What our reviewer said “It is engaging, sympathetically acted and layered with genuinely funny moments, mysterious and hallucinatory set-pieces, and challenges the notion of the haves who fear the contagious risk of coming into contact with the have-nots.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading Frank Dillane on zombies, burnout and new film Urchin
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Embeth Davidtz stars and directs an adaptation of Alexandra Fuller’s award-winning memoir about her childhood in Zimbabwe during the final days of white minority rule.
What our reviewer said “It’s a powerful, immersively detailed film, with three outstanding performances.” Peter Bradshaw
The Smashing Machine
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Dwayne Johnson stars as crisis-riddled UFC champ Mark Kerr, who goes into meltdown when the unthinkable happens – he loses.
What our reviewer said “Kerr is played by Dwayne Johnson, a colossus of muscle topped off with a head the size of Indiana Jones’s boulder, a body on which the only visible fat is rippling at the nape of his neck. Johnson’s appearance is modified by close-cut frizzy hair and facial prosthetics that make him look like Jon Favreau playing the Hulk. No other casting was remotely possible – not unless Timothée Chalamet fancied bulking up.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading Dwayne Johnson on wrestling, reinvention and the role that could redefine him
You may have missed …
Play Dirty
Prime Video; available now
Summed up in a sentence Writer-director Shane Black returns to the genre he knows best with an action comedy led by Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield.
What our reviewer said “Play Dirty makes for the kind of entertainingly sweet and sour cocktail (the finale is both cold yet deserving) that I would happily get drunk on again.” Benjamin Lee
Books
If you only read one, make it …
Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry
Reviewed by Joe Moran
Summed up in a sentence A brilliant meditation on the death of a close relative.
What our reviewer said “This book works its magic through the adamantine detail and quiet lyricism with which it recounts a particular, unrepeatable life”.
Further reading Lunch with Sarah Perry: faith, telescopes and the perils of pigeon-holing writers
Pick of the rest
Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon
Reviewed by Xan Brooks
Summed up in a sentence The 88-year-old’s first book in 12 years is a prohibition-era whodunnit about the rise of fascism.
What our reviewer said “The book is an antic mixed bag, a diverting tour of old haunts. Pynchon’s yarn sets out with a song in its heart and mischievous spring in its step, but it edges into darkness and its final forecast is bleak.”
Further reading From V to Vineland and Inherent Vice: Thomas Pynchon’s books – ranked!
One of Us by Elizabeth Day
Reviewed by Lara Feigel
Summed up in a sentence A state-of-the-nation novel about a family at the heart of British political life.
What our reviewer said “Day has returned to the intimate family dynamics at which she excels, combined with a propulsive plot and an astute analysis of power.”
Further reading Elizabeth Day: For years I struggled with infertility and loss. Then I had a life-changing call with a psychic
When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows by Steven Pinker
Reviewed by Rowan Williams
Summed up in a sentence How common knowledge drives human behaviour.
What our reviewer said “Pinker illustrates his arguments with piquant little dialogues; this book is as lively an exposition of cognitive science as you are likely to find.”
The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet
Reviewed by William Dalrymple
Summed up in a sentence A social history of Afghanistan from the perspective of Kabul’s InterContinental hotel.
What our reviewer said “What sustains the book is Doucet’s focus on the ordinary Afghans who keep the place going despite the shelling, rockets, suicide bombs and occasional massacres of both staff and guests.”
You may have missed …
We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown
Reviewed by Catherine Taylor
Summed up in a sentence Written in South Yorkshire dialect the debut novel from the winner of this year’s BBC short story award follows a group of working-class girls growing up in a small, northern English city.
What our reviewer said “It manages to be both boisterous and bleak, familiar and yet wholly original. It feels essential. You will probably read nothing else like it this year.”
Further reading Debut author Colwill Brown wins BBC short story award for ‘heartbreaking’ tale – read an extract
Music
If you only listen to one, make it …
Agriculture: The Spiritual Sound
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The LA group’s second album pairs all the power and euphoria of heavy music with imaginative detailing and poignant lyrics – it will have you levitating with joy.
What our reviewer said “All of the euphoria, transcendence and power of heavy music emanates with blinding force from the second album by this self-described ‘ecstatic black metal’ band from Los Angeles.” Ben Beaumont-Thomas
Pick of the rest
Dania: Listless
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Influenced by her experience of working nocturnal hours as an emergency doctor, the Baghdad-born musician’s latest is intimate and inspired.
What our reviewer said “Meeting somewhere between trip-hop, shoegaze and ambient, with a touch of pop, the textured tracks slink along dreamily, propelled by washes of synths and, for the first time, drums. A new addition to Dania’s usual setup, they lend a gentle downtempo kick to several of the songs.” Safi Bugel
Tetzlaff/ BBC Philharmonic/ Storgårds: Elgar and Adès Violin Concertos
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Violinist Christian Tetzlaff joins with the BBC Philharmonic and John Storgårds for an exhilarating take on these two British concertos.
What our reviewer said “The phrases that tug at the heart are not always those you would expect. It’s a genuinely refreshing performance.” Erica Jeal
On tour this week
Lady Gaga: The Mayhem Ball
London 4 October; Manchester 7 to 8 October
Summed up in a sentence Move over Chappell Roan – Gaga’s eighth world tour is a full-blooded return to OTT camp, with a Nietzschean nemesis and a zombified crowd of fans driven berserk with glee.
What our reviewer said “None of it makes any sense whatsoever, but you soon stop worrying about meaning and give yourself over to its lurid sense of spectacle. Better not to wonder why Lady Gaga is singing Paparazzi on a pair of chrome crutches, in a crash helmet and a dress with an enormous train that eventually drags her backwards across the stage while she shouts ‘No! Please! No!’ in mock-distress, and simply enjoy the fact that she is.” Alexis Petridis
