This week's culture highlights include Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde's oddly sweet relationship comedy The Invite, a spectacular live show from My Chemical Romance, and Madonna's return with a banger-heavy album.
TV: Rolf Harris Documentary and More
The must-watch TV this week is Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator on Prime Video. This two-part documentary horrifyingly details how the light entertainment celebrity sexually assaulted girls for decades. According to critic Lucy Mangan, mind-boggling archive footage includes Harris appearing on Jim'll Fix It and assuring Savile he could leave a child on stage 'safely in my capable hands,' and, when she moved the wrong way, adding, 'Stay here and enjoy it, girl.'
Other notable TV picks include For the Record: An Incomplete History of Music on YouTube, a brainy documentary series charmingly presented by Charlotte Ritchie. Critic Stuart Heritage called it 'nothing short of amazing that something like this exists in 2026.' Also worth watching is Abandoned on Disney+, a gripping four-episode documentary about three siblings investigating why they were left at a Barcelona train station in 1984. Critic Phil Harrison noted the series feels 'a little helter-skelter at times; a flurry of emotion and confusion.'
Film: The Invite Leads the Pack
The standout film is The Invite, directed by and starring Olivia Wilde alongside Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton. This bizarrely moving comedy follows a married couple who invite their fashionably bohemian neighbors to dinner. Critic Peter Bradshaw said it is 'certainly broad, stagey and contrived, and the mood shifts are almost like dinner-theatre in their suddenness – yet Rogen's comedy credentials mean that the pure outrageousness of the twists and turns are palatable.'
Other films include Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, a slacker comedy about goofball buddies who accidentally travel back to 2008. Bradshaw noted that 'if there is a serious point to this film it is how very quickly time goes past while you are trying and failing to make it in the music business.' Birds of War is a documentary about a long-distance relationship between a BBC correspondent and a war photographer in Syria, described by Bradshaw as 'a story of romantic love among the ruins.' Scorsese's classic Taxi Driver also returns to cinemas, with Bradshaw observing that 'the horror, the almost physical smear of sleaze across your skin strikes you afresh.'
Books: Long Wave and More
The must-read book is Long Wave by Daisy Johnson, a sublime story of motherhood and separation from a Booker-shortlisted author. Critic Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett praised it as 'a joy to read a writer who so confidently prioritises character and language above gimmick or twist.'
Other notable books include Communion by JD Vance, about his journey back to faith, though critic Rowan Williams questioned 'how are we to take seriously a book that ignores the rampant corruption of the Trumpian ruling class?' Queenie Is Working on It by Candice Carty-Williams features the 'Black Bridget Jones' now in her 30s, with critic Shahidha Bari noting that 'the experience of race is a condition of Queenie's existence, but never the thing that defines her.' Depraved by Daisy Dixon explores dark and dangerous art, while On the Mark by Florence Hazrat is an appealing scholarly inquiry into punctuation.
Albums: Madonna's Confessions II
The must-listen album is Madonna's Confessions II, a banger-heavy sequel to her 2005 classic, co-produced by Stuart Price. Critic Alexis Petridis called it 'an accommodation with her past that bodes well for her future.'
Other albums include Everything Always Changes, for We're Truly Here by 2K88, Lauren Duffus, Rainy Miller & Bianca Scout, described by critic Safi Bugel as 'haunting and vaporous, with glacial sound design.' Sienna Spiro's debut Visitor features big piano ballads, with critic Shaad D'Souza noting that 'a little more subtlety and Spiro's “new Adele” tag might actually stick.'
Live: My Chemical Romance's Spectacle
My Chemical Romance is touring their 2006 concept album The Black Parade with stadium-level spectacle. Critic Alexis Petridis described the show: 'Midway through The End, Way is stabbed by a man dressed as a pierrot: he concludes the song prone on the stage, covered in blood, before the pierrot guy detonates a suicide vest.'
