Aardman's beloved woolly hero Shaun the Sheep returns to the big screen in Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, a Halloween-themed adventure that sees the character reckon with a mysterious beast and a destroyed pumpkin patch. The film is now out in cinemas, marking another feature-length outing for the Wallace and Gromit spin-off character.
This week's cultural landscape is packed, from the opening of major art exhibitions to the launch of a new TV drama set in Manchester. The entertainment guide below covers cinema, gigs, art, stage, streaming, games, albums, and brain food, ensuring there's something for every taste.
Cinema Highlights: From Arthouse to Horror
In addition to Shaun the Sheep, the film Bad Apples is now showing. This deranged combination of European arthouse sensibility and classic British debut aesthetic stars Saoirse Ronan as a teacher who takes justice into her own hands after a student pushes her too far. The film also features notable child-actor performances from Eddie Waller and Nia Brown.
Another cinematic release is Queen at Sea, a hit from this year's Berlinale directed by Lance Hammer. The film stars Juliette Binoche, Tom Courtenay, and Anna Calder-Marshall, the latter two reunited almost 60 years after playing Hamlet and Ophelia together on stage. The film is a nuanced exploration of dementia and sexual consent.
For horror fans, Resident Evil is also out now, directed by Zach Cregger, known for Barbarian (2022) and the Oscar-winning Weapons (2025). This eighth live-action Resident Evil film is a standalone story, requiring no prior lore knowledge. Catherine Bray reports.
Gigs and Stage: From Philosophy Festivals to Ballet
In music, the How the Light Gets In festival takes place at Kenwood House, London, on 19 and 20 September. The lineup includes indie pop duo Prima Queen and Patrick Wolf, who released his seventh album, Crying the Neck, last year. Niall Horan also begins a UK and Ireland tour on 22 September in Birmingham, supporting his fourth album, Dinner Party, with hits like Slow Hands.
Jazz fans can catch bassist-composer Linda May Han Oh and Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana at Wigmore Hall, London, on 21 September. Their duo performance includes original repertoire and classic themes by Charlie Parker, Wayne Shorter, and Billie Holiday. Welsh National Opera launches its new season with a double bill of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, on 20 and 25 September, and 2 October, before touring until 28 November.
On stage, Birmingham Royal Ballet performs Swan Lake at Birmingham Hippodrome from 23 September to 31 October, a classic production with Tchaikovsky's score. Gillian Anderson stars in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at @sohoplace, London, from 21 September to 19 December, opposite Billy Crudup, in an intimate production staged in the round. Death of a Salesman is reimagined by director Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu at Liverpool Everyman from 19 September to 10 October, with Cyril Nri as Willy Loman.
Art Exhibitions and Streaming Premieres
Art lovers can see Amar Kanwar's site-specific video installation at Serpentine North, London, from 23 September to 3 January, touching on displacement, nationalism, and violence. Raqib Shaw presents his first major UK show of new work since 2017 at Compton Verney, Warwickshire, from 19 September to 21 February, featuring nocturnal paintings and tapestry. Jenkin Van Zyl's immersive film installation, filled with holograms and inflatable cocoons, is at Somerset House Studios, London, from 24 September to 29 November. Rae Yen Song's exhibition at Fact, Liverpool, until 14 February, features a glowing pond filled with microscopic life, exploring mythology and ancestry.
In streaming, Brothers premieres on Apple TV on 23 September, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as friends who wonder if they're siblings, inspired by a real-life family rumor. Sharon Horgan's new comedy Youth debuts on HBO Max on 21 September, exploring midlife parenting and post-divorce dating. The Split Up, a spin-off of Abi Morgan's The Split, airs on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on 20 September at 9pm, starring Sanjeev Bhaskar as the head of a family of divorce lawyers, with Ritu Arya, Jane Horrocks, Lenny Henry, and Mawaan Rizwan. American Hostage on MGM+ on 20 September dramatizes the 1977 kidnap of a mortgage broker, starring Jon Hamm, Giovanni Ribisi, and William Jackson Harper.
Games, Albums, and Brain Food
The horror game Silent Hill: Townfall releases on PS5 and PC on 24 September, set on a mist-wreathed island off the Scottish coast. The sci-fi puzzler Rivage is out on 22 September for PS5, Xbox, and PC, where you're stuck in a time loop on a space station.
New album releases include Carly Rae Jepsen's Day and Night, a 24-track double album split into two moods; Beck's Ride Lonesome, his 15th album with rustic acoustic figures; Miley Cyrus's Bass Persuades, co-produced by Kid Harpoon; and Beabadoobee's Pylon, her fourth album of alt-rock tracks.
For brain food, the Vittles podcast offers insights into British hospitality, while YouTube's Big Think Clips presents video essays on topics like self-loneliness and phone-induced creativity. PBS America's Caught in the Crackdown on 25 September at 9.40pm investigates ICE's actions and community resistance. The week closes with a rich array of cultural offerings, ensuring audiences have ample choices for entertainment and reflection.
