It's been five years since South London post-punks Dry Cleaning made waves with the deadpan track Scratchcard Lanyard. Three albums later and the surreal, wearily wry tone remains intact. There's much enjoyment to be had in vocalist Florence Shaw's spoken-sung vignettes about, say, the interior monologue of a cruise ship designer ("I don't personally like them, but I need to serve a useful purpose") or the pleasure of watching TV ("No one coming along with a dick pic"). It's no surprise that three of the band went to art school. The spirit of Jarvis is strong in this one!

Sarah Donaldson, Nerve co-founder

In January 2024, 5-year-old Hind Rajab was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Using the actual audio of the little girl’s final call to emergency services, director Kaouther Ben Hania has recreated the Palestinian Red Crescent team’s efforts to save her, in this critically acclaimed and utterly devastating film. The “docu-drama” form asks a searing question: exactly how much verification do international audiences need before they’ll take action to stop a genocide?

Ellen E Jones, Nerve film critic

In 1900, art collector Henry Vaughan bequeathed 38 watercolours by JMW Turner to the National Galleries of Scotland, with the instruction that they could only be exhibited for free during January. Every year since, the collection, which spans Turner's remarkable career, has offered welcome respite during the dreich Scottish winter. In a departure last year, over 30 works were exchanged with the National Gallery of Ireland, which also has a Vaughan bequest of Turner’s works. This year's exhibition sees the return of familiar favourites from Scotland's collection, showcasing Turner's ability to capture the vitality of the natural world, with highlights including a brooding Scottish loch, a roaring Swiss waterfall, and an electrifying snapshot of lightning striking a Venetian church.

Fergus Morgan, writer

Where better to contemplate the big philosophical questions than inside a prison? What is the nature of freedom? What makes a person worthy of forgiveness? What is life for? These are pressing issues when you are behind bars. And they are at the centre of Dennis Kelly’s brilliant new drama about a philosophy teacher whose students are not undergraduates – they’re inmates. Josh Finan is superb as Dan, the squeaky-clean teacher who has escaped his background (his father, brother and uncle all did time) but remains consumed by inherited shame and guilt - and tormented by crippling OCD. It is gripping and often very funny to watch Dan build a volatile relationship with the wildly differing characters in his prison classroom as they debate the travails of Odysseus, their experiences of feminism, and whether Slavoj Žižek is “the Billy Connolly of philosophers”. Based on Andy West’s memoir, The Life Inside, the entire series is wonderfully well-acted, nuanced and humane.

Lisa O’Kelly, contributing writer

(Until 24 January)

Three men in a room, lurching towards violence, is a winning formula that worked for Pinter in the 60s and Mamet in the 70s. Lyle Kessler’s 1983 classic Orphans is another exemplary case. Two Philadelphia brothers, a child-like shut-in and a petty thug, are transformed by the arrival of a roaringly charismatic older man who is not what he appears to be. Al Miller’s taut revival is perfect for a theatre as tiny as Jermyn Street, the heat of fast-talking menace filling the room. Chris Walley and Fred Woodley Evans are both superb as the brothers but Forbes Masson’s Harold is spectacular: a fatherless father figure whose volatile cocktail of mischief, danger and tenderness constitutes the first great performance of 2026.

Dorian Lynskey, Nerve theatre critic

Sometimes galleries need to remind us what fabulous and wide-ranging collections they have and the Whitworth does exactly that with Performing Trees, which features more than 50 artworks exploring the changing role of trees in art. Featured artists include Paul Cezanne, John Nash, Graham Sutherland, Rembrandt, George Shaw and Monica Poole with works ranging from wallpapers, mid-century modern textiles and embroidery to paintings, prints, engravings and sculpture. The show has been open a couple of months but now seems the perfect season to lose yourself in the trees.

Susan Ferguson, Nerve events

It's hard to find fault with this crime-comedy. The first series began with former community support officers infiltrating a drug gang and inadvertently solving a big conspiracy. Now Gbemisola Ikumelo and Hammed Animashaun who play Dom and Kay, are back as MI5 employees. However, Dom is unhappy with her role in the archives department and, desperate to do some case work, she unfortunately takes matters into her own hands. Full of charming awkwardness, Black Ops has that right balance of silliness and social-awareness. The plot is simultaneously ludicrous yet believable thanks to the brilliant comedic acting. 

Kadish Morris, contributing writer

FILM
Emerald Fennell's Love Stories
(BFI IMAX, London SE1, February)

To coincide with the release next month of her version of Wuthering Heights starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, Emerald Fennell curates a short season of films throughout February including John Schlesinger's Far From the Madding Crowd and Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death. Also includes an in conversation event with the director on 4 February. Booking for the films opens on 14 January and ticket details for the in conversation will be announced soon.

ART
Seurat and the Sea 
(Courtauld Gallery, London WC2, 13 February - 17 May)

The first UK exhibition devoted to the French Post-Impressionist in 30 years will include 27 paintings, oil sketches and drawings made by the artist during the five summers he spent on the northern coast of France, between 1885 and 1890.