“No decade moves faster than 50 to 60,” says Sharon Horgan’s character, Alex, as her new TV show begins. “You have to make every single second of your time count.” Cut to Alex lying on the sofa, laughing at a video of a parrot getting a haircut, before dropping her iPhone on her face. Horgan’s poignant, perceptive and filthily funny comedies have taken us from singledom (Pulling) to marriage (Catastrophe) to parenting (Motherland) to divorce (er, Divorce). Her latest portrays the "sandwich generation" and the perils of midlife dating. Literary agent Alex is dealing with empty nest syndrome, health problems, ageing parents and not-quite-right men (mainly Rupert Friend but also Damian Lewis, Douglas Hodge, Freddie Fox and Tim McInnerny). But by far her most tender relationship is with her troubled 18-year-old son (a star-making turn from Aran “son of Cillian” Murphy). Heartbreaking, hilarious and highly relatable.

Michael Hogan, writer

The pressure was on for Louise Kennedy’s follow-up to her beautiful debut novel Trespasses (2022), a tragic love story set in 1970s Northern Ireland that was translated into 20 languages, nominated for the Women’s prize and turned into a tremendous Channel 4 series in 2025 starring Lola Petticrew, Tom Cullen and Gillian Anderson. Fortunately Stations, her tale of the unlikely friendship that blossoms between Red and Roisin as teenagers in smalltown Ireland in 1982, really delivers. Charting the lives of the pair over the coming decades with great humour and compassion, through a move to London, family problems and addiction, Kennedy showcases her brilliant ear for dialogue and ability to create complex, often troubled, characters. The vivid scenes set amidst the flowing ashtrays and empty bottles of a 1980s London squat are a particular treat, full of hangovers and yearning.

Imogen Carter, Nerve co-founder

How to celebrate 70 years as the leading theatre for new writing in the UK? The Royal Court has launched the careers of so many of this country’s major writers, it was the first home of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and it contributed to the end of theatre censorship. The season Play Time, a collaboration with BBC Radio 4, is a fascinating angle on this history, because it’s wholly unconcerned with theatre celebrity and instead zooms in on political questions that remain contentious and unresolved. The season kicks off this Saturday on Radio 4 at 3pm with a brand new audio production of Lucy Kirkwood’s climate crisis-themed play The Children, which premiered at the Court in 2016. It’s followed by seven plays plucked from the BBC archive (by playwright Mark Ravenhill on curating duty here) that consider such fierce topics as institutional racism (Random, Sizwe Banzi is Dead), the cruelty of female genital mutilation (Cuttin’ It) and the liberating potential of socialism (Roots). They air on Radio 4 Extra at 8.30pm each evening and will also be available on BBC Sounds, which means you don’t even need to leave the sofa to get stuck in.

Maddy Costa, writer

From its gorgeously iridescent cover onwards (or should I say, inwards) Michael Cragg's celebration of Kylie Minogue, like the singer herself, never lets up the joy. Schooled in the art of generous, funny pop writing at the much-missed Popjustice.com, Cragg is a perceptive and big-hearted guide to how Minogue has navigated the unforgiving pop industry's ins and outs, and he's clearly relished the on-the-ground research – scouring tabloid articles, old magazine interviews and TV performances. Like the best music journalists, his writing doesn't put his favourite pop star on a pedestal either, but deliciously describes her pop’s dafter pleasures, like the video to the international smash hit single that gives his book its title. "The utopia promised by the millennium was laid out in front of us via forensically manicured cityscapes and futuristic fashion: we see [Kylie] dance on what looks like a rooftop garden centre … and losing herself in a dress made of purple-silver Post-it notes."

Jude Rogers, writer

Thelma & Louise: The Musical? It sounds counterintuitive. A story about coercive control, murder, attempted rape and suicide doesn’t immediately make you think of bursting into song. However, the classic 90s film, starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, is also hugely inspiring: a feminist road movie powered by the strength of female friendship and the unbreakable spirit of the protagonists. Several top creatives have sprinkled their magic on this Young Vic premiere: Callie Khouri, who wrote the original screenplay; super-producer Sonia Friedman; American singer-songwriter Neko Case; and director Trip Cullman. Rachel Tucker as Louise and Amy Lennox as Thelma are terrific as the runaways, while Jordan Luke Gage shines as the sexy young grifter JD – played by a young Brad Pitt in the film – as does Trevor Dion Nicholas as the detective trailing the two fugitives. Streaks of neon light and the sound of a motor revving cleverly evoke the women’s journey and their iconic Thunderbird convertible briefly appears in the heartbreaking final scene. Thirty-five years on from its original release, the film’s themes feel ever more pertinent as we witness women’s rights being eroded across the globe.

Lisa O’Kelly, writer

The great 20th-century artist Barbara Hepworth once said: “I, the sculptor, am the landscape.” It is fitting, therefore, that at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park – where many of her pieces are displayed – a new exhibition examines the creative possibilities of artists responding to the land. Hold to This Earth is a show of contemporary Indigenous North American art, featuring 65 works by 38 artists. It is captivating in its presentation – piles of folded fabrics rise above our heads; glass beads construct an exquisite, patterned column; a glowing neon pops off the wall. But it is also weighty in subject, exploring accumulated knowledge, Indigenous identity, activism and the reinvention of traditional techniques. Opening the show is Dakota Mace’s new commission, Kéyah Yinílniih (The Land Remembers), which blends clay and wool from the UK with earth from Mace’s home of Teejop - it’s a beautiful exchange and an invitation to consider our own placement within the rolling hills of Yorkshire.

Hannah Clugston, writer

What with Ezra Collective's recent No 1 album, the spotlight shining on UK jazz shows no sign of dimming any time soon. Some of its key players are now also DJs, broadcasters and curating festival stages. Another positivity-minded polymath to keep an eye on is the Melbourne-born Audrey Powne – as a trumpeter, composer, producer, arranger, keyboardist and singer, she really can do it all. Her second album, Bodies of Water, out this Friday, is on the label that released hip-hop legend J Dilla's 2001 debut and is an uplifting, thoughtful wash of neo-soul, boom-bap beats and tasteful afrobeat, partly inspired by Caleb Azumah Nelson’s novel Small Worlds. She'll be performing it live in London on 1 October. 

Kate Hutchinson, Nerve music critic

In four episodes stripped over this week, followed by a live episode on Thursday, Sky simulates the emergency Cobra meeting that would follow a Russian attack on UK soil. Part drama, part documentary, Michael Gove plays prime minister with former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon as his deputy (it’s actually very funny watching Gove put his big boy trousers on to be PM). Two British fighter pilots are shot dead in a pub car park and Russia blames the UK for the sinking of a civilian ship. As the situation escalates, the foreign secretary calls the US, only to find the secretary of state (played by Anthony Scaramucci) stony-faced and mysteriously neutral. The president, he says, has already spoken to the Kremlin. It’s depressing to realise that a meeting of the nation’s finest strategic minds is also just a bunch of humans trying to find ways not to say, “oh shit” as the nation moves to defcon one. But its also insightful, as when head of comms Ayesha Hazarika grasps that the information war is as important as the bang-bang one.

Julia Morris, writer

MUSIC
Charli xcx tour
(Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester and London, from 13 February 2027)

Charli xcx has announced the UK and European leg of her Music, Fashion, Film tour. It kicks off in Dublin on 13 February, before heading to Glasgow, Manchester and London, where Charli will headline the O2 on 19 and 20 February. American singer-songwriter Audrey Hobert is the support act.

THEATRE
Ballet Shoes
(Opens 19 August 2027 at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre and then touring the UK into 2028; booking opens on Thursday 24 September)

The National Theatre’s acclaimed production of Noel Streatfeild’s 1936 classic 1936 novel will embark on a major UK tour from August next year. Described in a previous Nerve hotlist as a “feisty, feminist and funny coming-of-age gem”, the touring version will feature Strictly Come Dancing star Anton du Beke as Great Uncle Matthew and Fidolia.

ART
Monet: Painting Time
(Tate Modern, London, 25 February-27 June 2027)

Tate Modern’s first ever exhibition focusing on the work of Claude Monet explores the French artist’s representation of the passing of time, light and changing seasons. It includes more than 60 paintings, including rarely exhibited loans from private collections.

THEATRE
My Neighbour Totoro
(Gillian Lynne Theatre, London WC2, ends 3 January 2027)

The RSC and Nippon TV’s utterly delightful adaptation of the classic Ghibli film closes in January. It’s the perfect Christmas present for children young and old so catch it while you can!