Welcome to our very first hotlist. Each week we will share the books, shows, films and more that we are loving. Today’s choices range from a riotous memoir of noughties clubbing to the more sedate joy of the John Moores Painting Prize, via the best new film on Netflix and Bridgerton’s queen on stage.

For those familiar with the American photographer whose output is as varied as her storied biography as an avant garde It Girl, this retrospective at Tate Britain will still hold surprises: erotic collaborations with Man Ray, striking images of Cairo and its environs, and the aftermath of WWII across the Continent. Those new to Miller's work will be amazed by what she saw and how she chose to capture it with her keen, sometimes Surrealist, but mostly unflinching eye. Never have her images and written accounts of the horrors of war, which were published in American and British vogue, seemed more necessary, more urgent arguments about the role of photojournalism to bear witness: "BELIEVE IT" she wrote to her editor, when she cabled pictures of the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau. 

Emily LaBarge, art critic

Drag queen DJ and party promoter Jodie Harsh drags you through the highs, lows and lurid characters of noughties London clubland and pre-Pret Shoreditch, where celebs danced among normies and Leigh Bowery-inspired looks were everywhere. You may feel misty-eyed for debauchery after reading.

Kate Hutchinson, music critic

Over 50 artists in 19 venues in East Lancashire celebrating innovation in textiles including one highlight in Burnley, Pioneers of the Material World, which has everything from Amelia Earhart’s flying suit to Luke Skywalker's pilot costume, with a sprinkling of well-dressed Burnley FC fans to boot. This year's theme? The future was always there 

Sue Ferguson, writer

Should more proof be needed that everything Cillian Murphy touches turns to gold, in Steve his portrayal of an overwhelmed headmaster at a home for troubled young men aches with tender care and inner turmoil. An adaptation of author Max Porter's Shy, Steve brilliantly flips the novella's perspective from that of distraught teenager Shy on the night he decides to run away from the home, to that of Murphy’s headmaster putting out fires everywhere on that fateful day, all set to a jangly drum-and-bass soundtrack. (As an aperitif, watch Murphy on Graham Norton's sofa with Taylor Swift last Friday. His reaction to her engagement ring became an instant meme).

Imogen Carter, co-founder, the Nerve

Twelve years on from his bestselling debut, The Examined Life ("a combination of Chekhov and Oliver Sacks", said the New York Times), psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz is back with an enthralling new series of tales from his consulting room. His focus this time is on love and relationships. We meet the woman who can't post her wedding invitations, the friendship group that explodes when an adulterous affair begins, the Fullbright scholar who misses being a sex worker, the sculptor who has been emotionally stuck since his girlfriend's suicide. All utterly compelling.

Lisa O’Kelly, writer

Some hard truths about mother and daughter relationships unravel in Emma Dennis-Edwards poignant, sometimes witty, two hander. Go to see director Lynette Linton's luminous staging and an acting masterclass from screen stars Letitia Wright (Black Panther) and Golda Rosheuvel (Bridgerton).Tickets are hard to come by; check the theatre’s website for tips.

Jane Ferguson, co-founder

One of the high notes of London’s cultural life is hidden in plain sight in the journalist’s church of St Brides on Fleet Street. Free lunchtime recitals, featuring top-flight musicians, take place twice a week, at 1.15pm, usually on Tuesdays and Fridays. This month’s repertoire ranges from Mozart, Bach and Beethoven, to Django Reinhardt and Ozzy Osbourne.

Claire Armitstead, writer

After our launch event in Liverpool last week the Nerve team squeezed in a visit to the handsome Walker Art Gallery, currently hosting its annual painting prize, first awarded in 195. We enjoyed the range and ideas on show - not least Christina Dobbs’ haunting work ‘Battleship’ and Davina Jackson’s intriguing landscape ‘Just Like It Was’ (the latter was shortlisted for the prize which ultimately went to Ally Fallon for his ‘If You Were Certain, What Would You Do Then?’). But best of all was the surprise discovery of one of the former winning paintings sitting in the permanent collection - Peter Doig's spectacular ‘Blotter’ which won in 1993 and transformed Doig’s career (he was awarded the Turner prize the following year).

Sarah Donaldson, co-founder

British actors make great first-time directors; see Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur and Richard Ayoade’s Submarine. The Babygirl star’s hauntingly humane tale of life at the margins proves that, once again.

Ellen E Jones, film critic

Cole Escola's surprise Downtown hit Oh Mary! - ‘a viciously funny camp farce’ according to the New Yorker - is transferring to London. Mary is Abraham Lincoln's wife, here portrayed as an alcoholic frustrated cabaret singer in the years leading up to her husband's assassination. The winner of two Tony awards, it could sell out.

Art lovers should hotfoot it to the following hit exhibitions before they close in the next few weeks: Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (ends 2 November); Do Ho Suh: Walk the House at Tate Modern (ends 26 October); and Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons at Dulwich Picture Gallery (ends 19 October).

More from us next week when London will be heaving with A-list stars for the London Film Festival (8-19 October) and collectors for Frieze London (15-19 October). Get your gladrags on.