Things to do in London this week

It’s time to remember, remember the fifth of November. Of all of the UK’s winter traditions, there’s nothing like gathering in a park in the nippy nights of early November to watch a pile of flaming wood and fireworks piercing the sky. Bonfire Night – aka Guy Fawkes Night –might sound strange to those unfamiliar with it, but it’s a great British tradition and one of the highlights of the second half of the year. London puts on a plethora of Bonfire Night and fireworks displays with sparkly skies, yummy street food, and so much more. Here are the best. 

Pitchfork Music Festival is gearing up for another edition, with a jam-packed schedule of eclectic live music encompassing everything from avant-rock and post-punk to UK rap and deconstructed dance music. This year’s headliners include Boston indie-rockers Horse Jumper of Love, electronic producer Actress, Aussie electronic group The Avalanches and Chicago rapper Noname. Elsewhere on the line-up are the likes of Panda Bear, Elijah Wolf, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Working Men’s Club, Bloodsports and Kiwi jr. 

Three teenage girls are dancing round their bedroom under flashing rainbow lights, squealing over boys, when everything goes dark and the screaming starts. It’s a jolting opening to a play, and it sets the rhythm for everything that follows in Theresa Ikoko’s Girls. You’re laughing one minute and holding your breath the next. It follows Tisana, Haleema and Ruhab, three best friends taken from their village by militant insurgents. It’s set in Nigeria in 2014, the year Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls. Twelve years on – with around 90 of those girls still believed to be missing – director Ewa Dina brings its first UK revival to the Young Vic’s intimate Maria studio. The final scenes are devastating. As the lights come up, the screens fill with the faces of the real Chibok girls, and nobody seems in any rush to leave.

This major exhibition from the V&A will transport visitors to one of the world’s great cities, exploring its best-known landmarks, from the Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia to Topkapı Palace and the Galata Tower. Constantinople to Istanbul: One City, Two Empires will explore 1,600 years of this influential city. Once called Constantinople and now called Istanbul, it was the imperial and religious capital at the heart of two successive empires: the Byzantine (AD 330– 1453) and the Ottoman (1453–1922), and this show will span AD 330 to 1922; it will bring together remarkable works of art, design and architecture to reveal the enduring creative legacy of an imperial capital that shaped the Mediterranean world and far beyond. It’s billed as the first exhibition in the UK to tell this story in full. 

Cassette is the sibling of Peckham’s Levan, which has been bringing the best chefs in Paris over to south-east London for regular Sunday sessions. Cassette feels more grown up and less hectic than Levan. It helps that the space is sensational: a Grade II* listed stained-glass workshop a few doors down from elder London dining statesman, Rules. Cassette’s music credentials are as strong as its culinary ones. Apparently there are some ultra-rare West German Grundig Audiorama 8000 spherical speakers here, and the restaurant's bespoke playlists provide a polished soundbed to head chef Essa Fakhry’s refined French fancies. The menu focuses on Parisian crowd-pleasers, including a delightfully loose roast cauliflower and comté quiche which sits in a pool of its own oomska. Covent Garden might seem full of tourist traps to some, but Cassette couldn’t feel more like home. 

Head to the Chinatown restaurant and get unending plates of dim sum for just £24.95, with prosecco too. It’s a little more expensive on Fridays and Saturdays (£29.50 and £31.90) but it remains an absolute steal. Little wonder it’s so continuously popular. 

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Oxford Street is one of the most iconic areas for London’s Christmas lights, and for good reason, given that a hefty proportion of us Londoners will see them lighting our way as we do battle for Yuletide gifts. This year, the lights are Harry Potter-themed to mark the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone TV show, scheduled to premiere on HBO on Christmas Day. You can watch the big switch-on on Wednesday November 4. Alongside the usual display, look out for the Hogwarts-themed designs. As is now tradition, the lights will be made from eco-friendly materials, including LED lights and recycled plastic. Featuring 5000 twinkling stars – they shine from 4pm to midnight daily until early January. 

Based on a 2008 short story by Ursula Wills-Jones, this fantasyland comedy-drama might be the first time anyone has ever attempted to meld a bawdy 1970s sex comedy with Lord of the Rings. Wicker’s premise might be sledgehammeringly obvious, but the execution is immaculate. Olivia Colman is resplendent as a nonchalant fisherwoman who commissions a basketmaker to weave her a husband. Played with creaky restraint by Alexander Skarsgård in a full-body woven suit and facial prosthetics, it turns out that he’s a keeper. The handsome willow husband immediately outshines the local menfolk due to his gentle nature, willingness to help around the house and massive cock. But Wicker isn’t all dick jokes and sylvan sauciness. A true darkness descends, and the film’s looming folk horror promise comes good. 

Beloved Drag Race UK winner Johnson returns with a new night of comedy that we’re told ‘harks back to the psychedelic creativity of the 1970s which flourished during political unrest’. Psychedelic drag comedy? Sounds good!

Korean film is way more than just Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, supreme though they are. In fact, Korea arguably has one of the world’s most exciting and mercurial film cultures, as proved by this splashy annual festival. Showcased at the BFI Southbank, Ciné Lumière, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and various other prestigious London picture houses, the line-up features 22 films screened across a fortnight, kicking off with Kim Mi-jo’s The Journey to Gyeong-ju (2025), a star-studded crime drama with grieving matriarch Ok-sil (Parasite’s Lee Jung-eun) and her three daughters (Gong Hyo-jin, Park So-dam, Lee Yeon) embarking on a road trip to avenge the murder of the youngest family member, followed by a Q&A with director Kim and actor Lee Jung-eun. While the closing gala, is the UK Premiere of Park Hoon-jung’s Tristes Tropiques (2025), alongside a Q&A with the filmmaker. Well-known for his gritty and ruthless action dramas, this film is a bloodbath triggered by the death of a kill-squad leader. It won the Nouveau Genre Grand Prize, the top honour in the international competition at the 32nd L’Étrange Festival. 

Give yourself some proper indulgence at the five-star Courthouse Hotel, with one hour of spa access and your pick of luxe treatment packages (one 50-minute session with two treatments, four-mini treatments, or a 75-minute session with three treatments). You’ll also get complimentary bubbly, and a £10 voucher for any subsequent visits. 

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To Catch a Predator was an NBC hidden camera show that lured pedophiles into the full glare of America’s TV screens in the mid-2000s. Primetime is a thriller that finds satire everywhere it looks. And as the show’s real-life circus master Chris Hansen, Robert Pattinson puts in his best performance in a golden year. Convincingly decked-out by production designer Alex DiGerlando, who remembers what 2004 looked like a lot better than most of us, its suburban, formica-clad kitchens are where the accused are unmasked and left to face their personal ruin by the slick, suited Hansen. But the show’s gotcha M.O. becomes ever more questionable: fresh-faced wannabe actor Dan (a fabulous Skyler Gisondo) is recruited to entice and lure potential sexual predators out into the open. ‘Decoy Dan’ is groomed to attract the groomers. Even producer Andie Bender (Merritt Wever), a hard-nosed veteran untroubled by too many qualms, is queasy at the corruption of this young soul. It’s an icky-yet-gripping final act in a film of suburban homes, motel rooms, police stations and TV network control rooms – mundane places electrified by the moral violence of this ill-conceived spectacle.

The Tate Modern began keeping its galleries open until 9pm every Friday and Saturday back in September. Its been taking full advantage of those extra hours ever since, hosting free live music performances at its Corner Bar. This Friday, it’s collaborating with King’s Cross-based community station Voices Radio for an evening of improv jazz. A roster of London jazz scene heavyweights will meet on stage for the first time and break out in unrehearsed, live improvised jazz. That’s right, they’ll be making it all up right on the spot. There’ll also be vinyl DJ sets in between sets, a bunch of boardgames to play for free and a curated selection of natural wines from the Tate’s cellar. 

A month-long feast of contemporary Czech cinema, the Made in Prague Festival is back for its 30th edition with a thrilling selection of high-calibre dramas, comedies, docs and family films, hosted by the Regent Street Cinema and The Garden Cinema. This year’s programme brings together two distinct strands: the first celebrating the legacy of the Czechoslovak New Wave, and the second showcasing a selection of acclaimed new Czech films, all accompanied by live introductions and post-screening discussions.

Adolescence and Top Boy actor Ashley Walters’ startlingly assured debut feature opens in darkness. We hear, but don’t see, the panicked aftermath of a knife crime and voices in heated debate as a siren announces the arrival of the police. Cut to Troy’s rabbit-in-the-headlights stare in the back of a cop wagon. Played by The Long Walk actor Tut Nyuot, he’s a good, if waylaid, kid caught up in a furious world he’s vastly unprepared for. Thrust into a foreboding brick youth detention centre, Troy is stripped naked alongside two fellow detainees. They’re destined to be his good and bad angels. Illuminated by cinematographer Tasha Back and pumped up by composer Swindle’s edgy score, this brilliant British film cares deeply about making us care for Troy and carries us to an intriguingly queer place thrumming with pent-up promise.

Sir Lenny Henry has long since transcended being a ‘mere’ comedian – if he ever really was – with a career that has long leant more towards the stage, kids’ books and general elder statesman-ing. He’s still got it, though: aged 67 he heads out on his first stand-up tour in over a decade with Still at Large. His first since 2010, it’s billed as ‘part stand-up, part storytelling and part conversation’.

Fancy three courses for £29.50 on the swanky rooftop terrace at this award-winning restaurant? We can help you out there. It’s a special spot, helped in no small part by the first-rate views of St Paul’s Cathedral. The food’s decent, too.

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Every winter the Southbank Centre turns the banks of the Thames into a frosty wonderland, full of little wooden Alpine-style cabins selling gifts, warming drinks, and snacks. You’ll find huts serving up truffle burgers, duck wraps, mulled wine, Dutch pancakes, churros and many more tasty morsels to nibble on while you look through gifts, jewellery and decorations made by independent craft traders. Or, once you’re done browsing, snuggle up at pop-up king Jimmy Garcia’s riverside venue Fire And Fromage, where you can snaffle all you can eat raclette, sip on seriously decadent hot chocolates, and even toast your own marshmallows round a cosy fire pit. 

An extreme sports doc so pummelling, you may need a huff of oxygen (or a hug) afterwards, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s follow-up to Free Solo is not the Everest climbing documentary you’re expecting. It’ll leave you gasping at points, as its protagonists dice with death. Of course, people have been (successfully) scaling Everest since 1953. Nothing new there, right? But only five of them have done it from the Chinese side – the formidable North Face route that looks like something you wouldn’t want to fly over, much less climb. Much, much less ski back down. Yet that is the task real-life partners and elite mountain skiers Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson set for themselves in 2022. Ahead of them are sudden avalanches, treacherous ice fields, high winds and fatally fickle weather. This extreme NatGeo doc is ultimately a paean to following your path – as well as a heart-in-your-mouth odyssey to the roof of the world. See it on IMAX, don’t Google anything beforehand and wear something warm. 

In Danny Lee Wynter’s new play, based on his own experiences, we’re in a big, busy family home in Ilford – both in 1995 and in 1980. In the 90s, Ted (an impressive stage debut from Leo Whitfield Harris) is an awkward, mixed-race teen trying to work out his place in the world. Wynter’s dialogue feels like it could be lifted straight from a sitcom; we get all the colour and expletives you’d expect from a close-knit family, fractured by clashing personalities and worldviews. Drawing the lines between the people we were in the past and the people we become, Wynter has written something wise, witty and packed with big feelings.