Things to do in London this weekend (18-19 October)

This year’s BFI London Film Festival will kick off on Wednesday, with Rian Johnson’s new Knives Out movie Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery at the Royal Festival Hall. From there, the UK’s biggest film festival will be pressing play on 11 days and nights of movies, big and small, at cinemas and venues across London. Very much not a festival that’s just for the critics, snobs and VIPs, the LFF remains the most accessible of the world’s big film festivals. Which means you’ve got every chance of scoring seats to its packed line-up of new movies when tickets go on sale on September 16 (earlier for BFI members). 

Get a dose of hip hop history at Somerset House this autumn, where the first major solo exhibition from British photographer Jennie Baptiste will be displayed. Having photographed everyone from NAS, to Jay Z, Estelle and Biggie Smalls, Baptiste’s work spanning the last three decades has been at the forefront of R&B, hip hop, fashion and youth culture, as she documented the influence of Black British communities on culture and art from the 1990s to today. 

Frieze Sculpture returns for another year, transforming Regent's Park, one of London's prettiest green spaces, into a massive outdoor gallery. Expect massive sculptures curated by Fatoş Üstek, on the theme of ‘In the Shadows’, which means they'll be engage with the idea of darkness from many perspectives, whether that's inner darkness or the interplay between light and obscurity. The exhibition will be complemented by a programme of performances and talks, all free to the public.

Gina opened in the summer of 2025 by husband and wife team Ravneet Gill and Mattie Taian, after months of renovations, setbacks and test recipes. Collectively, the couple have spent over 15 years working in London’s most acclaimed kitchens (St John, The Camberwell Arms and Black Axe Mangal to name a few), but Ravneet is probably best known for her time judging on Junior Bake Off. What they’ve done at Gina has truly put Epping Forest on the gastronomic map. Sweet monkfish cooked with bacon and oak leaf is swirled with crunchy pistachio butter and refreshing mint. The daily special of Highland beef rump and café de Paris butter is mopped up with triple-cooked chips, and ‘Gina’s Pasta’ is a damn good plate of spaghetti in a rich and comforting marinara sauce. Gina’s chocolate cake is a must order: a light but indulgent sponge, swimming in chocolate sauce. It’s a local landmark. 

Have your brain tickled by talks from the smarties at top universities and scientific institutions, and get interactive with some hands-on experiences that bring the latest research to life at this bonanza of geekery hosted by world-leading science and technology magazine New Scientist. A host of leading thinkers will be appearing across the weekend festival, including This is Going to Hurt author Adam Kay, biomedical scientist and TikToker Big Manny, Springwatch’s Chris Packham, GP and TV presenter Dr Zoe Williams and novelist Naomi Alderman, while highlights of the workshop programme include a scientific whisky tasting with drinks expert Billy Abbott, a forensics session with a serving police detective, and a microbiome testing lab where you can learn about the science behind fermentation.

Get tickets only through Time Out Offers.

Tracy Letts’s 2018 play embraces and subverts bio-drama cliches. It’s the story of an alcoholic woman who lives a hard life, largely as a result of being the daughter of an alcoholic woman who also lived a hard life. Did Mary Page Marlowe ever have a chance? What sets it apart is the way Letts has chosen to tell the story. Instead of a linear narrative, Mary Page Marlowe covers the eponymous midwestern Boomer’s entire life in 11 scenes that run in a non-linear fashion and rather than a single big central role, the title part is performed by five actors. Two of the Mary Pages are famous – Andrea Riseborough and Susan Sarandon and chopping and changing lead actors without aligning their performances creates an exquisite corpse of a life story, that speaks to the idea that none of us are one single person throughout our lives. It’s a smart piece of writing. 

Comedian Lenny Henry, actor and musician Jordan Stephens, MP Dawn Butler, Strictly dancer Oti Mabuse, TV presenter June Sarpong and Olympian Dame Denise Lewis are some of the big names on the line-up for this book festival aiming to banish barriers to entry into the publishing industry. Taking over the Barbican for its fifth edition, it features a jam-packed programme of talks, panel discussions and workshops that will help aspiring authors to navigate everything from securing an agent to writing engaging dialogue, plus film screenings, readings from bestselling authors, a kids’ zone with storytelling and music sessions, and a marketplace where you can stock up on new reads by Black authors from across the globe and in just about every genre imaginable. 

Cecil Beaton was a jack of all trades and master of many, bringing his inimitable touch to the worlds of fashion illustration, photography, costume design, writing and more. While most exhibitions covering his glittering career touch on all sides of his creative world, none has ever looked solely at his ground-breaking fashion work – until now. ‘Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World’ will do just that via some of his most dazzling outfits that defined the Jazz Age or shone on screen in the likes of ‘My Fair Lady’.

The producers of Kew Gardens’ beloved Christmas trail are behind this spooky-themed train for Halloween, which leads people on an illuminated path through the iconic botanical gardens. Expect eerie illuminated trees, ghoulish installations, fire performers and more, with a troupe of actors on hand to stoke up our horrors (in a family-friendly way, of course).

This renowned annual photography exhibition returns to the Natural History Museum for its 61st edition, showcasing the very best entries of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. On display are images of the most extraordinary species on the planet captured by professional and amateur photographers. This year’s entries are TBA right now, but the winners are reliably spectacular – pictured is last year’s champion Shane Gross, whose mesmirising underwater shot of western toad tadpoles involved snorkelled for hours in a lake on Vancouver Island, making sure not to disturb fine layers of silt and algae at the bottom. Don’t miss what is always a highlight in the NHM’s calendar.

Like many of Shakespeare’s deeper cuts, Troilus and Cressida is a bizarre (bordering on broken) play that is clearly only performed (sporadically) in the twenty-first century because of who its author is. It’s handy to appreciate the historical context of Shakespeare’s cynical remix of the Iliad. The late Elizabethans really dug the Trojan War. And they also dug the tale of Troilus and Cressida, a tragic love story set during said conflict that was invented in mediaeval times that has faded into obscurity bar this one play. Owen Horsley’s production turns the whole thing into something that resembles a demented reality TV show, as Achilles’s dishevelled, dishonourable Greeks square up to Hector’s slick tracksuit-clad Trojans. It’s a rewarding production, an engaging mix of jet-black cynicism and unfettered silliness.

Bloomsbury has got a formidable reputation for artsy goings on, with bohemian artists and writers making it their stamping ground a century ago, and this weekend of music, theatre, talks, walks and much more celebrates that legacy. Look out for a musical celebration of the local area's past and present, exhibitions by artists including New Wave prize-winning artist Beth McAlester, contemporary jazz from J.A.M. String Collective and theatre works including Up In The Mango Trees, which follows a young disabled woman competing for the title of Carnival Queen in Saint Lucia. 

★★★★ 'Frameless has managed to create something genuinely exciting' – Time Out

Escape reality through maximum immersion and experience 42 masterpieces from 29 of the world’s most iconic artists, each reimagined beyond belief, through cutting-edge technology. Situated in Marble Arch, Frameless plays host to four unique galleries with hypnotic visuals and a dazzling score. Enjoy 90 minutes of surreal artwork from Bosch, Dalí and more for just £24!

Get £24.80 tickets (originally £31), only through Time Out Offers.

South London's much loved literary knees-up is back this October with a stellar 10-day line-up packed with events from over 100 speakers. Big names including Rupert Everett, Jung Chang, Irvine Welsh, Lemn Sissay, Jay Rayner, and Anthony Horowitz will make an appearance, ready to hobnob with their fans in intimate talks. There'll also be an emphasis on politics and misinformation this year, with experts including Tim Berners-Lee and Nick Clegg. Plus, a partnership with Lahore Literary Festival will showcase South Asian creatives, with speakers including broadcaster Reeta Chakrabarti, Women’s Prize shortlisted authors Nussaibah Younis and Sanam Mahloudji.

At the National Theatre last Christmas, Max Webster’s vividly queer take on Oscar Wilde’s magnum opus featured Ncuti Gatwa as the dashing young protagonist Algernon Montcrieff. In this West End Cast Gatwa’s replacement is fellow Russell T Davies alumnus Ollie Alexander, and he plays Algie with a waspish dandyishness that feels childish, not adult, a little boy roleplaying his whirlwind romance with Jessica Whitehurst’s bolshy Cicily. Likewise, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett‘s Jack is basically a gigantic overgrown puppy, wagging his tail in delight at the attentions of Kitty Hawthorn’s Gwendolyn, but with zero sexual intent. It’s a funny, fresh, irreverent way of tackling Wilde’s comedy. 

One hundred years ago, a strange curtained box appeared on Broadway in New York City. If you went inside and slotted in 25 cents, you’d emerge with eight sepia tinged photos of yourself in a matter of minutes. It was the Photomaton – the world’s first fully automated photobooth. Fast forward to the 21st century and photobooths are in bars, train stations, cinemas, record shops and on streets all over the world. The Photographer’s Gallery is marking a century of the machines with Click!, an archival exhibition exploring their imperfections, their quirks and their most famous fans. Naturally, there’ll be a working photobooth for visitors to take their own snap.

‘Nigerian Modernism’ celebrates the achievements of Nigerian artists working on either side of a decade of independence from British colonial rule in 1960. As well as traversing networks in the country’s locales of Zaria, Ibadan, Lagos and Enugu, it also looks further afield to London, Munich and Paris, exploring how artistic collectives fused Nigerian, African and European techniques and traditions in their multidimensional works.

Love sushi, dumplings or noodles? Inamo’s got you covered. This high-tech spot in Soho or Covent Garden lets you order from interactive tabletops, play over 20 games while you wait and even doodle on your table. Then it’s all you can eat pan-Asian dishes like Sichuan chicken, red dragon rolls and Korean wings with bottomless drinks. Usually £113.35, now just £33 or £26 if you're in early at the weekend!

Get Inamo’s best ever bottomless food & drink brunch from only £26 with Time Out Offers.

Vistors will be plunged into Candice Lin’s ghoulish, red hued world at Whitechapel Gallery this October, as the artist’s new commission inspired by the politcal and cultural upheaval in the USA goes on display. Created in Los Angeles during the the inauguration of Donald Trump’s second presidency, and the LA wildfires, Lin’s hellish and labrythine landscapes – where small creatures stand beneath towering monoliths, and human cadavers emerge from behind shrubberies – evoke the shock, grief and helplessness many Americans feel today in the face of genocide, police brutality and a climate catastrophe. 

Do you spend your time in London seeking out the best dirty martini? Or judging every barman by their daquri-making skills? Then get yourself to London Cocktail Week where the city’s inventive and innovative cocktail makers will be shaking up exciting and unusual concoctions to sink back. Over 200 bars across the capital will take part, including Nipperkin, Seed Library and Swift. Pick up a wristband in advance, or at any participating bar, and sip your way around London, tasting tried-and-trusted classics and new recipes. The event is all not-for-profit, with funds being redirected back to the bars involved, helping support the people behind the drinks.

One of Hollywood’s biggest stars in a true-life sports movie with big-time awards hopes. It’s going to be a Rocky-like story of comeback glory wrenched from the jaws of defeat, right? Except that’s not at all what Dwayne Johnson and director Benny Safdie have got cooking with this tender but tumultuous addiction and relationship drama set in the gladiatorial world of mixed martial arts (MMA). Because beyond the regular crunch of fist on bone, The Smashing Machine is an unexpectedly gentle, soulful character study that has Johnson undercutting his crowd-pleasing ‘The Rock’ persona with vulnerability and boyish uncertainty. Inside this smashing machine is a deeply heartsore human – and inside Johnson is a very fine actor indeed. 

Imagine indulging in all the dumplings, rolls, and buns you can handle, crafted by a Chinatown favourite with over a decade of culinary excellence. Savour Taiwanese pork buns, savoury pork and prawn soup dumplings, and luxurious crab meat xiao long bao. To top it off, enjoy a chilled glass of prosecco to elevate your feast. Cheers to a truly delightful dining experience at Leong’s Legend!

Peter Doig is one of the greatest living painters, an artist whose approach to hazy, memory-drenched figuration has had an enormous impact on the visual landscape of today. For his show at the Serpentine, he’s going well beyond the canvas, filling the gallery with speaker systems to explore the impact of music on his work. Does DJ-set-meets-art-exhibition sound like your idea of hell? Mine too, but it’s Doig, so it just might work. Maybe.

Charge the steins! You don’t have to travel all the way to Germany for a lederhosen-clad knees-up this Oktoberfest – and you don't even have to wait until October. Munich’s world-famous beer festival is very much on in London with big steins of beer, platters of excessively long wurst and loud oompah bands blowing brass like they don’t give a schnitzel. You’re sure to get a warm willkommen at one of these London Oktoberfest events. 

This huge show at Tate Britain is the most extensive retrospective of Lee Miller’s photography in the UK, celebrating the trailblazing surrealist as one of the 20th century’s most urgent artistic voices. Around 250 vintage and modern prints will be on display – including some previously unseen gems – capturing the photographer’s vision and spirit.

London Month Of The Dead’s annual programme returns this spooky season to get you in the mood for Halloween with a programme of more than 60 fascinatingly macabre events investigating our city’s relationship with death. The line-up offers a plethora of ghostly tours that will take you around crypts, cemeteries, undertakers, execution sites and other eerie locations across the city, alongside talks exploring everything from the study of human decomposition and the psychology of fear to the theme of murder in art. There’s also an immersive workshop where you can try your hand at some forensic anthropology and a screening of the original Nosferatu with live musical accompaniment. 

From Vivienne Westwood’s mud-inspired collection, to Acne Studio’s stained jeans, the autumn exhibition at the Barbican traces fashion’s obsession with all things dirty, grimy and messy. That’s right. Through the collections of more than 60 designers from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion will take a look at everything from models wrestling in mud at New York fashion week, to Hussein Chalayan’s dresses buried underground, and the newish trend, hailing from Copenhagen, ‘bogcore’. Containing pieces from Paco Rabane, Dilara Findikoglu, Maison Margiela, Issey Miyake and Alexander McQueen, Dirt’s lineup promises to give a comprehensive look at the grubbier side of clothing design, with enough to impress any fashion lover. 

Kerry James Marshall is an artist with a singular vision. He has become arguably the most important living American painter over the past few decades, with an ultra-distinctive body of work that celebrates the Black figure in an otherwise very ‘Western’ painting tradition. This big, ambitious show will be a joyful celebration of his lush, colourful approach to painting.