Going out: Cinema
Wuthering Heights
Out now
Out on the wily, windy moors, writer-director Emerald Fennell has constructed a new interpretation of the Emily Brontë classic. Margot Robbie is Cathy while Jacob Elordi takes on Heathcliff, and as you might expect from the film-maker behind Saltburn, the passionate pair are set to leave no height unwuthered.
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley
Out now
Very few musicians have the impact that Jeff Buckley had during such a short space of time. This documentary from Amy Berg explores the success of his only album, Grace, and his death at a young age by accidental drowning, through previously unseen archive materials and the perspectives of the people in his life.
Whistle
Out now
Whistling is easy – as Lauren Bacall advised Humphrey Bogart: just put your lips together and blow … or maybe don’t, if the whistle in question is an ancient Aztec death whistle that has the power to summon dark and deadly forces to your local high school. Teen horror from the director of The Nun.
The President’s Cake
Out now
In 1990s Iraq, it is mandatory to bake a cake to celebrate Saddam Hussain’s birthday. Economic sanctions by the West are ruining the economy and ingredients are scarce, particularly for Lamia, a nine-year old living in poverty with her grandmother. Hasan Hadi’s acclaimed drama was this year’s international Oscar submission from Iraq. Catherine Bray
Going out: GigsStretch goals … Tei Shi. Photograph: Danica Robinson
Tei Shi
London, 18 February; Manchester, 19 February; Dublin, 20 February
Tei Shi’s fourth album, Make Believe I Make Believe, continues her ability to soften electropop’s edges, anchored by her captivating, featherlight vocal. Like her regular collaborator, Blood Orange, Shi conjures up beautiful atmospherics on record and on stage. Michael Cragg
Wavves
14 to 20 February; tour starts Dublin
Formed in 2008, these California lo-fi pop-rockers were briefly lumped in with the unfortunately monikered “shitgaze” scene. Nine albums later and their hook-laden powerpop is still as potent as ever, as showcased on last year’s Spun. Michael Cragg
Matana Roberts
Cafe Oto, London, 20 to 22 February
The fiery alto saxophonist Matana Roberts – a childhood convert to the impassioned sound of short-lived 60s jazz revolutionary Albert Ayler – opens a three-night season at Cafe Oto, in the compatible company of the UK bass/drums pairing of Neil Charles and Mark Sanders. John Fordham
London Handel festival
Smith Square Hall, London, 18 February to 28 March
The London Handel festival has been a major force in baroque music since the late 1970s. The 2026 edition launches with Handel’s oratorio Saul, performed by LHF principal ensemble in residence Arcangelo. Jonathan Cohen conducts a stellar cast. Flora Wilson
Going out: ArtTurning over a new leaf … Yinka Shonibare’s African Flower Magic I. Photograph: Sam Roberts Photography/Yinka Shonibare
Yinka Shonibare CBE RA
The Arc, Winchester, 14 February to 13 June
History leaves its traces as colour and pattern in Shonibare’s expansive, thought-provoking vision. Since the 1990s – when he told the story of a Victorian dandy in a brilliantly ironic pictorial narrative, through sculptures from a ship in a bottle to reclaimed imperial statues – he has been one of our wittiest artists.
Sean Scully
Lisson Gallery, London, 18 February to 9 May
The outstanding abstract painter reveals his deep relationship with landscape, specifically the landscapes of Ireland. In his 81st year, Scully is keen to show the web of reality behind his paintings of intensely coloured rectangles. Here, his monochrome photographs of the drystone walls of Aran uncover one source.
Lynda Benglis/Giacometti
Barbican, Level 2, London, to 31 May
In the 1960s, revolutionary American sculptor Benglis metaphorically melted the cool, straight lines of the fashionable (male) minimalists of the day by replacing their neatness with a sloppy mess. Her early works look like huge melted ice-creams dripping over the gallery floor. Here she encounters another surrealist in Giacometti.
Origin Stories
The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, to 8 March
One of the success stories of modern art teaching was Glasgow School of Art in the 1980s and 90s, which produced a generation of exciting, hugely individual artists. How does that kind of magic happen? Here the Royal Scottish Academy, on its 200th birthday, explores art schools in Scotland since 1826. Jonathan Jones
Going out: StageDoomer merchant … Sam Nicoresti. Photograph: Katherine Rose/The Guardian
Sam Nicoresti
Reading, 18 February; tour continues to 20 March
Nicoresti’s Edinburgh award-winning show Baby Doomer married cutting-edge material with mainstream appeal, buoying riffs on neurodivergence, trauma and the trans experience with farce, cringe comedy and uproarious jokes. Catch it on a victory lap now. Rachel Aroesti
Road
Royal Exchange theatre, Manchester, to 14 March
The Royal Exchange celebrates the 40th anniversary of Jim Cartwright’s famous play, set on a working-class road in Lancashire. A rich, rowdy ensemble cast includes Lucy Beaumont, Shobna Gulati, Johnny Vegas and Lesley Joseph. Miriam Gillinson
Miles.
Southwark Playhouse, London, to 7 March
This intimate two-hander blends live jazz and fluid performances, delving into the creation of Miles Davis’s album Kind of Blue. It’s a smoke-laced fever dream, starring trumpeter Jay Phelps and actor Benjamin Akintuyosi. MG
Ballet Icons Gala
London Coliseum, Sunday
It’s the 20th anniversary of the Ballet Icons Gala, a starry night of virtuoso showpieces performed by dancers from around the world. The lineup includes principals from Paris Opera Ballet, La Scala and American Ballet Theatre. Lyndsey Winship
Staying in: StreamingLove to death … Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia in 56 Days. Photograph: Philippe Bossé/Prime
56 Days
Prime Video, 18 February
After The Girlfriend, could this erotic thriller be another word-of-mouth success for Amazon? Based on the novel by Catherine Ryan Howard, one timeline chronicles the early days of an intense romance; the other tracks the subsequent police investigation into an unidentifiable corpse. Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia star.
Being Gordon Ramsay
Netflix, 18 February
We’ve already had documentaries on Robbie Williams and both Beckhams, now another Brit celebrity is getting the Netflix hagiography treatment. This six-part series will follow the progress of one of the chef’s biggest projects to date – five “culinary experiences” in a London skyscraper.
The Darkest Web
BBC Four/iPlayer, 17 February, 10pm
The BBC’s Storyville strand returns with a documentary (and podcast series) about the attempts to eradicate the horrific child abuse hidden in the murkiest corners of the internet – an effort that requires international collaboration and almost superhuman resilience from the officers involved.
Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model
Netflix, 16 February
The 2000s were a wild west when it came to reality TV and this documentary takes just one of the era’s many outrageous shows to task. Cast and crew members of Tyra Banks’s colossally successful talent show recall the cultural appropriation and physical abuse that underpinned it. RA
Staying in: GamesWhat a racket … Mario Tennis Fever. Photograph: Nintendo
Mario Tennis Fever
Nintendo Switch 2; out now
Two very different vibes for this week’s games suggestions: this colourful, approachable, family-friendly sports game that augments the noble pursuit of tennis with transforming courts, mushroom power-ups and giant Mario bosses …
Reanimal
Xbox, PS5, PC, Switch 2; out now
… and a deeply unsettling cooperative horror game for the last of the dark nights, from the creators of the excellent Little Nightmares series. Two orphaned siblings seek out their friends in a nightmare world where awful things are chasing them. Keza MacDonald
Staying in: AlbumsAnd a little bit moors … Charli xcx. Photograph: Paul Kooiker
Charli xcx – Wuthering Heights
Out now
Now heavily ensconced in the film world as an actor, Charli xcx returns to music with the soundtrack to the newly released Brontë adaptation. The first single, the John Cale-assisted industrial dirge House, is as far removed from Brat as you can imagine.
Jill Scott – To Whom This May Concern
Out now
It’s been more than 10 years since Philly R&B-soul legend Jill Scott’s last album, 2015’s US chart-topper Woman. Scott is keen to go at her own pace, and songs such as the airy Beautiful People and Pressha’s steadily unfurling groove are all the better for it.
Danny L Harle – Cerulean
Out now
Dua Lipa, PinkPantheress and Caroline Polachek are among the guest vocalists on producer Danny L Harle’s follow-up to 2021’s happy hardcore experiment Harlecore. The focus on the more melodic Cerulean is a head-spinning fusion between hedonistic rave culture and Elizabethan composers such as Thomas Tallis.
Belvedere Kane – Such Trying Times
Out now
In the mid-90s, Irish songwriter and producer Barry Stone (Steps, the Saturdays) briefly became a pop star, but after debut single Never Felt As Good flopped, his album as Belvedere Kane was shelved. Thirty years later it’s now been resurrected in all its high-octane synthpop glory. MC
Staying in: Brain food
Safe to Drink
Podcast
New Hampshire Public Radio’s excellent series on the American state’s recent water supply contamination by a forever chemical is a timely and bleak examination of the ways that regulations and corporations can often fail citizens.
BBC Get Singing
Online
Singer Jacob Collier fronts a comprehensive and engaging BBC Bitesize series aiming to get 11- to 14-year-olds singing together. Score breakdowns, performance videos and song explanations are all available to make finding your voice easy.
Give Me My Child Back
BBC World Service, 19 February, 9.32am
Sofia Bettiza’s moving documentary follows the plight of Greenlandic parents in Denmark who were subjected to controversial “parenting competency tests” that saw their children removed into care. We hear their stories as they try to regain custody. Ammar Kalia