Christmas is a fertile time for culture in the capital whether you want to celebrate or escape the festivities, with offerings ranging from classic ballets and operas to fresh-as-paint pantos and ground-breaking exhibitions, plus a roster of new movies and TV shows and specials. Here’s our edit of what’s hot for when the weather gets cold.
Film
Wicked: Part 1
Stephen Schwartz’s Wizard of Oz-inspired stage musical has been split into two for the screen by director Jon M. Chu and given a marketing push that makes most military campaigns look tame. Go dressed in green like Cynthia Erivo’s shunned Elphaba, or pink like Ariana Grande’s smug Glinda, and prepare to belt out Defying Gravity. In cinemas from Friday.
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Puns, putty-faced claymation and visual gags aplenty attend the hotly anticipated return of Feathers McGraw, the evil penguin antagonist of inventor and cheese fiend Wallace and his faithful hound Gromit, in Nick Park’s sixth film starring the duo. Here, Wallace creates a “smart gnome” that develops a twisted mind of its own. Released in cinemas on December 18, then going to Netflix and the BBC
Mufasa: The Lion King
Thirty years after the release of Disney’s original leonine take on Hamlet comes this prequel to the 2019 photorealist remake. Rifiki the Mandrill tells Simba and Nala’s cub Kiara the origin story of her grandad, Mufasa. Barry Jenkins directs, while Donald Glover and Brixton’s own Aaron Pierre is among the, ahem, mane attractions in the voice cast. Released December 20
Kraven the Hunter
Bored with family fare and ready for some R-rated Yuletide violence? Spider-Man’s sometime comic-book foe Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is here given a standalone movie for grown-ups as part of Sony’s Marvel universe, and reinvented as a “protector of the natural world” locked in an abusive relationship with his father (Russel Crowe). Released December 13
Television
Black Doves
Elizabeth Bennett and Paddington – well, Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw – deck the walls with blood spatter as a ruthless spy and her bodyguard/assassin in this gunplay-heavy, six-part Netflix thriller set in Yuletide London. Sarah Lancashire co-stars as Knightley’s handler, while Joe Barton (Giri/Haji, The Lazarus Project) is on scripting duties. Netflix, from December 5
Squid Game 2
Contestants once again compete for their lives in the second series of the smash-hit Korean drama, which sees season one’s victor Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) trying to track down the puppet master behind the lethal game. Wi Ha-jun also returns as detective Hwang Jun-ho. Netflix, from December 26
Doctor Who Christmas Special
Worlds collide when Nicola ‘Bridgerton’ Coghlan joins the Doctor Who Christmas Special as Joy, “a determined woman whose life is changed for ever when she meets the Doctor”, in an adventure that flits between contemporary London, wartime Manchester, the 1953 Everest Expedition and the Orient Express in 1962. It’s a busy festive season for Time Lord Ncuti Gatwa, who’s also on stage at the National in The Importance of Being Ernest. BBC One, December 25
Gavin and Stacy: the Finale
What’s occurin’? The first episode since the 2019 special of the popular Wales/Essex sitcom is also the last. Will it be wedding bells for Nessa (Ruth Jones) who ended the last show by proposing to Smithy (James Corden)? Joanna Page, Matthew Horne, Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb also return for the last hurrah. BBC1 and iPlayer, Christmas Day.
Theatre
Ballet Shoes
This year Noel Streatfield’s beloved classic is the National’s family alternative to panto. Yanexi Enriquez, Grace Saif and Daisy Sequerra are adopted sisters Petrova, Pauline and Posy, learning self-determination in a house full of dinosaur bones and improbable lodgers. The highly inventive Katy Rudd directs. National Theatre, from November 26 to February 22, nationaltheatre.org.uk
The Devil Wears Prada
Fashion maven Miranda Priestley stalks the corridors of Runway magazine once again in this musical adaptation – with a score by Elton John, no less – of the 2006 film about a young woman’s journey through fashion journalism. Vanessa Williams takes on the role played by Meryl Streep on screen. Just don’t move at a glacial pace, dahling. Previewing now, opens December 6, Dominion Theatre, devilwearspradamusical.com
The Tempest
John Gielgud famously declared Shakespeare would never be played at Drury Lane which would be “lost to musicals” after he finished playing Prospero there. Well, he reckoned without Evening Standard award-winning director Jamie Lloyd who has persuaded the mighty Sigourney Weaver to play that very role. Mason Alexander Park co-stars as Ariel. Previewing from December 7, opening December 19, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, lwtheatres/co.uk
Cat On a Hot Tin Roof
Fighting families, noisy kids, excessive drinking… Tennessee Williams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama is *definitely* a Christmas story, isn’t it? Daisy Edgar-Jones and Kingsley Ben-Adir star under the direction of Rebecca Frecknall, rounding out a trilogy of Williams plays after her devastating stagings of Summer and Smoke and Streetcar Named Desire. December 10 to February 1, Almeida Theatre, almeida.co.uk
Pantomimes
Robin Hood
Expect plenty of bent bows and bullseye double-entendres as Palladium panto regular Julian Clary steps into green tights for this year’s offering. Jane McDonald stars as Maid Marian alongside other returnees including Nigel Havers, Paul Zerdin, Charlie Stemp and Rob Madge. December 7 to January 12, London Palladium, lwtheatres.co.uk
Dick Whittington
Is Clive Rowe back at Hackney Empire, directing AND playing Sarah the Cook in this quintessential London panto. Oh yes he is! This East London venue is one of the stalwarts of the festive season. November 23 to January 5, Hackney Empire, hackneyempire.co.uk
Pinocchio
Stratford’s family panto always has a special east London twist, and this year Trish Cooke and composer Robert Hyman have adapted the fable of the puppet who wants to become a real boy. Michael Bertenshaw plays the Blue Rinse Fairy, November 23 to January 4, Theatre Royal Stratford East, stratfordeast.co.uk
Aladdin
The dynamic duo from 2022’s Jack and the Beanstalk, writer Sonia Jalaly and director Nicholai La Barrie, join forces again for a story of thieves, riches and flying carpets. The brilliantly funny Emmanuel Akwafo plays Widow Twerkey (yes, you read that right). Until January 5, Lyric Hammersmith, lyric.co.uk
Dance
Cinderella
The Royal Ballet’s founding choreographer Frederick Ashton’s evergreen version of the rags-to-riches fairytale is a staple of the capital’s Christmas season and was described as “lavishly redesigned” by Standard critic David Jays when it returned to Covent Garden last year after a 12-year absence. December 3 to January 16 (in rep with Hansel and Gretel and La Boheme, see above), Royal Ballet and Opera, rbo.org.uk
Swan Lake: The Next Generation
Sounds like a mashup of Star Trek and Tchaikovsky, doesn’t it? But this is the latest iteration of Matthew Bourne’s revisionist take that replaced the female corps-de-ballet with burly male swans, now almost 30 years old and still going strong. December 3 to January 26, Sadler's Wells, sadlerswells.com
Nutcracker
A new version for 2024 of Tchaikovsky’s charming ballet set in Edwardian London and featuring dancing sugarplums and capering rats, choreographed by English National Ballet’s artistic director Aaron S Watkin with Arielle Smith. Katja Khaniukova dances the role of Clara. December 12 to January 12, Coliseum, ballet.org.uk
Exhibitions
Monet and London
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Beg, borrow or steal for a ticket – or easier, become a Courtauld member – to this exquisite exhibition of dreamy Impressionist views of the Thames that Monet painted between 1899 and 1901, originally exhibited in Paris in 1904 but never seen together in London before. General admission has sold out but check the website for updates. Courtauld Gallery, to January 19, courtauld.ac.uk
Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious
The subtitle acknowledges that fine artist and printmaker Garwood was long in the shadow of her painter husband Eric Ravilious – a state of affairs this collection of 80 of her bold, enchanting works seeks to put right. Eleven of Ravilious’s works are also included for comparison and contrast. Dulwich Picture Gallery, to May 16, dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk
Versailles, Science and Splendour
Let’s not eat (more) cake – let’s instead discover the spirit of scientific inquiry that underpinned the opulence of the Palace of Versailles during the 17th and 18th centuries. Exhibits include a detailed map of the moon, Louis XV’s stuffed rhinoceros from 1953, and materials relating to Madame de Coudray, who trained thousands of midwives in rural France. Science Museum, December 12 to April 21, sciencemuseum.org.uk
Opera, Concerts and Carols
Hansel and Gretel/La Boheme
A choice of festive operatic fare at the Royal Opera House: Puccini’s romance, directed by Richard Jones, begins on Christmas Eve with a poet and a seamstress falling in love, and ends… well, let’s not spoil the mood; or there’s Engelbert Humperdinck’s version of the Grimm fairytale, directed and designed by Antony McDonald. In repertory with Cinderella (see below) Royal Ballet and Opera, December 22 to January 9, rbo.org.uk
Christmas at the Royal Albert Hall
There’s a concert to suit most middlebrow tastes – no drill or emo, mind you – at the big Kensington jelly mould this year, including outings for Jamie Cullum and his piano (December 6), Katherine Jenkins (December 11), Trevor Nelson’s soul set (December 16) and national treasure Rick Astley’s swinging Christmas (December 17). Plus big bands, gospel evenings, a Nutcracker and a screening of Home Alone accompanied by the RPCO. Royal Albert Hall, December 3 to 31, royalalberthall.co.uk
St Paul’s Cathedral, St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Paul’s is hosting Advent carol services from Novembe 30, Handel’s Messiah on December 4, plus Britten’s works for choristers and harp and Messiaen’s La Nativite du Seigneur, as well as sundry charity concerts throughout December (stpauls.co.uk). St Martin-in-the-Fields has a huge range of carol services from December 3 including some by candlelight, a choice of two Messiahs (that’s not meant to sound heretical, though it probably does) and Bach concerts (smitfc.org).
