Cinema
Top Gun: Maverick
Out now
Tom Cruise. Aviator sunglasses. Death-defying stunts. A score from Harold Faltermeyer. Is it 1986 again? No, but with this new instalment in the Top Gun franchise (above), you’ll think it is: Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is back. New recruits include Manny Jacinto, Jon Hamm and Miles Teller.
Between Two Worlds
Out now
Juliette Binoche stars as journalist Marianne Winckler, who goes undercover to investigate the exploitation of cleaning staff, but begins to worry, as she gets close to her new colleagues, that she herself is part of the problem. The drama is based on French journalist Florence Aubenas’s bestselling book The Night Cleaner.
Bob’s Burgers
Out now
The beloved Belcher family diner is under threat from a sinkhole, which has opened up right in front of their burger joint. But pretty soon it’s the kids to the rescue, in this big-screen outing for the hit animated TV sitcom, with voice work from series regulars Dan Mintz, H Jon Benjamin and Eugene Mirman.
Lancaster
Out now
Spitfires may be the more famous of the second world war aeroplanes, but their well-documented role in the Battle of Britain is just part of the picture when it comes to the RAF’s campaign to defend the country. In this documentary, the heavy‑duty Lancaster bomber gets its moment in the spotlight. Catherine Bray
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Gigs
Conan Gray
2 to 9 June; tour starts Glasgow
Ahead of his second album of glorious synthpop, Superache, 23-year-old Gray stops off in the UK. While recent single Telepath – produced by Max Martin protege Ilya – takes emotional turmoil on to the dancefloor, last month’s ballad Memories should get the phone torches glowing.
Mighty Hoopla
Brockwell Park, London, 3 & 4 June
South London’s poptastic two-day festival returns, with Friday headlined by ludicrous hitmakers Steps. Saturday features Sugababes (Mutya, Keisha, Siobhan era), while across the glitter-strewn two days there’s a smörgåsbord of 90s and 00s greats including Jamelia, Natalie Imbruglia and Eve. Michael Cragg
Donny McCaslin
Ronnie Scott’s, London, 5.30pm & 8.30pm, 28 May
After he played on David Bowie’s Blackstar, the powerful saxophonist adopted a Bowie-influenced vision, splicing alt-rock, post-bop, punk, hip-hop and more. Joined by Jason Lindner (keys), Tim Lefebvre (bass) and Nate Wood (drums), McCaslin takes those visions further. John Fordham
Iannis Xenakis 100: Music & Maths
CBSO Centre, Birmingham, 29 May
Although Xenakis was one of the major figures in European music after 1945, the centenary of his birth has hardly been noticed in the UK. The three programmes here explore the main preoccupations of his work, with graphic and mathematical models, and the possibilities of electro-acoustic music. Andrew Clements
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Art
Picasso Ingres
National Gallery, London, 3 June to 9 October
A head-on confrontation between the greatest artist of the 20th century and Ingres, who painted precise classical portraits. Picasso could draw in the same clear, lucid lines (above) and assimilated Ingres in the years immediately after the first world war when he abandoned cubism. But with Picasso there’s always a twist.
Tracey Emin
Jupiter Artland, near Edinburgh, 28 May to 30 September
Scale is poetry in Tracey Emin’s sculptures, from baby clothes that seem discarded to giant statues created by digitally enlarging her thumb-marked, rapidly handmade maquettes. Here she brings her fiercely expressive Rodin-esque visions of pain and pathos to the pastoral woodland setting of this sculpture park outside Edinburgh.
Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive
Bodleian Library, Oxford, to 5 February
The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 was a great archaeological discovery that also spawned supernatural theories and bandaged horror. The legend of the “curse” led to the Boris Karloff film The Mummy and all its imitators since. Here is the true story in photos and documents.
Henry Moore
Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Bruton, 28 May to 4 Sep
The British sculptor’s fascination with Stonehenge, revealed. Moore was one in a long line of Romantics and moderns who have marvelled at the ancient monument, from Blake and Constable to Jeremy Deller. See how Moore’s study of the great sarsen circle and its trilithons inspired his colossal abstract forms. Jonathan Jones
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Stage
Girl on Altar
Kiln theatre, London, to 25 June
Kiln theatre is on a great run, so hopes are high for this new take on Clytemnestra co-produced with Abbey theatre. It’s penned by Irish playwright Marina Carr, whose work often has an intriguingly eerie undercurrent. Miriam Gillinson
Corrina, Corrina
Liverpool Everyman, to 4 June
The new thriller from Chloë Moss produced by the high-energy Headlong. It’s set on a cargo ship and deals with the superstitions, heightened power dynamics and strange sense of lawlessness out at sea. MG
AIM
Sadler’s Wells, London, 31 May-1 June
Very much the man of the moment after his recent premiere for the Royal Ballet, Kyle Abraham brings his own company AIM to London in Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth, exploring death and reincarnation against a backdrop of Mozart and electronic artist Jlin. Lyndsey Winship
Conner O’Malley
Moth Club, London, 2 June
You may recognise O’Malley from Tim Robinson’s gloriously weird sketch show, I Think You Should Leave, but as the maker of madcap online videos sending up masculinity and internet culture, he’s an esteemed comedic force in his own right. See his wildly offbeat energy unleashed at these rare UK live shows. Rachel Aroesti
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Streaming
The Midwich Cuckoos
3 June, Sky Max & Now
Spooky-child sci-fi isn’t for everyone, but this Keeley Hawes-led version of John Wyndham’s 1957 novel is a compelling, thematically complex take on the genre. After a sleepy commuter town experiences a mysterious event, all the women find themselves pregnant: the resulting children aren’t quite human – and they are certainly no pushovers.
Physical
3 June, Apple TV+
Season two of this quirky period dramedy about an unhappy San Diego housewife (Rose Byrne) who transforms into a Jane Fonda-style aerobics sensation sees Murray Bartlett join the cast as a rival fitness guru; a perfect showcase for The White Lotus star’s manic energy.
Borgen: Power & Glory
2 June, Netflix
Making a climate crisis drama that’s both affecting and entertaining is no mean feat, but this spin-off of the acclaimed Danish political series might just pull it off. When oil is discovered in the Arctic, Birgitte Nyborg, now foreign minister, is faced with a vicious international power struggle.
Two Daughters
29 May, BBC2/iPlayer
The murder of sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman was shocking in itself; the behaviour of certain police officers afterwards made it an extraordinarily horrific event. Two years on, the siblings’ mother Mina Smallman, Britain’s first black female Archdeacon, has enlisted the reliably sensitive Stacey Dooley to help explore this unthinkably traumatic experience. RA
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Games
Silt
Out 1 June, PC, PS4/5, XBox One/Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Not one for those who fear the deep, Silt is a black-and-white game about exploring a creepy, ink-black underwater abyss. Possess sea creatures, and try not to get eaten by them.
Diablo Immortal
Out 2 June, PC & smartphones
Slice up demons, collect loot, do it all again: Diablo has been casting its spell for decades and this smartphone version is worryingly compelling. Keza MacDonald
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Albums
Tate McRae – I Used to Think I Could Fly
Out now
Famous in her native Canada since she was 13, the 18-year-old McRae went global in 2020 with the Billie Eilish-adjacent You Broke Me First. On this debut album she also channels Olivia Rodrigo’s neon-hued emo spirit, dissecting jealousy on the pop-punk singalong She’s All I Wanna Be, and inner turmoil on ballad Chaotic.
Liam Gallagher – C’mon You Know
Out now
Manchester’s favourite son swaggers back into the limelight with this third solo album of slick pub rock. Like its predecessors, C’mon You Know is fashioned by a coterie of pop songwriters, from Greg Kurstin to Tove Lo. As ever, Gallagher’s voice transforms the trite (ie Better Days’ “wasteland of your mind” imagery) into something close to revelatory.
Wilco – Cruel Country
Out now
After years of sidestepping accusations they were a country band, on their 12th album Wilco fully embrace the genre. Consisting of live takes recorded at their Chicago studio, The Loft, it’s an elegantly worn double album featuring lovely recent single, I’m Tired of Taking It Out on You.
Seventeen – Face the Sun
Out now
Boyband Seventeen – confusingly, there are 13 members – seem most likely to join K-pop rivals BTS as international superstars, with their last two EPs both crashing into the US Top 20. This fourth album should help that journey, with sugary synthpop lead single Darl+ing their first English-language release. MC
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Brain food
Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts
2 June, Amazon Prime Video
The final film of Notting Hill director Roger Michell, who died last year, arrives in time for the diamond jubilee. It is broadly uncritical of the monarch, but Michell’s free-form editing paints an enticingly impressionistic portrait of the role and its absurdities through the decades.
Ta-da! It’s Windows
Podcast
From Netflix’s “tudum” to the Mac synth, startup sounds are a strange facet of our digital lives. This Twenty Thousand Hertz two-part special delves into the intriguing history of Windows themes, from Brian Eno to the orchestra.
Life in the 1800s
YouTube
Seeing is believing: this YouTube channel features colourised interviews with people who lived through the latter half of the 19th century, providing illuminating first-hand insights into everything from the wild west to the history of slavery. Ammar Kalia
