Going out: Cinema

Disclosure Day
Out now
A new Steven Spielberg movie is always an event, whether he’s in blockbusting Jurassic Park mode or gunning for Oscars. This new effort starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth and Colman Domingo sees the film-maker wrangling with a fave topic – UFOs – for an epic sci-fi drama involving whistleblowing, conspiracy theories and shady corporations.

The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford
Out now
Peter Mullan stars in an offbeat Scottish comedy drama about a local historian who likes to dress the part to deliver lectures to tourists about his obscure ancestor Sir Douglas Weatherford, until a Game of Thrones-type TV show rocks up to film a new series.

Going out: Gigs

Kamasi Washington, Mulatu Astatke
Royal Festival Hall, London, 14 June, 17 June
The Harry Styles-curated Meltdown festival’s 40-plus gigs include the unique jazz visions of formidable LA saxophonist-composer Kamasi Washington and Ethiopian great Mulatu Astatke. Washington plays John Coltrane and Miles Davis, and his new album Fearless Movement (14 June), while Astatke celebrates six proud decades as the “father of Ethio-jazz” (17 June). John Fordham

TRNSMT
Glasgow Green, 19 to 21 June
With headliners Richard Ashcroft, Kasabian and Lewis Capaldi, there are several exciting acts to be found elsewhere at this year’s Scottish blowout. Rose Gray brings some dance-pop energy, while CMAT, Jacob Alon and the Last Dinner Party add some off-kilter sparkle. Michael Cragg

SANSARA Chronicle
Snape Maltings, Suffolk, 19 June
Aldeburgh festival puts new music and emerging artists centre stage. This multimedia choral-theatre piece should be a highlight of the 2026 edition: a collaboration between rapidly ascendant composers Alex Ho and Rockey Sun Keting, and author Yilin Wang, it will be performed by the award-winning SANSARA choir. Flora Willson

Kaytranada
The O2, London, 18 June; touring to 23 June
Released with minimal warning last summer, Haitian-Canadian DJ and producer Kaytranada’s fourth album, Ain’t No Damn Way!, was created specifically for workouts and dancing. So make sure you’re wearing comfortable shoes and have warmed-up nicely for this short arena tour. MC

Going out: Art

Moore/Freud
Hastings Contemporary, 13 June to 13 September
This show brings together two of the 20th century’s most important artistic figures, sculptor Henry Moore and painter Lucian Freud, for an in-depth exploration of how they both used ideas of family bonds and intimate relationships as artistic fuel.

Anish Kapoor
Hayward Gallery, London, 16 June to 18 October
One of the biggest names in British art returns to London for this major show of absolutely enormous mirrored sculptures, vertigo-inducing voids seemingly cut into the floor, and objects covered in Vantablack, “the blackest known substance in the world”. Big, bombastic, ambitious, it’s Anish Kapoor: you know what you’re getting, and you know it’s going to be fun.

Summer Exhibition
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 16 June to 23 August
Every year, thousands of hopeful amateurs send their work to the RA in the hope of being included in the world’s oldest open-submission exhibition. If you’ve ever wanted to see Barry from next door’s wonky self-portraits next to a massive Tracey Emin sculpture, this is your chance.

Hold to This Earth
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 13 June to 18 April
Sixty works by more than 30 Indigenous artists feature in what’s possibly the biggest ever celebration of Indigenous North American art in Europe. Sculptures by the likes of Rose B Simpson and Jeffrey Gibson deal with the legacy of colonialism and the enduring spirit of Indigenous communities. Eddy Frankel

Going out: Stage

Richard Ayoade
New Theatre Oxford, 19 June; touring to 15 July
With a surprisingly diverse CV and wilfully strange sense of humour, the writer, director, comedian, presenter and actor certainly qualifies as one of our most idiosyncratic national treasures. Now he’s touring to dispense with wisdom from Afterthoughts, his recent tongue-in-cheek collection of aphorisms and observations. Rachel Aroesti

Birmingham Royal Ballet: 20th-Century Masterpieces
Birmingham Hippodrome, 19 & 20 June
This triple bill includes a rare revival of a landmark dance piece from 1932, The Green Table by pioneering German choreographer Kurt Jooss. It’s an anti-war ballet, where diplomats gather around the titular table to decide the fates of their citizens, also known as a “dance of death in eight scenes”. Lyndsey Winship

A to B
Soho theatre, London, to 3 July
In the smal; upstairs theatre here, you get to see new plays. Next up in a space that’s launched so many stars is a coming-of-age romcom by Tia-Renee Mullings. Made with a Caribbean south London soundtrack and an award-winning director, nothing is going to plan for Amani and Brianna, but as summer comes around, they’re determined to make the best of it. Kate Wyver

The Long Drop
Citizens theatre, Glasgow, to 20 June
The truth is just out of reach in this whisky-soaked true-crime thriller. Linda McLean adapts The Long Drop from the novel by acclaimed crime writer, Denise Mina, which has come full circle as the story initially began life as a play. We’re in Glasgow, 1957, drinking with serial killer Peter Manuel. Packed with gangsters and gossip, this production promises a dark and gripping ride. KW

Staying in: Streaming

I Will Find You
Netflix, 18 June
Harlan Coben’s thrillers may not translate into the most sophisticated TV shows, but they sure have some grabby premises. This adaptation centres on David, a man serving a prison sentence for his young son’s murder – until his former sister-in-law (Severance’s Britt Lower) seemingly discovers the child alive and well.

Free Nelson Mandela
Channel 4, 14 June, 9pm
This three-part documentary relives the long and starry musical campaign to free South African civil rights leader Nelson Mandela – sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 and finally released in 1990. Talking heads include the politician’s daughter, a fellow inmate and prison wardens, plus musicians including Bono, Sade and Jerry Dammers, writer of the titular iconic protest song.

The American Revolution
iPlayer & BBC Four, 16 June, 10pm
The New Yorker called Ken Burns’s documentary about the fight for independence in 1770s America “explosively interesting” – now it’s finally airing in the UK. The 12-hour epic features a raft of historians and an all-star cast (Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Ethan Hawke, Claire Danes) who bring key figures to life.

Sugar
Apple TV, 19 June
Halfway through season one of this noirish (and rather divisive) detective thriller, Colin Farrell’s eponymous PI was revealed to be a blue-skinned alien. Now he returns to crack two more missing persons cases: the disappearance of a boxer’s brother and the whereabouts of his own sister, who is presumably a humanoid extraterrestrial too. RA

Staying in: Games

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales
PS5, Switch 2, PC, Xbox, out 18 June
A Japanese fable starring a young boy travelling through time with a fairy companion. If that sounds rather like old-school Zelda, it’s clearly an inspiration, along with classic Final Fantasy, but the extraordinary visual style alone shows plenty of modern originality.

Denshattack!
PS5, Switch 2, PC, Xbox, out 17 June
Ever played Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and thought: this would be way better if I were playing as a subway train? Yes? Then this playfully outlandish, hyper-pop-soundtracked, graffiti-covered explosion of colour is for you. Keza MacDonald

Staying in: Albums

Olivia Rodrigo – You Seem Pretty Sad For a Girl So in Love
Out now
Split into two parts, the third album by Grammy-winning pop-rocker Rodrigo luxuriates in the heady highs of a new relationship, before shining a light on its aftermath. The giddy lead single Drop Dead represents the former, while The Cure gently picks over emotional insecurities.

Bebe Rexha – Dirty Blonde
Out now
After a tricky few years stuck in major-label limbo, US pop star Bebe Rexha returns with her fourth album, and first as an independent artist. Not much else has changed, however: songs such as Hysteria and the Faithless-sampling New Religion continue Rexha’s penchant for big EDM bangers.

Kelsey Lu – So Help Me God
Out now
Co-produced alongside Yves Rothman (FKA twigs, Amaarae) and Jack Antonoff (literally everyone), multi-instrumentalist Kelsey Lu’s follow-up to 2019’s debut Blood features slow-burn devotionals augmented by delicate ambient textures, best epitomised by the Sampha-assisted Better Than That.

Ruel – Kicking My Feet & Screaming
Out now
As is de rigueur for any pop-adjacent artist in 2026, the third album by Australian Ruel is both new and old. A reissue of last year’s Kicking My Feet, it also features 10 new tracks including the pogoing misery anthem Hate Myself, as well as the Joel Little-produced weepie Don’t Say That. MC

Staying in: Brain food

The Side Dish
Podcast
Food writers Bridget Lancaster and Julia Collin Davison host this troubleshooting series that aims to answer culinary hot topics such as the best way to fire up a barbecue and how to cater a large gathering.

@blowmymind.tv
Instagram
Scientist Sarah Adelman interviews experts and laypeople about their most mind-blowing facts in this engaging, bite-size social media series. Among the insights are tales of how pigeons hold grudges, and analysis of the brightness of black holes.

Constantine the Great
PBS America, 17 June
Archeologists go on the trail of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in this incisive two-part film. We follow the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity’s mission to reshape Europe and spread his faith. Ammar Kalia