From The Sheep Detectives to Rivals: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson star in a farmyard mystery, while the spirited bonkbuster returns for a smutty second outingThe Sheep DetectivesOut now Few can claim a writing career as varied as Craig Mazin, creator of TV’s Chernobyl, co-writer of several Scary Movie and The Hangover films, and co-creator of The Last of Us.Here, he turns his hand to a comedy-mystery about sheep, starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson.Adapted from a novel by Leonie Swann.KokuhoOut now Two-time Japan Academy film prize best director winner Lee Sang-il directs this prestige adaptation of Shuichi Yoshida’s novel.It holds the record for the highest-grossing Japanese live-action release ever in Japan – an impressive feat for a nearly three-hour-long period drama set across five decades in the kabuki theatre world.
Mortal Kombat IIOut now Fatality! For a generation of gamers, the words Mortal Kombat will always have a nostalgic quality, taking us back to a time of parent-baiting video game violence.This sequel picks up where the 2021 reboot left off, with Karl Urban joining the returning cast members Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson and Ludi Lin in Earthrealm.RomeríaOut now Director Carla Simón returns with the tale of Marina (Llúcia Garcia), an 18-year-old orphaned as a child, who must track down her extended family to help fill in university funding forms, leading to encounters with an array of estranged aunts, uncles and cousins.Catherine BrayRüfüs Du SolLondon, 13 May; Dublin, 15 May Despite rarely troubling the UK charts, the Australian dance trio have become a streaming goliath, with 2016’s Innerbloom closing in on half a billion streams on Spotify alone.Hence these two massive arena shows, part of the tour for Grammy-nominated fifth album Inhale/Exhale.
Michael CraggWesley JosephManchester, 12 May; London, 13 May; Birmingham, 14 May Walsall-raised genre polymath Wesley Joseph’s debut album, Forever Ends Someday, channels soul, sparse electronica and creeping trip-hop, all anchored by his widescreen lyricism.Its highlights will be showcased at these three shows.MCThe Choral Pilgrimage 2026Old Royal Naval College, London, 12 May; touring to 17 October Harry Christophers and his choir the Sixteen’s annual tour has become a highlight of the choral year.The programme this time combines music by two Spanish Renaissance composers with modern works by Kerensa Briggs and James MacMillan.Flora WillsonAndy SheppardStoller Hall, Manchester, 15 May The first night of the Manchester jazz festival (15 to 24 May) includes UK sax legend Andy Sheppard, a personification of the event’s creative view of jazz traditions.
Sheppard brings longtime associates in pianist Rita Marcotulli and bassist Michel Benita.John FordhamHenry MooreKew Gardens, London, 9 May to 31 January 2027Kew and Henry Moore: a marriage so perfect the only surprise is that it’s taken this long for anyone to make it happen.And they’ve gone all out, with 30 of Moore’s monumental sculptures dotted around the place in the largest ever presentation of outdoor works by the English modernist.Parham GhalamdarBlenheim Walk Gallery, Leeds, 13 May to 1 AugustBroken ceramic airframes, melted glass, aluminium sheets: Parham Ghalamdar’s show at Blenheim Walk is full of ruins and wreckage.The Iranian’s work is meant to be an exploration of folklore, theology, violence and cosmology, a post-apocalyptic exploration of life after war.
Photo LondonKensington Olympia, London, 14 to 16 MayThe UK’s leading photography fair returns for its 11th year, this time making its debut at Olympia after a decade at Somerset House.This year’s edition will feature the usual major international photography galleries, but it’s the Discovery section – with its focus on young galleries and artists operating outside the mainstream – where you’ll find the most interesting stuff.Zineb SediraTate Britain, London, 13 May to 17 January 2027The Tate Britain commission is an intimidating prospect.Past artists have filled the gallery’s neoclassical central hall with a war plane, piles of trash, people dressed like squashes and even a whole semi-detached house.Franco-Algerian artist Zineb Sedira is next to take up the challenge, with a new multi-sensory installation exploring ideas of diaspora, identity and the history of cinema.
Eddy FrankelSharon WanjohiSoho theatre, London, 13 to 16 MayChannelling both Trisha Goddard and Instagram wellness influencers, the east London comedian’s self-help satire In the House proffers fittingly ridiculous advice for young people in a world where self-optimisation reigns and capitalism’s promises are crumbling fast.Rachel AroestiBreakin’ ConventionCanterbury, 9 May; Newcastle upon Tyne, 12 May; Nottingham, 15 & 16 May; touring to 6 June The long-running London hip-hop dance festival heads out on a national tour.Local acts join the lineup at each venue, alongside the Olivier award-winning Traplord by Ivan Michael Blackstock, and female dance collective Femme Fatale.Lyndsey WinshipCareYoung Vic, London, 11 May to 11 July Alexander Zeldin’s plays are always exquisitely observed and deeply compassionate affairs.This UK premiere is about the ripple effect of a grandmother’s fall, her relocation to a care home – and the surprising riches she discovers there.
Miriam GillinsonThe PsychicYork Theatre Royal, to 23 May Following the success of Ghost Stories, Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman are back with another supernatural spookfest.It’s about a TV psychic who is branded a charlatan and then caught up in a disturbing seance.MGRivalsDisney+, 15 MayWe may have lost Jilly Cooper since the first series, but this adaptation of her 80s bonkbuster is keeping the author’s smutty spirit alive.The second outing sees Lord Baddingham, miraculously recovered from his head injury, declare war on Rupert Campbell-Black’s new TV venture amid an ever-present web of sexual intrigue.Off CampusPrime Video, 13 May Hot on the heels of Heated Rivalry comes another TV version of a bestselling ice hockey-themed romance novel series.
This heterosexual addition to the fledgling canon stars Ella Bright as Hannah, a music student who becomes entangled with the university’s resident sports star, Garrett (Belmont Cameli),Children of the BlitzBBC Two & iPlayer, 11 May, 9pm Considering the blitz spirit is something we’re still routinely asked to channel, it’s worth hearing from those who literally embodied it while we still can,This documentary reconstructs the experiences of the youngsters who remained in cities during the second world war,Smoggie QueensBBC Three & iPlayer, 15 May, 10pm By turns acidly irreverent and sweetly sentimental, Phil Dunning’s sitcom about a group of Middlesbrough drag enthusiasts returns for a second outing,Dunning’s moustachioed Dickie is on a desperate search for a boyfriend while Mam (Mark Benton) reckons with the past.
RAOutboundPS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC; out 14 MayOne of the most wishlisted games of the year on the PC site Steam, Outbound gives you a highly customisable camper van then invites you to explore a beautiful wilderness, while harvesting your own food – and electricity – from natural sources,The gaming equivalent of an eco holiday,Hotel ArchitectPC; out 14 May Design your own hotel and then manage your staff, budgets and sanity in this gleefully chaotic management sim,The bright visuals have a cartoonish charm, but don’t expect an easy ride from your unpredictable and fussy guests,Keith StuartLykke Li – The AfterpartyOut now The Swedish Goddess of Gloom returns with her sixth album of tear-stained indie pop.
While there’s a glint of sunshine on the excellent disco noir of lead single Lucky Again, tracks such as Knife in the Heart and the corrosive epic Sick of Love arrive dressed in all black.Muna – Dancing on the WallOut now Following the success of 2022’s self-titled third album, their first on Phoebe Bridgers’s label, LA-based trio Muna return with more emotionally charged queer anthems.Their recent emergence as a proper pop band continues on the sleek lasciviousness of recent single, and future live favourite, Wannabeher.Aldous Harding – Train on the IslandOut now Across four albums, New Zealander Harding has traversed genres and moods with a deftness that feels supernatural.On her latest, she continues to beguile, specifically on One Stop, which manages to fuse 90s indie rock with a surreal lyric about John Cale and a beautiful tempo shift in its final third.
Olof Dreijer – Loud BoomOut now Since they disbanded in 2014, sibling duo the Knife’s haunted electronica has permeate pop culture via Karin Dreijer’s work as Fever Ray.Not that brother Olof has been slack: this solo debut, full of brightly coloured dance workouts, follows his remixes for Björk, Rosalía and Robyn.MCDrowned in SoundPodcastMusic blog turned podcast series Drowned in Sound produces fascinating episodes on the ways music shapes our society.Highlights include an investigation into the AI platforms using music without permission, and the crisis in live music.The Greatest Documentary You’ve Never Heard OfYouTube YouTuber Ken D’s deep dive into Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks, the nine-hour documentary from film-maker Wang Bing, is an engrossing primer on the director’s ongoing documentation and endurance-style filming of the economy and society of China.
RinsedRadio 4 & BBC Sounds, 11 May, 1.45pm Kate Lamble’s 10-part series examines the crisis of water companies dumping raw sewage into our waterways, aiming to find out exactly who should pay for the immense damage done, and how to properly regulate the industry.Ammar Kalia
‘We have the same monster’: three women brought down their rapist – this is what happened next
In 2023, the Guardian profiled a group of women who had formed an unshakeable bond after they saw their attacker convicted and decided to waive their anonymity. That interview has now led to a documentaryThe three women refer to each other as “the girls”, even though they are in their 40s and 50s, long past girlhood. They have a WhatsApp group called Sister Solidarity, even though they are biologically unrelated.The unshakeable bond between Laura Hughes and Lauren Preston, both 45, and Mary Sharp, 58, came about for the saddest reason – all three were raped and abused by Martin Butler, a manipulative drug dealer on their estate in London who groomed and coerced them decades ago.Butler is now serving a lengthy sentence for the rape and buggery of Sharp in 1988
Did breakthrough in US fentanyl crisis start in China?
As Donald Trump travels to Beijing this week, fentanyl – and China’s role in its supply chain – remains an enduring point of acrimony in bilateral relations.At a UN meeting in March, the US again accused China of failing to stop its chemical industry selling the precursors required to make the potent synthetic opioid, while China suggested the US was shifting the blame for its domestic drug problem.Yet there are growing signs that the US fentanyl crisis has turned a corner – and some experts believe that interventions made in China have played a key role.“There was a supply shock: the purity of fentanyl fell,” said Keith Humphreys, a professor at Stanford University. “The question is why was there a supply shock
Getting children to eat their vegetables starts in the womb, researchers suggest
Rather than bribery, or hiding carrots under ketchup, the key may be to expose foetuses to healthy flavoursIt is an age-old battle with small children that most parents will recognise: please, please, eat your vegetables.Some will read them books with titles such as The Boy Who Loved Broccoli. Others have been known to smother veg in tomato ketchup, or mix avocado and fruit with Greek yoghurt and call it icecream. Or resort to plain bribery.Now, a study suggests there may be a more effective approach – but mothers need to start early
Older people risk mental decline if they do long hours of caring, UK study shows
The stresses and strains of caring for someone for 50 hours or more a week leads to “accelerated cognitive decline” in middle-aged and older people, research shows.However, providing care for only five to nine hours a week has the opposite effect, boosting brain health so much that the benefits last until older age.Carers UK called the findings “extremely worrying” and said they highlight how long hours spent providing care raises the risk of social isolation and burnout.Dr Baowen Xue, an academic at University College London and the lead author of the paper, said: “Our study shows that the caring responsibilities many people take on in later life can be a double-edged sword.“On the one hand, lighter caring responsibilities can be good for you by providing mental stimulation from interacting with loved ones or others you’re helping and a sense of purpose and usefulness
Capacity of lifts not kept up with UK obesity levels, study shows
Lifts are no longer big enough to fit the UK’s larger citizens, according to researchers.A study of maximum capacity in elevators in the UK and mainland Europe found lifts have not kept up with increasing obesity levels, raising concerns about safety and equity.The research, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, Turkey, used photos of weight limits for 112 lifts manufactured between 1972 and 2024 in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Finland.Prof Nick Finer, the president and chair of the International Prader-Willi Syndrome Organisation and lead author of the study, compared the average maximum weight allowance (total weight allowance divided by maximum passenger limits) with the average adult weight in the year the lift was manufactured.The research found that despite adults’ continued growing weight, total lift limits have not increased since about 2004
More than 6,000 children treated at obesity clinics in England, figures show
More than 6,000 children living with obesity, including hundreds as young as four, have required treatment at specialist NHS weight-loss clinics, new figures reveal.NHS England data, published for the first time, underlines the scale of the growing childhood obesity crisis.Since the first Complications from Excess Weight clinic (CEW) opened in 2021, the NHS has treated 6,497 children and teenagers. Of these, 423 were four years old, 1,088 were aged between five and eight, 1,791 were aged nine to 12 and 3,137 were aged between 13 and 17. The age of a further 58 is unknown
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