Fawlty Towers: The Play
Fifty years ago this month, Torquay’s most famous rat trap opened for business on the BBC. To mark the anniversary of the sitcom’s first broadcast, here’s a chance to watch the 2024 stage farce adapted by John Cleese from three episodes: The Hotel Inspectors, Communication Problems and The Germans. Featuring an introduction by Cleese, it’s on U&GOLD on 19 September and on demand from Sky, Virgin Media and Now.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Its little life in the West End comes to a close on 11 October but the cast recording of Cornish musical The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has been wildly popular, with more than 1m streams to date. Jethro Compton and Darren Clark’s songs are as calming and rousing as the sea itself.
Retrograde
Is there a better modern designer of period dramas than Frankie Bradshaw? In between Blues for An Alabama Sky and Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre, Bradshaw captured 1950s Hollywood for Ryan Calais Cameron’s play about Sidney Poitier at the Kiln in London. It’s on NT at Home from 9 September.
Handel’s Messiah
American renaissance man Robert Wilson, who died aged 83 in July, left an extraordinary body of work ranging across theatre, opera and visual art. His 2020 staging of Handel’s Messiah, as reorchestrated by Mozart, is on Arte.
Hot Mess
Sparky, funny, stuffed with earworms and cleverly developing its canny concept, Jack Godfrey and Ellie Coote’s musical was one of the buzziest shows at this year’s Edinburgh fringe. It’s your everyday tale of romance turned sour, except the couple in question are Earth and Humanity. Listen to the EP – and catch it in Birmingham and London.
Madu
After a video of 11-year-old Anthony Madu dancing in the rain in Nigeria went viral, he arrived as a student at Elmhurst ballet school in Birmingham. This film, winner of the 2025 Emmy for outstanding arts and culture documentary, follows his training. On Disney+.
Bradford’s Big Bash
Bradford’s year as UK city of culture still has plenty in store, including the Javaad Alipoor Company’s version of Fiona Mozley’s Yorkshire novel Elmet. A BBC documentary charts the festival’s opening outdoor spectacle, Rise, co-created by magician Steven Frayne, the local boy better known as Dynamo.
Snow White: The Sacrifice
Choreographer Liv Lorent has created two versions of Snow White: one for families and this more monstrous “after dark” version for over-16s, rewritten by Carol Ann Duffy and now directed for the screen by Game of Thrones star Ben Crompton. On Marquee TV.
