The big chill: warming, nourishing culture to help you hibernate until spring

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light iPlayer Period dramas are traditionally rather cosy, but from the very first scenes – a stark restaging of Anne Boleyn’s beheading – it’s clear this adaptation of the final book in Hilary Mantel’s epic Thomas Cromwell trilogy will be a bracing immersion into the gruesome reality of these well-worn Tudor tales. Even so, the lavish production, exquisite performances and sheer beauty of the script itself are all things to luxuriate in during cold, dark winter nights. For newcomers, the original Wolf Hall series is also on iPlayer.Am I Being Unreasonable? iPlayer A magical romcom-style flashback – two lovers bidding farewell at a train station as snowflakes drift down – initially lends Daisy May Cooper’s hilarious and enthralling 2022 dramedy a winter wonderland vibe. The reality, however, is far less lovely

Young people in UK: tell us why you love knitting, sewing, embroidery or making your own clothes

The UK saw an arts and craft renaissance during Covid lockdowns, as people took up new hobbies such as knitting, sewing, embroidery and making their own garments.Around 1 million people became hooked on knitting after lockdown, according to a 2022 finding from the UK Hand Knitting Association.We want to hear from young people on how they have taken up – and sustained – the habit of knitting, sewing and making their own clothes.What do you love about the hobby? What items are you particularly proud of, or eager to try this year? How did you start, and what do you get from knitting and sewing as a young person?You can tell us about your experiences of making garments using this form.Please be specific and include as much detail as possible

From Nosferatu to Patience: a complete guide to this week’s entertainment in the UK

NosferatuOut now Director Robert Eggers has been carving out a niche for himself in the shadows for quite some time, with films such as The Witch and The Lighthouse taking a dark, artistic approach to both character and subject matter. Now he’s turned his hand to cinema’s founding vampire legend, with a toothsome remake of the 1922 classic.We Live in TimeOut now Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh star in a non-linear romance that cuts to different stages of a relationship between Weetabix rep Tobias (Garfield) and professional chef Almut (Pugh), to explore both love and grief. Directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn).2073Out now Blending sci-fi and documentary to paint a dystopian portrait of life on Earth in 2073, Asif Kapadia’s vision of the future is not a happy one, with hazards ranging from drones to libertarians to tech bros

‘A Model Murder’: the 1954 trial that gripped Sydney takes to the stage

In 1954, when the 22-year-old Sydney model Shirley Beiger went on trial for the alleged murder of her live-in lover, hundreds of spectators, many of them women, queued outside Darlinghurst’s courthouse with sandwiches, Thermos flasks and even babies, hoping for a seat.“They were yelling, ‘God bless you, Shirl,’” says the award-winning theatre maker Sheridan Harbridge. “They were fully behind her and what she’d done.”The playwright and director is speaking to Guardian Australia while seated by the dock where Beiger stood trial 70 years ago. In January the courthouse will be the setting for A Model Murder, a theatrical recreation of the trial that draws on court transcripts

Nonfiction to look out for in 2025

From a river voyage with Robert Macfarlane to Helen Garner’s candid tale of a broken marriage, via Ian Leslie’s analysis of Lennon and McCartney’s complicated kinship, here are the titles you can’t afford to missNonfiction is a strange, alchemical business. In the knowledge that a good writer can make any subject sing, one of the books I’m looking forward to most in 2025 is The Season: A Fan’s Story (W&N, November), in which Helen Garner watches her grandson, Amby, play Aussie rules football during one Melbourne winter. Such territory sounds, I know, slight and even parochial; on paper, I have less than zero interest in footy down under. But this is Garner we’re talking about: Australia’s greatest writer of nonfiction. It’s certain to be epic

Dark Noon: the reimagining of American history that provoked acclaim – and walkouts – comes to Australia

Whiteface, wigs and western movies feature in this confronting outsider vision of America, performed by seven South African actorsWhen Dark Noon opened in the US, there were walk-outs. The show, in which seven South African performers tell the story of America in 105 minutes, has earned rave reviews internationally since its premiere in Denmark in 2019, but for American audiences in South Carolina and New York, it proved divisive.“Some felt recognised; some felt that the story just ran over them, like a train coming from the past,” says the show’s co-director, Tue Biering.In Charleston, South Carolina – once a major trade hub for the transatlantic slave trade – the show particularly touched a nerve: “In Charleston it was scary,” says Dark Noon’s co-creator, South African choreographer and performer Nhlanhla Mahlangu. “There were people who really hated it and who believed that it’s not even a work of art … There were people who walked out of the theatre