Things To Do
Guide
Things to do in London This Week: October 19 – 25
Looking for things to do in London this week? We've got you covered
If you’re in the English capital and looking for ways to pass the time, look no further. Whether you’re after a Monday night gig, a midweek matinee or an activity to keep the kids busy after school on Friday, this weekly guide is packed with fun activities to enjoy with your friends, family or on your own. Highlights from this week 19 October – 25 October) include new hits on the West End, up-and-coming comedy stars, and plenty of fun events for the entire family.
Best London Events this Week
Cry-laugh With Feeling with musical comedy duo Flo & Joan
- Where? O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Shepherds Bush Green, London, W12 8TT.
- When: Wednesday 21 October
“If you’re happy and you know it — you’re lying to yourself”… Acclaimed comedy duo Flo & Joan, aka sisters Nicola and Rosie Dempsey, don’t shy away from life’s dark, sobering realities, heavenly turned into topical, sharp-witted melodies sung in deadpan harmony. Catch the duo on their brand-new tour With Feeling, drawing on a “real band’s” setlist to tackle questions like ‘what is music?’, ‘how do you be a band?’ and ‘is comedy?” this Wednesday in a one-off London show straddling the line between pitch-perfect pop and group therapy.
Get tickets to Flo and Joan at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
See London from above with an iconic Chimney Lift
- Where? Battersea Power Station, Circus Rd W, Nine Elms, London SW11 8DD.
- When: Ongoing
The Battersea Power Station is one of London’s most eye-catching landmarks, today sitting at the heart of a bustling new riverside neighbourhood. But how did it all really come to life? Find out at the striking Art Deco Turbine Hall A, where The Exhibition gathers a host of historic and hands-on treats, including the original 1920s office of the station’s architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and an interactive illustrated wall delving into the icon’s construction. The experience culminates with a fascinating ascent 109 metres high, to the top of the north-west chimney, where the breathtaking London skyline awaits — complete with a bird’s eye view of the Power Station itself, of course.
Get tickets for the Chimney Life at Battersea Power Station
Theatre & Comedy
Join a comic victory lap at Akaash Singh’s Generational Triumph
- Where? The London Palladium, Argyll Street, London, W1F 7TF.
- When: 22 & 23 October
He’s cut his teeth in shows like MTV’s Wild’n Out and Netflix’s Brown Nation, self-released comedy specials like GASLIT, and found success with the podcast Flagrant, which he co-hosted with Andrew Schulz. Now actor and comedy champion Akaash Singh is out on the loose with his Generational Triumph World Tour, landing in 50+ cities on both sides of the pond. Get showered with whipsmart, culturally unfiltered, generously stereotyping puns and crowd work as the stand-up kicks off the UK leg of his tour with two shows in London this Thursday and Friday. And he hits the nail on the head every time.
Get tickets to Akaash Singh at The London Palladium
Soak up the Hackney Comedy Experience with Jen Brister
- Where? EartH Theatre, 11-17 Stoke Newington Road, London, N168BH.
- When: Friday 23 October
Missed a chance to get Reactive with London stand-up, writer and podcaster Jen Brister on her recent comedy tour? Get in on the joke with a perfectly timed deluge of fearless truths and riotous rants about middle age, family and motherhood this Friday in East London, as she’s back on stage to headline this year’s Hackney Comedy Experience. Completing this summit of alternative comedy’s biggest and best acts are Taskmaster winner Lou Sanders, Live at the Apollo star and Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Sarah Keyworth, Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Sam Nicoresti and Edinburgh Comedy Best Newcomer Award nominee Toussaint Douglas.
Get tickets to Jen Brister at EartH Theatre
Gear up for Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody
- Where? Underbelly Boulevard Soho, 6 Walker’s Court, London, W1F 0BT.
- When: 7 October – 1 November
Following the steamy secret romance of two rival hockey stars, the Heated Rivalry TV phenom kicked off last year, with a hotly anticipated new season coming in April 2027. Luckily for starving global fans of the series, the off-Broadway hit Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody quickly glided in to fill the gap. Score big this week as Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov skate from the small screen to the small central London stage and live their years-long romance amidst feel-good bops, nonsensical time jumps and mighty cameos by the likes of “Ilya’s Ass”. Brace for a blistering impact.
Get tickets to Heated Rivalry at Underbelly Boulevard
Relive an extraordinary 16th-century tale at Martin Guerre
- Where? The Old Vic, 103 The Cut, London SE1 8NB.
- When: 1-31 October
A remarkable story based on a real-life historical figure. An Olivier Award-winning musical. A fresh dramatic identity: grippingly reimagined with new music, lyrics and folk-laced arrangements by the creators of Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Martin Guerre opened last week for an exclusive preview of semi-staged performances directed by Matthew Warchus. Immersively presented at The Old Vic In the Round, this daring revival navigates deceit and impossible love in 16th-century France through a sophisticated creative lens. “We know it’s dangerous,” says Schönberg. “That’s what we like.”
Get tickets to Martin Guerre at The Old Vic
Make the most out of life — and death — at Beetlejuice The Musical
- Where: Prince Edward Theatre, Old Compton Street, London, W1D 4HS.
- When: Six days a week
Are you possessed with Tim Burton’s ‘80s immortal comedy classic? Get ready to juice up your life this week, as the hit Broadway stage adaptation of the film has just crossed over to the West End. Enter broody, black-clad teen Lydia Deetz, who has just moved into a home haunted by newly-deads Adam and Barbara Maitland — and she’s the only one who can actually see them. The unfortunate couple decide to invoke bio-exorcist, aka the “ghost with the most”, Beetlejuice to drive the Deetzes out, unleashing side-splitting chaos and calypso-fuelled catastrophy. Let the haunting begin.
Get tickets to Beetlejuice The Musical at Prince Edward Theatre
Music & Nightlife
Take a ride in the desert with indie raconteur Courtney Barnett
- Where? O2 Forum Kentish Town, 9 – 17 Highgate RD, Kentish Town, London, NW5 1JY.
- When: 20 & 21 October
Things Take Time, Take Time, indie-rock slacker Courtney Barnett told fans on her 2021 inward-looking pandemic album; but when she re-emerged with her much-anticipated follow-up Creature of Habit in spring 2026, she was in top storytelling form and ready for some California desert action. Confronting change and self-doubt amidst self-effacing observations and fuzzy detours, she winds her way through London this Tuesday and Wednesday for two nights of gravelly, grungy rock meanderings. If there’s one thing we know about this guitar-wielding Creature of Habit is, deadpan wobblings aside, ‘Another Beautiful Day’ will soon dawn.
Get tickets to Courtney Barnett at O2 Forum Kentish Town
Embark on a pop-fuelled ABBA Voyage
- Where? ABBA Arena, 1 Pudding Mill Lane, London, E15 2RU
- When: Ongoing
ABBA’s last public performance took place on December 11, 1982. Sadly, we can’t send you back in time to see the pop supergroup in their prime, but we do have the next best thing. Blending state-of-the-art technology and some of the most beloved pop records in history, ABBA Voyage sees Sweden’s fab four return to the stage of a purpose-built arena, in truly spectacular fashion — as digital avatars. Join the glitter-studded gang and their 10-strong live crew on a jaw-dropping, 100-minute voyage, fuelled by back-to-back choruses that hit all the right notes for an evening of high-spirited singalongs and dancing.
Sport
Watch London Lions bring their A-game
- Where? Copper Box Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E203HB.
- When: Until 31 May 2027
The reigning champions of Super League Basketball London Lions are back to defend their title, following a coveted win earlier this month in a friendly game against EuroLeague’s Paris Basketball. Catch them this Saturday as they kick off the 2026/27 season in a hotly anticipated game against Liverpool, a team just starting out with the great advantage of a seasoned NBA coach. It’s the first in a series of thrilling basketball games coming up at the Copper Box, with the Lions facing both SLB and EuroCup stars at their home court, all the way till spring.
Get tickets to the London Lions at Copper Box Arena
Feel the pulse of summer at the Fulham Pier
- Where? Fulham Pier, London SW6 6HH.
- When: Ongoing
Craven Cottage has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896, but its recent revamp is not just for football fans. Fulham Pier last summer saw a once-inaccessible part of the riverside open to the community, which steadily flocks here for a raft of art, culture, fitness and family events. Apart from the free live football and Wimbledon screenings, their Summer at the Pier season amps up the energy every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as riverside DJs trade sunny grooves and searing floor fillers. Mixing street food with interactive digital art, the Riverside Market food hall will also make sure you never run out of fuel.
Family
Enjoy Wallace and Gromit Larger than Life
- Where? Lightroom, 12 Lewis Cubitt Square, London, N1C 4DY.
- When: 18 October – 4 January
Aardman Animations turn 50 this year, and they go big: Larger Than Life: Starring Wallace & Gromit, Shaun and More takes recent and long-time fans of the Academy Award-winning British claymation classics on a 50-minute looping journey across time, projected across Lightroom’s four 11-metre tall walls and floor. Sketches, puppets, tiny props, kitchen-table experiments and behind-the-scenes secrets spectacularly come to life, from the wildly comic train chase from Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers to bespoke new animation created especially for the occasion. Only, this time, you’ll be sitting slap-bang in the middle of the stop-motion action.
Get tickets to Wallace and Gromit Larger than Life at Lightroom
Immersive Experiences
Step into a multi-sensory art experience at FRAMELESS
- Where? FRAMELESS, 6 Marble Arch, London W1H 7AP
- When: Open daily
When you really love a painting, you don’t want to just look at it — you want to live in it. An immersive experience redefining the concept of art exhibition as we know it, FRAMELESS assembles 42 famous artworks by great masters like Cezanne, Kandinsky, Dali, Klimt, Van Gogh and many more, turning each classic into a full-blown, multi-sensory spectacle. Across four distinct galleries, you can now step into a world Beyond Reality, see Colour in Motion, learn The Art of Abstraction and see stunning new perspectives of The World Around Us in a series of eye-popping displays that take each artwork to a whole new level.
London Museums and Galleries
Dig into Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold at Battersea Power Station
- Where? NEON at Battersea Power Station, Circus Rd E, Nine Elms, London, SW11 8DQ
- When: Open daily
Tutankhamun may be the bigger name, but Ramses the Great and his influential 67-year reign catapulted Ancient Egypt to new heights 3000 years ago, through striking monuments, targeted military tactics and skilful diplomacy. Be transported back to the Valley of the Kings and Egypt’s golden age through 180 invaluable treasures, including the coffin of Ramses II, colossal sculptures, gold masks, animal mummies and priceless jewellery, that have travelled directly from the Egyptian Museum of Cairo to London. They will be displayed alongside virtual reality experiences that give the journey fresh depth, for a limited time only.
Get tickets to Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold at Battersea Power Station
Discover beautiful and bizarre art at Frieze Sculpture 2026
- Where? English Gardens, The Regent’s Park.
- When: 16 September – 1 November
Every autumn, The Regent’s Park serves up a choice of weird and wonderful things to give your stroll that extra spark. Now in its 14th edition, Frieze Sculpture 2026 presents 11 international artists and their sizeable creations scattered around the park’s beautiful English Gardens. From a seven-meter ‘Black Palm’ made from reclaimed tyre rubber and steel to two monumental paws giving refuge from a spiritual crisis in ‘Agony in the Garden’, there’s bound to be something to inspire food for thought, or at least something fun to stare at over a picnic.
Find out more about Frieze Sculpture 2026
Wander spaces of grief and possibility at the Wellcome Collection
- Where? Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE.
- When: 10 July – 7 February 2027
Rudy Loewe’s artistic meditations on Black people’s lived experiences with mental healthcare in the UK don’t come from a happy place. But, although their starting point is racist discrimination, his mission is to arrive to a place of hope. The sculptures, paintings, sound and more displayed in the free exhibition Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility give glimpses of a system that is more equitable and supportive through alternative, more empathetic approaches to care, reflecting Loewe’s roots in resistance histories, African and Caribbean folklore. They are also powered by the community, in collaboration with grassroots organisations like ADHD Babes.
Discover gripping stories of Childhood in War
- Where? IWM London, Lambeth Road, London, SE1 6HZ.
- When: 31 July – 28 February 2027
We often hear stories of children in conflict, but we rarely get the chance to go behind the scenes and experience the world through their eyes. The Imperial Museum London’s free, interactive exhibition Childhood in War looks back in time, from 1914 to the present day, highlighting little-known chapters and tales of adaptability and resilience in the face of extraordinary challenges. Step into an evacuee train carriage or a Cold War-era kitchen, and discover how children spotted enemy ships, as books, installations and rare objects bring their unique minds and voices vividly to life.
Find out more about the exhibition
