1. Jennifer Saunders and Julian Clary in the Palladium pantomime

7 years ago Julian Clary starred opposite Paul O’Grady in pantomime Cinderella at this venue in a production that marked a return of the form to a theatre previously renowned for it. We’ve loved the shows that have followed, Dick Whittington, Snow White, Goldilocks, and Pantoland at the Palladium, in both 2020 and 2021, and Jack And The Beanstalk starring Dawn French in 2022. French’s comedy partner Jennifer Saunders stars here alongside Clary and My Son’s A Queer‘s Rob Madge. Runs 9 December through 14 January 2024. Tickets Our review

• Read on for reasons including David Tennant’s Macbeth, Joe Cole’s Homecoming and new musical Cold War

2. David Tennant as Macbeth

Director Max Webster (As You Like It, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) puts Doctor Who Tennant (Good, Harold Pinter Theatre) and Cush Jumbo through their paces in his take on the Shakespeare classic at the Donmar Warehouse runs 8 December through 10 February 2024. Tickets Our preview review

3. The Homecoming of Joe Cole

We loved Cole in Channel 4’s Pure although he’s better known for TV’s Peaky Blinders and here appears in Matthew Dunster’s (Shirley Valentine, Duke Of York’s Theatre) take on Pinter’s The Homecoming which we saw at the Harold Pinter Theatre in 2015. Runs at the Young Vic 27 November through 27 January 2024. Tickets

4. Cold War at the Almeida

Elvis Costello writes the music, Conor McPherson (Uncle Vanya, Harold Pinter Theatre) the book and Rupert Goold (Dear England, Prince Edward Theatre) directs based on the film by Pawel Pawlikowski. You join us in Poland in 1949 where Zula is bold and brilliant, a singer who ignites the stage. Wiktor is withdrawn and damaged, a composer longing to write. Irresistibly drawn to each other, they dream of escape. But in communist-controlled Poland that can be a dangerous thing. Runs at the Almeida 30 November 2023 through 27 January 2024. Tickets Our review

5. Dadi Freyr tours the UK

Freyr’s latest I Made An Album was an album of the week for us in September and his European tour arrives in the UK in November including 2 dates at the 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. Tickets The tour has now been extended to include an American leg which continues until April 2024.

6. Sleeping Beauty pantomime starring RuPaul Drag Race UK‘s Kate Butch and Kitty Scott-Claus

The hilarious Butch is our favourite in the current series of the BBC show and Scott-Claus (Gals Aloud, Lyric Theatre) is, we think, the series’ strongest ever star. Both feature in a short run between big-hitting shows at the Harold Pinter Theatre in what we expect to be quite an adult-themed panto. Runs 27 through 31 December 2023. Tickets

7. Armando Iannucci’s Pandemonium at the Soho Theatre

Writer Iannucci (film The Personal History Of David Copperfield) and director Patrick Marber (Don Juan In Soho, Wyndham’s Theatre) turn their attentions to the behaviour of former PM Boris Johnson and others during the pandemic in a show which runs at this venue’s Dean Street home 1 December through 23 January 2024. Tickets Our review

8. The return of Russell T Davies to Dr Who

Davies is the author of some of our favourite ever TV (Nolly, It’s A Sin and A Very English Scandal) and we stopped watching Dr Who years ago and so hope he and new recruit, Sex Education‘s Ncuti Gatwa, can breathe some life back into the ailing show. David Tennant, also starring in number 2 above, returns for 3 specials ending 9 December 2023 on BBC1.

9. Slow Horses 3 gallops to Apple TV

Longlisted 4 times in our monstas, this 3rd series of the superior Slough House spy novels by Mick Herron returns to Apple this month. For the uninitiated, anti-hero Jackson Lamb, given life by Gary Oldman, is quite the character and he’s surrounded by an outstanding ensemble including Kristen Scott Thomas, Jack Lowden and Saskia Reeves in these elegantly written tales of underperforming undercover agents. Watch

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy London Palladium Tickets
• Have you been to a London Palladium pantomime before or seen Jennifer Saunders on stage? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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