London events in October 2025

This year’s BFI London Film Festival will kick off on Wednesday, October 9 with Steve McQueen’s World War II drama Blitz at the Royal Festival Hall. From there, the UK’s biggest film festival will be pressing play on its 68th edition, featuring 11 days and nights of movies, archive works, short films VR and XR experiences, talks, panels and parties. As in recent years, screenings will take place at Royal Festival Hall, BFI IMAX, BFI Southbank, and Bargehouse for the LFF Expanded XR strand, as well as at five London partner cinemas: Curzon Mayfair, Curzon Soho, the ICA, Prince Charles Cinema and Vue West End. Very much not a festival that’s just for the critics and VIPs, the LFF remains the most accessible of the world’s big film festivals, so you’ve got every chance of scoring seats to its packed line-up of new movies when tickets go on sale in September.

In 2022, we got an excellent Elton John musical: ‘Tammy Faye’, his boutique collaboration with Jake Shears and James Graham. This larger scale musical adaptation of the fabulous Meryl Street and Anne Hathaway-starring fashion industry screen satire has had a more troubled gestation. With lyrics by Shaina Taub and book by Kate Wetherhead, the pandemic-delayed delayed first production debuted in Chicago in 2022, but John deemed it unready and its original incarnation seems to have been shelved without ever making it to Broadway. Good news for us, however: London has been chosen as the scene of the show’s relaunch, following a tryout run in Edinburgh, in a new production directed and choreographed by Broadway royalty Jerry Mitchell. There’s no word on the casting yet, but expect some pretty heavyweight talent.

Hew Locke’s last outing in a big London art institution saw him fill Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries with a raucous, kaleidoscopic carnival. Now he’s turning his colourful, critical eye on the British Museum’s collection, for a major new exhibition exploring the complex, often shocking stories of imperialism and colonialism told by the museum’s objects.

When the days are a-darkenin’, London is being over-run with giant arachnids and the supermarkets are filling up with pumpkin-plastered merch, it can only mean one thing: Halloween, Tuesday October 31 2023, is almost upon us. So dust off your cape, comb out your synthetic wig and get searching for a ‘beginner friendly’ face painting tutorial on YouTube. Here are the best Halloween events happening in London this year. 

Munich’s official Oktoberfest celebration is back this year, but it’s not like you have to travel to Germany for a stein-sloshing good time anyway. There’s plenty of oompah blaring, Bratwurst feasting and lederhosen wearing to be had right here in London town. Just head down to one of these Bavarian beer halls and get the Erdingers in. Prost!

"For those in Peril on the Sea’ makes dying at sea sound like something noble, and patriotic. Whereas their husband, son or father has died for one half of a fish and chip supper…"

February 1975. In freezing weather off the coast of Iceland, the sidewinder Graham Greene ices up, heels over, and sinks in seconds, taking fifteen of her crew with her. Such are the realities of the brutal world of trawler fishing. On impulse, despised trawler-owner Donald Claxton flies to Reykjavik to see the survivors, setting in train an evening of drinking, horseplay, romance and story-telling that will change all their lives forever.

Get £15 tickets, down from £55 to 'Reykjavik' at Hampstead Theatre, only through Time Out Offers.

October isn’t just the time of year when the leaves turn brown, the clocks go back, yet another installment of the seemingly unkillable ‘Halloween’ franchise is released and sugary pumpkin syrup suddenly starts appearing in absolutely everything. It’s also Black History Month, and as usual there’s plenty going on around the capital to mark the occasion. Check out our roundup of some of the best stuff going on throughout the month here.

Is that the saccharine scent of pumpkin spice in the air? Surprised to see lots of orange orbs taking over your local supermarket? It can only mean one thing: autumn is upon us in all its crispy-leafed, russet splendour. 

From glowing sunsets, to bracing walks and cosy pubs, there are lots of things that make up the ultimate autumnal day trip and London has them in spadefuls. Whether it’s nestling up in an old-school whisky tavern with a wee dram, collecting up armfuls of pumpkins from the city’s premier markets or exploring Gothic cemeteries. 

The comically grotesque world of Tim Burton – the esteemed director behind ‘Corpse Bride’, ‘Edward Scissorhands’ and ‘Dark Shadows’ – is put under the spotlight at this exhibition, which concludes its decade-long world tour with a stint at Kensington’s Design Museum this autumn, shortly after his much-anticipated sequel ‘Beetlejuice 2’ lands in cinemas. Curated in collaboration with the famous goth himself, the collection draws from Burton’s personal archive of drawings, paintings, photographs, sketchbooks, moving-image works, sculptural installations, set and costume designs to shine a light on his distinctive, darkly humorous aesthetic. 

Canary Wharf shakes off its business image a little with the return of its long-running ice rink this winter. From October through to late February, you’ll be able to spin and drift around the 1,200-square-metre arena, so whether you’re looking for a pre-Christmas activity or a fun way to kick off the New Year, this bad boy’s got you covered. Talking of covered, the whole thing is under a canopy that means not even the unpredictable British weather can spoil a sesh here. There’ll also be a ringside bar and themed DJ nights to ramp the good vibes up even higher.