The Culture Guide: Our experts recommend music, films, books and more for 2026
An Evening with Imelda May, Cork Opera House, Feb 3 & 13, Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Country royalty plays her largest ever show in Ireland. Across five decades, Harris has written her name into the country hall of fame with songs as tender as heartbreak and as tough as leather boots.
Rockabilly star turned national treasure, May returns to live performance after a stint of TV presentation. She promises a night of “songs, poems, stories, and joy”.
The British art-rock heroes were overshadowed by the blokey excesses of Britpop but have returned with real purpose with new album Instant Holograms on Metal Film — a exquisite mash-up of indie melodies and psychedelic grooves.
London rhymer Dave, whose latest album is a tribute both to his upbringing in the south of the UK capital and his newly discovered passion for the harp, touches down.
Having only just played Dublin late last year, the multi-Brit winner is back with a new tour featuring familiar songs and also new material which she is sharing with an audience for the first time.
Irish folk music has had a tough 12 months with unashamedly commercial new bands staging an unwelcome takeover of both the airwaves and touring. Here to remind us that it doesn’t have to be this way are Carlow siblings, Ye Vagabonds, who famously performed with Phoebe Bridgers when her band Boy Genius played Dublin and who are about to return with a new album.
Is she jazz? Is she pop? Is she a new genre that only Gen Zers can understand? We’re about to find out as the Icelandic singer embarks on her first arena tour— where the old-timey songwriting will receive the mega-star arena treatment.
The success of K-Pop Demon Hunters on Netflix and artists such as BTS and Blackpink has put the East Asian genre on the map— and now it comes to Ireland with an all-new covers show.
The former Talking Heads frontman’s recent solo album was a bit too upbeat and wacky for its own good. But rest assured the David Byrne live experience will be different — featuring Talking Heads hits and eccentric dancing from the pop’s besuited weirdo in chief.
Having come through her bitter industry battle with former producer Dr Luke, Kesha embraced a new chapter of her career with her upbeat 2025 album, Period. It’s been years since she played Ireland— now it’s a chance for fans to reconnect with the artist who was singing about Tiktok before it was even a thing.
The head-banger pop spirit of Olivia Rodrigo infuses the music of sometime actor and full-time pop star Rapp, who is about to hit arenas for the first time. The question is: will her young audience come out for her?
Criticised for his schmaltzy TV tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne, Yungblud’s Dominic Harrison can nonetheless do no wrong in the eyes of his fans — who are drawn to his bubble-gum post-punk and his affirmative message about celebrating your inner weirdo and being your true self.
The indie rockers reach for the stars as they play some of the biggest venues of their lives. Buckle for flensingly emotive lyrics and gossamer melodies.
The Cork soccer icon will take centre stage at 3Arena for two evenings of reminiscing and anecdotes in the company of writer Roddy Doyle.
Back from retirement, the folk-pop legend will perform in full his meditative Seven Psalms album, from 2023, followed by acoustic takes on some of his best-loved songs. It’s the quiet return nobody could have predicted.
John Bernthal and Tessa Thompson star as estranged spouses — a detective and news reporter respectively — who get involved with the investigation into a young woman’s murder. But why are they so suspicious of each other? This cat-and-mouse thriller is based on a novel by Alice Feeney.
Season one of Hijack starred Idris Elba as corporate negotiator Sam Nelson, who found himself on board a hijacked plane. It was for the most part preposterous, but became one of Apple TV+’s biggest hits. This time, the hijacking is on a train… and authorities suspect Sam might be involved. Oof.
Wished Game of Thrones had more deadpan humour? In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Ireland’s Peter Claffey stars as the naïve but courageous knight Ser Duncan the Tall, who lives in Westeros a century before the events of GoT. Based on novellas by George R R Martin, this is set in an age when the Targaryen line still held the Iron Throne.
Smelling salts at the ready: Bridgerton is back. This follows the Bridgerton clan’s second-eldest sibling, Benedict (Luke Thompson), who becomes fascinated with the ‘Lady in Silver’ he meets at a masquerade ball. What will he do when he finds out she is a maid?
Now this sounds fascinating— a limited series set in the fictional Welsh town of Morfa Halen. As a massive storm rumbles overhead, former detective turned teacher Jackie Ellis (Kelly Reilly of Yellowstone) discovers the body of her 8-year-old pupil, Cefin. Could this be linked to an unsolved cold case: the disappearance of her niece, Nessa, an incident which cost Ellis her career? Her former partner, Detective Eric Bull (Rafe Spall of Trying) heads back to Morfa Halen to lead the investigation.
Set in the world of investment banking, this features a slew of young, ambitious upstarts who are willing to sell their grannies to succeed. In series 4, Yasmin (Marisa Abela) and Harper (Myha’la) are striking out on their own — but if we know anything about Industry, things won’t go to plan. With a pulsing soundtrack and excellent plot swerves, this series is a must-watch.
Euphoria returns with its third season, after making stars of Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney and Zendaya. The first two series were set at Euphoria High, a place you probably wouldn’t want to send your teen to. We return four years after the Season 2 finale, meaning the characters will be in entirely new places in their lives. Knowing Euphoria, these will not be good places.
From Irish director John Butler (Handsome Devil, Papi Chulo) this six-episode series opens the morning after an Irish wedding on a Spanish island, when a priest’s body is discovered floating face-down in the swimming pool. A stellar cast includes Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as the ill-fated Fr Vincent.
Stuart Carolan (Love/Hate) and Chris Addison (The Thick of It) will bring us this darkly comedic crime drama about a man on the run, based on the Dublin Trilogy series by Caimh McDonnell. The cast includes Ella Lily Hyland (Black Doves), Aidan Gillen (Love/Hate) and Philippa Dunne (Amandaland), so we know we’re in for a good time. It’s been commissioned for two series, so hopes are high that it will be a hit.
The sixth album by the Páirc Uí Chaoimh-bound US country artist, Zach Byran was still in the studio working on the record in December. There have been a string of singles released through 2025 that are likely to feature. “I’m working on making it special,” he said last summer.
London post-punk trio Dry Cleaning had sessions in Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago studio The Loft as well as with Gilla Band’s Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox at Sonic Studios in Dublin. Cate Le Bon produced the record at her Black Box studio in France. Dry Cleaning, who have had to reschedule their 2026 US tour due to “hostile economic forces”, say the record is their finest expression yet of their profound friendship.
Best positioned to be the next pop superstar — she’s played the 3Arena in the past and is already a big deal — Madison Beer kickstarts the year with her third album Locket. “It feels like each song lives within this metaphorical locket for safekeeping,” she says. “Each album feels like an era and once the albums are out in the world, the chapter for me, usually with what I wrote about, is closed.”
Cork singer-songwriter John Blen has taken his DIY spirit one step further for The Midnight Ache: Not only did he self-
record and produce the majority of the album, he went so far as to build the recording studio with his own bare hands. “This album took me by surprise,” he says. “I was slowly writing and using the songs to try to get to know the new studio space. Sonically feeling my way around and seeing what I could achieve when all of a sudden I realised I was looking at a new record.”
Andrew Fearn and Jason Williamson call their 13th album their most expansive and ambitious release to date as Sleaford Mods. “The Demise Of Planet X represents a life lived under immense uncertainty, shaped by mass trauma,” says frontman Williamson. The album features former Life Without Buildings frontwoman Sue Tompkins, Aldous Harding, Liam Bailey, grime MC Snowy, Big Special and actress Gwendoline Christie (Wednesday/ Severance/ Game Of Thrones).
The third solo album by the former One Direction star, Louis Tomlinson says he came up with ideas in the English countryside before heading to Santa Teresa in Costa Rica for three weeks. “I sum up it as ‘The record I always deserved to make,’” he says. “For the first time now, I’m allowing myself to be the artist I’d always hoped to be.”
Singer-songwriter Dani Larkin’s second album is intended as a companion throughout the different stages of life from birth. Tackling topics such as the separation of church and state, and featuring songs she knows from her mother singing them, Next of Kin is an intimate revelation.
Ailbhe Reddy is one of Ireland’s best songwriters. She says third album Kiss Big is a breakup record, but not the tidy, acoustic kind. It lives in the messy middle: that disorienting stretch when the life you built with someone collapses and you’re left trying to figure out who you are on your own. Written between Dublin, London, New York, and the American Midwest, Reddy builds an emotional world that feels both deeply personal and quietly universal.
Recorded live in a house in Galway with producer Philip Weinrobe (Big Thief, Adrianne Lenker) at the helm, the fourth album by Carlow-raised brothers Diarmuid and Brían Mac Gloinn All Tied Together features deeply evocative original songs infused with memory, tribute, and gratitude. Throughout, a strong sense of home prevails. “All these songs have addresses,” says Diarmuid. They cite writers George Saunders and Claire Keegan as particular inspirations on this record.
The 13th studio album from Robbie Williams was originally due in autumn. Britpop finds him looking back 30 years. “I set out to create the album that I wanted to write and release after I left Take That in 1995. It was the peak of Britpop and a golden age for British music. I’ve worked with some of my heroes on this album; it’s raw, there are more guitars and it’s an album that’s even more upbeat and anthemic than usual. There’s some ‘Brit’ in there and there’s certainly some ‘pop’ too — I’m immensely proud of this as a body of work and I’m excited for fans to hear this album.”
Charli XCX - Wuthering Heights, Feb 13
How do you follow up Brat and its wide-reaching cultural impact? Charli XCX channels Emily Bronte with an album called Wuthering Heights that grew out of Charli XCX’s collaboration with Emerald Fennell on the filmmaker’s new adaptation of the novel. “Without a cigarette or a pair of sunglasses in sight, it was all totally other from the life I was currently living.”
Brothers Euan and Finn Manning, their cousin Darragh and their former schoolmates Oskar Gudinovic and Aaron Hurley are one of the most exciting bands to come out of Cork in recent years. Having played all around the UK and Europe in recent months, debut album Masquerade is said to be at once grand and intimate, awash with romance and flickers of holy imagery.
The legendary Cork band formed in 1984, released the classic album Exit Trashtown in 1987 and disbanded before the decade was out — what a run! Since that debut record was reissued in 2017, the band members have been quietly reconnecting, writing and recording new music. The first taster, Spellbinding, was released in November and new album Pulling All the Clouds Apart is due in February to coincide with live dates around the country.
London-based Mayo singer-songwriter Seamus Fogarty says fourth album Ships marks his most expansive and uplifting collection of music to date. Channelling everything from Tortoise to early 90s hip hop, it’s packed with poignant and funny slice-of-life vignettes touching on love, loss, DIY coffins, cans on trains with strangers and so much more.
Irish trad-rock band The Scratch worked with Lankum producer John ‘Spud’ Murphy for their third album. Guitarist Conor Dockery says: “As a band, this feels like a new beginning. I think the changes we’ve faced have given us a lot of room to grow, maybe into roles we felt were off limits before. Openness, perseverance, and positivity – this album embodies all of that.”
Hamnet, January 9
An adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, in which the death of Hamnet, the 11-year-old son of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and Anne Hathaway (Jessie Buckley), inspires the Bard’s greatest tragedy, Hamlet. Emily Watson co-stars, Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) directs.
Grief manifests itself in many ways, and training a young goshawk helps Helen (Claire Foy) to cope with the loss of her beloved father (Brendan Gleeson) in Philippa Lowthorpe’s adaptation of Helen MacDonald’s best-selling memoir. Denise Gough and Lindsay Duncan co-star.
As his marriage to Tess (Laura Dern) hits the rocks, middle-aged Alex (Will Arnett) attempts to redefine himself as a stand-up comedian after his marriage hits the rocks. But if comedy is notoriously tough, navigating the pitfalls of divorce proves even tougher. Bradley Cooper directs and co-stars.
Stranded on a desert island with her obnoxious, bullying boss Bradley (Dylan O’Brien) after their plane crashes, the resourceful Linda (Rachel McAdams) finds that the tables have turned and the power balance has shifted in her favour. A blackly comic horror-thriller directed by Sam Raimi.
Director Emerald Fennell scored a massive break-out hit with Saltburn (2023). Now she directs the latest adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic tale of obsessive love on the Yorkshire moors, which stars Margot Robbie as the wilful Cathy Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi as the brooding Heathcliff.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, March 6
Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) returns to a bombed-out Birmingham during WWII, where he becomes ensnared in secret war missions whilst reckoning with his past. Helmed by Tom Harper, who directed some of the Peaky Blinders TV episodes, with Barry Keoghan, Rebecca Ferguson and Stephen Graham co-starring.
Chicago in the 1930s. When Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) asks Dr Euphronius (Annette Bening) to create a companion for him, the Bride (Jessie Buckley) repays the favour by wreaking all manner of havoc as the pair go on a Bonnie and Clyde-style rampage. Maggie Gyllenhaal directs; Jake Gyllenhaal and Penelope Cruz co-star.
Tumbling about in space all alone, former middle school teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes from hibernation to discover that he is now an astronaut charged with an impossible task — to save Earth. Adapted from Andy Weir’s bestseller by Drew Goddard (The Martian); Phil Lord and Christopher Miller direct.
James McAvoy directs and stars in a based-on-a-true-story yarn about two Dundee chancers who so convincingly conned the US music industry into believing they were a Californian rap duo, Silibil N’ Brains (Samuel Bottomley and Seamus McLean Ross), that they wound up on tour supporting Eminem. James Corden co-stars.
Michael Jackson, aka the King of Pop, gets the biopic treatment, with Jaafar Jackson— Michael’s nephew — taking the lead role and charting Michael’s rise from his early days with the Jackson Five to global superstardom. Miles Teller, Nia Long and Colman Domingo co-star; Antoine Fuqua directs.
Journalist Eddie has always known that the wrong man was made the scapegoat for Juliet Fox’s murder. Twenty years later, Eddie, whose career was destroyed by the case, dives back into Manhattan’s elite world — where secrets kill.
After years of bar jobs and awkward auditions, Lara Francis has been cast in her dream role — the Hollywood adaptation of her favourite book. There’s just one catch... her co-star happens to be the man who broke her heart.
The Truth About Ruby Cooper by Liz Nugent, March 12
A twisted and brilliantly observed new novel about two sisters and the lies that shape their lives. Across decades, the fallout from an incident that causes their family’s world to implode leaves a wake of destruction behind Ruby in Dublin and Erin in Boston. But the past can’t stay a secret forever.
Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle — and has the social media accounts to prove it. So what if there are nannies and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children — they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? It’ll make one hell of an Instagram post…
A powerful new memoir from the author of Poor, Hungry is a rallying cry for every woman who has ever felt she had to shrink to survive. O’Sullivan interrogates how trauma, class and gender shape the way women see themselves, and how society teaches them to measure their value.
In the highly anticipated sequel to romantasy Dire Bound, death is in the air, and Meryn Cooper vows to be the one to sow it.
But is she willing to sacrifice her soul—and heart—to seize her destiny? Blood will spill.
In the city of Cork, a derelict Victorian mental hospital is being converted into modern apartments. One passerby finds herself drawn into an irresistible river of forgotten voices, those of the women who knew this place best. Among them — and in one figure in particular—she may find meaning, solace, rage; her own salvation, perhaps, or her own vanishing.
The women and trademark humour behind Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling are back with a hilarious and heartfelt story about friendship, young women and bad men. Laura and Dee haven’t spoken since the day they buried a body together. More than 20 years later, it’s finally time to mend the biggest heartbreak of that summer; Laura wants her best friend back.
