January 2026 Cultural Highlights Plenty to read and watch.

February 5, 2026

Discover our January cultural highlights.

Discover what made our list for what to watch, listen to or read.

Television

A Thousand Blows Disney+

★★★★

Series 2 from Peaky Blinders creator, Stephen Knight and starring Sean Graham as Sugar Goodson who spends most of his time in his cups. His nemesis in the boxing ring Hezekiah (Malachi Kirby) has been reduced to fighting for loose change and wishes to return to his homeland, Jamaica. Erin Doherty rounds of a fine cast and plans a heist with her troupe of female criminals – The 40 Elephants. Set in the squalor of Victorian East London this is as gritty as you’d expect from its creator but if you were a fan of Peaky Blinders this is almost as good.

Steal Prime Video

★★★★

Starring one of the stars from Game of Thrones, Sophie Turner, this is a drama that reveals its secrets gradually. It starts with a £4bn sophisticated heist at a pensions company where the motives for the theft and the roles played are not what they seem. Credulity is stretched at times, especially the relationship between the lead detective and Turner but it’s more interesting than many of its kind.

Waiting for the Out  BBC iPlayer

★★★★★

An exceptional drama that is extremely well written and performed. The details may seem uninspiring – a teacher, Dan played by Josh Finan, enters prison to teach philosophy to the inmates. However, Dan has his own demons to deal with including an obsession with his cooker and family members who all spent time in prison.

What vexes Dan also most as much as his cooker are childhood memories and hallucinations of his father, played superbly as a toxic combination of menace and vulnerability by Gerald Kearns.

It’s not uncommon to ask, “Do I really want to watch this, sounds like hard work” On this occasion if you don’t, you really are missing out on a drama with much to offer and entertain.

Prisoner 951 BBC iPlayer

★★★★

The remarkable tale of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s six-year incarceration in Iran can be watched either as a documentary or a four-part BBC drama, The Hostages’ Story. We watched the documentary featuring interviews with former hostages, politic decision makers and most poignantly her husband. His campaign to draw attention to his wife’s false detention is full of emotion and the scene when they are reunited at the airport is one of the most touching you’ll ever watch.

The Hunting Wives ITVX

★★★★

Glorious uncomplicated trashy TV involving blackmail, murder and sexual shenanigans is all you need to know. A young couple and son move into a gated wealthy community that could be anywhere in America but here is a southern small town. Sophie, the wife, is accepted into the cadre of local wives and their dubious morals and lifestyle.

Murder is soon committed, by whom I’m not sure we really care, secrets are revealed, bombshells are dropped and were off to the races. With a second series on the way what more could we ask for during a damp January.       

Podcast

The Other Virgin’s Baby  Wondery

★★★★★

We’ve highlighted in the past, Wondery’s series Great British Scandals and The Other Virgin’s Baby is one of the latest of its 66 tales.

Set in the 1920’s, it’s the story of a scandal that lasted more than 50 years. It involves the aristocracy, a dragon of a mother-in-law, her weak-willed son and his wife who is totally averse to consummating the marriage. How she produced an heir to the family title is at the centre of the scandal because when her pregnancy is diagnosed, she is still technically a virgin.

It’s a great story like many in the series and as always extremely well hosted by Alice Levine and Matt Ford.

Short History of  BBC iPlayer

★★★★

From the producers of a prior recommendation, Real Dictators, this is well worth a listen if you like one hour history lessons. There are a range of subjects not all historical as there are cultural heavyweights, works of art, sporting tales and numerous other categories.

Like Real Dictators, the research is thorough, the listening easy and you’ll feel more educated.

Books

Hang The Moon  Jeannette Walls

★★★★

Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. 

Cast out by her father following an accident to her half-brother, Eddie, Sallie returns nine years later determined to make her mark. This is a family drama with many different twists that kept me engrossed until the last page.

Dream State  Eric Puchner

★★★★★

When Cece arrives early at her future in-laws’ lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie and meets his best friend Garrett from college, you know this is not going to be a straightforward tale.

Garrett is the antithesis of successful Charlie but is he better suited to Cece and how will the story of the three friends evolve over a 50-year span?

Reactions to this book have been varied, what isn’t disputed is the quality of writing and the crafting of characters that explains why matters of the heart can follow an unpredictable path.

The Artist  Lucy Steeds

★★★★

A young journalist, Joseph, has been granted an interview, or so he believes, with a reclusive artist living in a Provencal village. The painter, Edward Tartuffe is served by his quiet and withdrawn niece, Ettle.

Set in 1920 France, the story is told from the perspective of Joseph and Ettle and it’s not revealing any secret to know how at least one part of the story will unfold. The beauty of the novel is not how that comes to pass but how the art, the way of life and complexity of the relationships are described to the reader.

Find out what made our Top 5 cultural lists in 2025.