TV

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
iPlayer
Period dramas are traditionally rather cosy, but from the very first scenes – a stark restaging of Anne Boleyn’s beheading – it’s clear this adaptation of the final book in Hilary Mantel’s epic Thomas Cromwell trilogy will be a bracing immersion into the gruesome reality of these well-worn Tudor tales. Even so, the lavish production, exquisite performances and sheer beauty of the script itself are all things to luxuriate in during cold, dark winter nights. For newcomers, the original Wolf Hall series is also on iPlayer.

Am I Being Unreasonable?
iPlayer
A magical romcom-style flashback – two lovers bidding farewell at a train station as snowflakes drift down – initially lends Daisy May Cooper’s hilarious and enthralling 2022 dramedy a winter wonderland vibe. The reality, however, is far less lovely. In fact, this scene, which punctuates a story about the budding friendship between Cooper’s Nic and co-creator Selin Hizli’s Jen, is soon revealed to be downright sinister, as Nic’s memories disguise a nightmarish truth.

Inside No 9
iPlayer
If you have never seen an episode of Inside No 9, you’re in for the TV treat of your life. Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s horror anthology recently concluded after nine series, having supplied some of the most inventive, disturbing and profound storytelling to ever grace our screens. And yet the familiarity of its cast (usually the show’s creators plus multiple household-name guests) and the distinctively warm and wry British humour turn the show into a strange kind of comfort watch.

The Singing Detective
iPlayer
Last June marked 30 years since the death of the great TV screenwriter Dennis Potter. What better way to pay tribute than to revisit his genre-defying, never-bettered 1986 masterpiece? Starring Michael Gambon as a mystery author with a debilitating skin condition who spends his hospital stay feverishly plotting a book and recalling his Forest of Dean childhood, the series swirls together autobiography, highly stylised noir and mind-bendingly meta fantasy to unforgettable effect.

A Murder at the End of the World
Disney+
At first, this 2023 series from the creators of The OA appears to cleave to generic whodunnit tropes: influential figures are summoned to a billionaire’s Arctic lair, where bodies begin piling up. Yet there’s nothing remotely old-school about this haunting tale of true crime and evil tech. An incredible cast – Clive Owen, Emma Corrin, Harris Dickinson – infuse the wild, weird narrative with deep feeling. Plus, the setting’s howling desolation will make you feel comparatively cosy even if it’s freezing outside.

Trapped
Prime Video
Released in 2016 at the height of Nordic noir-mania, this Icelandic series heartily embraced all the standard Scandi hallmarks: a baffling murder, a tortured detective, a slew of superlative knitwear. Yet it was also a cut above the usual fare thanks to the breathtaking backdrop, unexpected cinematography and a uniquely unnerving narrative: when a blizzard buries a tiny, fishing town in thick snow, its criminal underbelly is exposed and untold darkness revealed. RA

Games

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
XBox, PC
Few things are more wholly suited to getting settled in for winter than the cosy, swashbuckling magic of the first three Indiana Jones movies (let’s ignore the rest). What Swedish developer MachineGames has miraculously managed to do here is bottle the Spielbergian wonder of those classics and transmute it into a gorgeous, giddy, globe-trotting tale of action, stealth, whips, hats, snakes and nicking treasure. What more could you want?

The Last of Us Part 1
PS5
The first season of HBO’s adaptation of Naughty Dog’s 2013 misery-’em-up was a huge critical and commercial hit. And with the second landing in a few months, you could watch season one again for a refresher. Or you could plump for the OG. Many scenes from the show were shot-for-shot, line-for-line reconstructions of the game, making it every bit as beautiful, tense, deep and harrowing – only, in plonking you in the shoes of Joel and Ellie as they scramble, shoot, stab and flee for survival, more immersive, and infinitely more terrifying.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
XBox, PlayStation, PC, Switch
You can almost feel the icy breeze needling your face in Bethesda’s revered fantasy adventure. More than any other game it captures the overwhelming, lonely freedom of roaming a gigantic, windswept, snow-flecked landscape. Occasionally you’ll break out of your reverie to square off against dragons, faff about in dungeons, and decide the fate of a country mired in civil war. For added chilly immersion, why not pop on a VR headset and open the windows*? (*Don’t actually do this. You’ll get cold.)

Stardew Valley
PC, Mac, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, mobile
Weeks of mainlining whiffy cheese and Irish cream has probably left you in dire need of some exercise. And while actually going outside and doing some would be preposterous, this gentle farming sim will serve as an adequate reminder of the nourishing effects of physical toil. While away hours sowing crops, raising animals, expanding your farm or getting married, all from the vicarious comfort of your sofa.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Switch
Remember the childhood joy of tipping a bucket of Lego on the carpet, sitting cross-legged all day and making something? Recreate that in adulthood without aggravating your sciatica with this latest, superlative iteration of Nintendo’s swords-and-tunics franchise. The follow-up to 2017’s equally revolutionary Breath of the Wild, it places you in a world brimming with assemblable parts, from which you can construct all manner of doohickies in order to thwart evil, from buggies and wonky planes to roaming leviathans of laser-spewing death.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
PC, Xbox, PlayStation
If you’re simply looking to lock yourself away until the weather becomes more reasonable, this vast space saga – three huge, story-driven RPGs bundled in a single package – will easily keep you engrossed for a couple of hundred hours. You play Commander Shepard, captain of the starship Normandy, on a galaxy-spanning quest to avert an extinction-level catastrophe. Explore dozens of planets, unravel conspiracies and assemble a crew of lovable rogues, whose lives, when the shooting starts, depend on your choices. Sprawling, dense sci-fi at its absolute best. LH

Podcasts

Normal Gossip
Kelsey McKinney’s series about the weirdest and wildest gossip that has scandalised listeners’ friendship groups was an instant hit when it arrived in 2022. With seven (!) seasons under its belt, some episodes naturally fall short. But at its best, it’s untouchable. Some classics to hunker down with: season one finale Spot the Scammer, in which a girls’ trip to south-east Asia implodes; season two opener Grandma’s Best Friend Dot, which sees a pensioner turn crimefighting “chaos demon”; and The Only Single Girl at Disney, from season four, a reminder to always check the recipient before you ping off a stroppy text.

Primer
From Song Exploder to Switched On Pop, there is no shortage of quality music podcasts. It’s all the more impressive, then, that Primer has managed to stand out among the crowd. Launched last May, each season will put a different (non-English language) genre under the microscope – kicking off with the alluringly retro strains of Japanese city pop. Come for shimmering synth lines, stay for Devendra Banhart dissecting an album called Gravy.

The Wonder of Stevie
If you’re in the market for even more music, what could be better than six whole hours dedicated to the peak of Stevie Wonder’s career, AKA his “classic period”? Compered by New York Times critic Wesley Morris, this slick series takes us back to the 70s, when Stevie was racking up Grammy nods at a ludicrous pace, and features cultural movers and shakers including Janelle Monáe, Questlove, Smokey Robinson, and the Obamas.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Few things say “winter warmer” like snuggling up with an Agatha Christie adaptation, full of red herrings, tragedy, twists and – of course – that final big reveal. Blurring the lines between audiobook and pod drama, this atmospheric Audible Original features an all-star cast, headed up by Peter Dinklage as Hercule Poirot, and featuring the likes of Harriet Walter, Himesh Patel and Baby Reindeer’s Jessica Gunning, with music by Johnny Flynn.

Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding?
Originally released in 2020, this indie pod became a word-of-mouth hit online three years later. The premise is undeniably disgusting (yes, someone really did “poo and run” at Karen Whitehouse and Helen McLaughlin’s nuptials). But this kooky true crime-esque investigation from “detective” Lauren Kilby, the brides, and, er, their toy lie detector, is difficult to resist. The perfect sofa-side binge – and there’s a follow-up: The Case of the Tiny Suit/Case, to boot.

The Severance Podcast With Ben Stiller and Adam Scott
Fans of Apple’s gripping workplace thriller will finally be put out of their misery on 17 January, when its second season arrives after almost three years. If you’re struggling to hang on until then, this companion audio series launches on 7 January, hosted by exec producer and sometime director Ben Stiller, and star Adam Scott. At the time of writing, details are scant – but dedicated Innies would surely tune into an hour of white noise at this stage. HJD

Music

Björk – Vespertine
Created in opposition to 1997’s volcanic Homogenic, Björk’s fourth album is all about quiet domesticity. The tactile, drunk in love coo of Cocoon aims to replicate lost days in bed, while Hidden Place gently protects a burgeoning love from the outside world. But it’s on the instrumental Frosti, created using a customised music box, that winter’s icy majesty is perfectly replicated before being melted by the emotional blaze of Aurora.

Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow
Originally released in 2011, Kate Bush’s atmospheric ode to winter’s comfort blanket re-entered the public consciousness this year thanks to a new edit of its opening track, Snowflake, being used to soundtrack a short film. While that song, and the closing Among Angels, utilise delicate piano melodies to draw you in, the 13-minute Misty, about a woman who sleeps with a lusty snowman, is all jazzy meanderings perfect to get lost in on dark nights.

Pulp – We Love Life
Having focused on the frailties of people on 1998’s disillusioned This Is Hardcore, 2001’s brighter, Scott Walker-produced followup used nature as its backdrop. A chill wind opens the slowburn Weeds, while songs such as The Trees and The Birds in Your Garden teem with a beauty that conjures up images of crisp, early winter morning walks. But it’s the closing epic, Sunrise, that hits hardest, representing a new dawn after months and months of darkness.

Sufjan Stevens – Songs for Christmas
Ignore the festive songs if you’ve had enough of Christmas and focus instead on the winter wonderland offered across these five EPs from the US’s premier singer-songwriter. The gorgeous Sister Winter may well be one of his best songs, a high-wire emotional gut-punch accented by sighing strings, while his take on Amazing Grace, rendered on battered banjo, almost glows with the heat of a wood fire.

Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
This year’s quiet Patterns in Repeat, recorded while Marling was hibernating with her newborn baby, could easily soundtrack a wintry escape from the real world. But it was on her second album that Marling captured both the warmth of contemplatively watching winter from indoors, and the bracing chill it can bring. The gently rollicking Hope in the Air represents the latter, but it’s Goodbye England (Covered in Snow) that perfectly evokes watching rolling hills, perhaps on a train, and musing on life.

Drake – Take Care
Released in November 2011, Drake’s lush, often sonically downbeat Take Care still feels like the perfect album to soundtrack a dark night of the soul for heartbroken playboys. The gentle pulse and emotional neediness of Marvins Room is tailor made for padding around moodily in front of an extravagant fireplace, while Shot for Me is what happens when you hit the leftover Baileys too hard and text an ex. MC

Film

Dìdi
How about some winter sunshine? This touching coming-of-age film about a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American nerd in late-00s California is a cheering dose of Vitamin D. Soundtracked by unfashionable pop-punk and featuring a more innocent age of the internet (the defunct social media platform Myspace and the vintage chatbot SmarterChild both make an appearance), elder millennial viewers in particular might find themselves filled with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Anatomy of a Fall
Forget Couples Therapy: Justine Triet’s classy courtroom drama about a wife on trial is even more fun to argue about on a cold winter night. With its atmospheric alpine setting, baffling, gory murder scene, and steely female protagonist (a bestselling authoress with a possible motive), this prestige popcorn thriller flirts knowingly with the tropes of the trashy murder mystery. It also contains a steel pan rendition of the 50 Cent song P.I.M.P.

Martha
January is a time for fresh starts, and the pleasure (or at least the dream) of mastering new skills. Both can be found in RJ Cutler’s compelling documentary on Martha Stewart, the diligent, detail-oriented professional domestic goddess and entrepreneur who went to prison in 2004 for fraud. Now 83, Stewart is seemingly allergic to showing vulnerability, which is mirrored in the doc’s archive footage. Her militant perfectionist streak remains chilling, but oddly aspirational.

Tangerine
Fans of Anora might wish to acquaint themselves with one of Sean Baker’s earlier films, a raucous Christmas Eve-set caper shot entirely on an iPhone. Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor) are two trans sex workers on a mission to find out the truth about whether Sin-Dee’s boyfriend has been cheating on her. They’re also each other’s chosen family, in this tender, sunset-hued comedy.

Little Women (2019 version)
When I think of Little Women, I think of four girls swaddled in blankets sitting around a roaring log fire. “Who will be interested in a story of domestic struggles and joys?” wonders writer Jo, the film’s spirited protagonist. But who could resist the warmth between sisters Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth, which is no match for a harsh, Massachusetts winter in this feminist twist on Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel.

Birth
As Nicole Kidman returns to big screens with erotic thriller Babygirl, there’s no better time to revisit one of her best films, also powered by a dark sexual undercurrent. In Birth, Kidman encounters her dead husband in the body of a 10-year-old. Directed by Jonathan Glazer, it also features one of the greatest opening scenes of all time, a tracking shot set to strings that follows a runner through a snowy Central Park. SH