Your worst nightmare. It’s here, it’s captivating, it’s one of the best Halloween events you can attend in Manchester – it’s ‘Time To Die’.
The brand-new immersive scare experience lands this Halloween right here in the city centre. Time To Die, presented by Manchester Scare Factory, is elevating horror to a whole new level.
Created by the group of innovative professionals behind Diecast, the award-winning Newsham Park in Liverpool and the infamous Area51group, this horrifying masterpiece is like no other and it’s coming to Mancs this autumn.
Delivering two unique scare experiences, ‘The Die Is Cast’ and ‘The Toymaker’, there’s something to rumble everyone at their core and have you crawling in you’re skin.
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The Dice Master overseeing Time To Die sees all and will watch on as brave souls delve deeper people into his gargantuan labyrinth of fear. Put it this way, once the die is cast, you cannot turn back.
If you dare try, prepare for what they promise will be “20 minutes of adrenaline-fuelled panic”; only time will tell if you’ll make it out alive. And that’s only half of it…
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Visitors will encounter the “face of pure Evil” and the “creator of monstrosities”, as The Toymaker lures you into the “Devil’s own dungeon.” Prepare to push yourself to very the peak of sanity.
All this is waiting for fight fans just a five-minute walk from Piccadilly Station. Manchester natives and visitors from elsewhere have easy accessibility. Halloween lovers cannot miss this.
A pulse-raising way to spend Halloween in Manchester this year. (Credit: Manchester Scare Factory)
As mentioned, Area51 have been scaring the public with their attractions for 20 years now. Area 51 have their frightening footprints all over the UK scare scene, even venturing as far as Dubai; they’re known for their creative creatures, immersive experiences and intense encounters.
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The team hit on Diecast as the perfect location, located right in the city centre; it’s a dream come true for them and anyone who likes the idea of an interactive experience that’ll have your heart jumping out of your chest.
Area 51’s director and designer, Matt Page explained: “We took one look at Diecast and knew it would be perfect; hands-down the best location we have ever seen for an immersive horror experience and right in the city centre.
“It’s the stuff of nightmares even without the ghouls. We look forward to delivering something truly horrifying come this October; this will be brutal!”
Nope — absolutely not. You horror fans feel free but we’re not going anywhere near that. (Credit: Supplied)
Tickets go on sale Friday, 30 August at 10am, priced at just £32 per person. The haunting experience begins on 4 October and ends on 2nd November, opening at 7pm and closing at midnight each night.
The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 16 – 22 September 2024
Emily Sergeant
September is well underway now, and the cosy season is upon us.
For many people, the end of summer can sometimes mean the end of all the fun, but as we head into autumn, there’s still absolutely no shortage of things for the whole family to be getting up to across Greater Manchester.
Finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do though? We’ve chosen a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide this week.
Here’s some of our recommendations.
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The Book of Mormon
Manchester Palace Theatre
Monday 16 September – Saturday 5 October
The Book of Mormon / Credit: Supplied
The Book of Mormon is back in Manchester.
Known and loved for being one of the best musicals the 21st Century – and one of the funniest of all time – having scooped up dozens of coveted awards both in the US and here in the UK in its time, The Book of Mormon is currently out on tour, and the Elders have now arrived in our city for an extended stay.
The hilarious production has taken over the iconic Palace Theatre stage until early October, and there’s still chance to grab yourself some tickets too.
Did you see that a massive new vintage clothing store has now opened in Manchester city centre?
ReMarket has opened on London Road, wedged between Piccadilly Markets and Manchester Piccadilly train station, with 6,000 sq ft filled with rails ripe for the rummaging.
From Dickies and Levi’s, to Stone Island and Gucci, there are some serious brands and serious bargains to be found inside, as well as a number of different independent brands – including Bare Necessities, Archive X, 28 Vintage, Cherry Blossom Vintage and Blank Seams.
ReMarket / Credit: The Manc Group
The best way to think of it is as a department store… but for very cool, independent vintage and second-hand brands.
Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine / Credit: Science Museum Group
More than 100 objects and stories collected during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic are now on display as part of a new exhibition at the Science and Industry Museum.
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The groundbreaking new exhibition, titled Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine, explores the worldwide effort to develop vaccines at pandemic speed, while uncovering the inspiring stories of scientists and innovators around the globe who collaborated to tackle the worldwide COVID-19 challenge along the way.
A groundbreaking new immersive exhibition exploring our relationship with the natural world is now open at Manchester Museum.
‘Wild’ look at how people are creating, rebuilding, and repairing connections with nature, and how the natural world has traditionally been presented and idealised through Western art, as well as looking at some unique approaches to environmental recovery too.
The exhibition will also crucially look at how we can tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis by making the world more wild.
Manc visitors will be able to walk through the iconic Jurassic World gates, explore some richly-themed environments, and encounter a life-sized Brachiosaurus, Velociraptors, and the most fearsome dinosaur of all, the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Did you see that Bolton has launched its own ‘Hollywood of the North’ TV and film location tours around the town centre?
Merely months after being named Greater Manchester’s new ‘Town of Culture’, Bolton is already proving why 2024 is its year, as the town is celebrating its shiny new title by celebrating all the times it has been chosen as a filming location for dozens of major film and TV productions over the years.
These new behind-the-scenes tours are led by local historian and professional tour guide, Suzanne Hindle, and will feature all of the town’s famous filming spots.
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Bolton Film & TV Tours / Credit: Supplied | BBC
Visitors will get to explore places such as court rooms, cells, and Crescent corridors whilst hearing tales of how the industry adapt these unexpected locations to set the scene.
The National Theatre’s acclaimed production of War Horse returns to The Lowry as part of its all-new UK tour this week, and it’s described as being an “unforgettable theatrical experience” which takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France.
Based on the beloved novel by Michael Morpurgo, this powerfully moving and imaginative drama, filled with stirring music and songs, is a show of “phenomenal inventiveness”.
Greater Manchester’s iconic heritage railway is currently hosting one of the most unique fine dining experiences in the region.
Running on selected Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays throughout the summer, East Lancashire Railway’s ‘Red Rose Diners’ are described as being “the ultimate first class foodie experience”, as they start with a glass of fizz and stretch over an almost three-hour steam train journey through the Irwell Valley.
The experience includes a four-course dinner with complimentary sparkling wine, followed by tea or coffee and after-dinner chocolates.
Góbéfest is back in Cathedral Gardens this weekend.
Manchester’s original international urban folk music and dance festival will be taking over the city centre greenspace from Friday 20 to Sunday 22 September with a curated mix of bands and solo artists, folk dance troupes, choirs, and so much more.
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Independent food and drink traders will be serving up favourites from around the Carpathian Basin, alongside craft beer, a Hungarian wine stall, a cocktail bar, and a palinka (Hungarian fruit brandy) bar, while there’ll also be free activities in the family tent too – including music and dance workshops, arts and crafts, and storytelling.
Day tickets will set you back £10 each, while children under 12 go free, and you can find out more about this year’s festival here.
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Fancy a free roast dinner this Sunday? Who could say no to that…
We know Sunday roasts very much fall into the ‘if ain’t broke don’t fix it’ category of British food, and rightly so, they’re absolutely glorious – but every now and then, they’re made fresh and exciting again, and that’s exactly what Maray have done with theirs.
Plus, who on earth is ignoring a FREE roast dinner?
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Roast dinner at Maray / Credit: The Manc Group
That’s right, not only are Maray’s incredible Middle-Eastern twists on the classic carvery combination of lovingly cooked joints of meat, exquisitely cooked vegetables, and their take on firm favourites like the potato (the best bit, let’s be honest), but they’re also going to be dishing them out for free.
You can get yourself a roast dinner without paying a single penny for one day only at Maray this Sunday, and you can find out more here.
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Featured Image – The Manc Group | Supplied
Things To Do
Extra date added for festive screening of The Holiday with live orchestra in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
You can watch The Holiday on a big screen with a live orchestra playing the soundtrack in Manchester this Christmas.
The Holiday is one of the best-loved Christmas films of all time.
In case you haven’t got around to watching it before, the 2006 romcom directed and produced by Nancy Meyers stars Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black, and tells the story of how two women, who have never met and live 6,000 miles apart, find themselves in the same exact place in life.
They meet online through a home exchange website, and impulsively switch homes for the holiday.
Shortly after arriving at their destinations, both women find the last thing either wants or expects – a new romance.
An extra date has been added for a festive screening of The Holiday with live orchestra in Manchester / Credit: Universal Pictures
Since its release nearly two decades ago, watching The Holiday has become an annual tradition for millions worldwide every time the festive season rolls around – but how would you like to watch this classic in the most magical way possible? Streamed live onto a big screen in the theatre with a complete concert orchestra playing its soundtrack by the legendary Hans Zimmer? Well now you can this Christmas.
After a sell-out run in 2023, The Holiday In Concert will be going on a 16-date tour across the UK again this November and December, and will be taking place in the some of the country’s greatest concert halls – including The Bridgewater Hall here in Manchester.
The in-concert experience with a full orchestra and cinema-size screen is described as being an “incredibly unique” and “immersive” way to experience this cult-classic film.
JUST ANNOUNCED // Due to popular demand, The Holiday in Concert returns to the Hall on Monday 23 December for an extra date! Enjoy Hans Zimmer's score played live-to-film by a stunning full concert orchestra 🎼 Tickets on sale Friday 13 September 10am. ℹ https://t.co/TslToqd32Apic.twitter.com/5WpA6X5vQ2
Due to overwhelming demand for the Manchester show on Friday 6 December, a second date in our city has now been added to the tour’s run on Monday 23 December, and tickets for the new show are on sale at 10am tomorrow (Friday 13 September).
Liverpool, York, and Sheffield are some of the other northern English cities forming part of the tour, while the show will also be staged in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Swansea, and more.
Blake Keeble -
23rd August 2024 
