September has been showing its sunnier side over the last week, and it’s looking like that may continue for a little while longer.
While the actual summer may have passed us by the blink of an eye, and the kids have officially gone back to school for a new year, that doesn’t mean the fun’s stopped, as there’s still loads of events happening in Greater Manchester to get stuck right into.
If you’re finding it a bit tricky to choose, we’ve cherry-picked a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide this week.
Here’s our top picks.
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Jesus Christ Superstar
Palace Theatre
Monday 11 – Saturday 23 September
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Jesus Christ Superstar / Credit: ATG Tickets
Award-winning musical Jesus Christ Superstar is heading out on a UK tour this year, and it’s kicking things off here in Manchester this week.
Following several acclaimed and sold-out runs in the West End, as well as an extensive tour right across the US and Canada, the Olivier Award-winning reimagined production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s celebrated musical will take to the stage over at Manchester’s Palace Theatre for the next two weeks.
RHS Garden Bridgewater is back hosting another one of its ‘Walkies at Bridgewater’ evenings by popular demand this Monday, and it means dogs owners can take a stroll around the picturesque gardens with their canine companions when the Worsley-based park opens up its grounds from 4pm–7pm.
With the sun set to shine, RHS says the special event is the perfect time to explore the horticultural delights of the season with your four-legged friend.
Deansgate Square’s very-own cookery school, Food Sorcery, is hosting another one of its dedicated Sushi & Gyoza Making workshops to kick-off the week.
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Japanese cuisine is experiencing more love in the UK now than ever before, and sushi has became one of the world’s most well-known dishes, so, during this three-hour expert class, you will get to learn how to make a whole host of popular types of sushi, such as makizushi, uramaki, California rolls, sashimi, and so much more.
All ingredients will be provided, and you will eat as you cook, as well as get to take home the additional dishes you make.
Find out more and book your spot on the class here.
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Operation Ouch!
Science and Industry Museum
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Monday 11 September – onwards
Operation Ouch! / Credit: Science Museum Group
A brand-new exhibition is currently having its world premiere at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, and it’s giving families the chance to “dive headfirst into the digestive system” and “travel like a poo”.
The new blockbuster exhibition, Operation Ouch!, is based on and will see the award-winning CBBC children’s TV series brought to life.
Visitors can expect interactive experiences, amazing objects from the Science Museum Group’s collection, and appearances from world-renowned doctors who will be on hand to guide audiences through this “lively, interactive, and playful adventure to better understand our brilliant bodies”.
In what is undeniably the stuff of dreams for cheese lovers, you can now take part in a cheese and wine crawl around Manchester city centre.
The Manchester Cheese Crawl will take you around some of the cheesiest spots the city has to offer for two hours of non-stop cheese-related fun – including everything from blue cheese tasting, to cheese quizzes, competitions, and more.
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Tickets cost just £25 each, and include cheese samples, optional bread and crackers, and some red wine to complement.
Fancy trying out some new bars, and restaurants that have opened in Greater Manchester this month?
Now autumn is technically here, we’re ready for lots of cheese, red wine, gravy, roasts and all the good things that come out of the kitchen once the weather gets a little bit cooler.
September in Manchester also brings a host of new bar and restaurant openings.
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Some of the year’s most hotly-anticipated new venues are throwing open their doors this month – with MediaCity’s giant new food hall Kargo MKT, Manchester’s only 2D Japanese cartoon cafe, Waku Waku, and new station-side craft beer bar Victoria Taps being just a few of the highlights.
As we do every month, we’ve rounded up the best new bars and restaurants opening in Greater Manchester this month, and there’s some really good ones to look forward to.
Plant NOMA – Evening Gardening Club / Credit: NOMA
Plant NOMA’s ‘Evening Gardening Club’ aims to offer a comfortable, relaxed, and fun environment for people of all ages to come together on a weekly basis and engage with gardening in some way, shape or form.
This might be poking seeds into compost, sprinkling gravel between plants, or pruning old wood from within a tree, as the range of activity in the club changes as the seasons move and the gardens evolve.
Taking place every Tuesday from 6pm to 8pm, for “as long as it’s light enough to do so”, it’s said to be a perfect way to unwind after work, pick up some tips, and connect with nature.
The Alternative Indie Wedding Fair #3 / Credit: ALT Events Co
The Alternative Indie Wedding Fair is back in Manchester again this weekend.
Hosted by ALT Events Co, The Alternative Indie Wedding Fair will see over 20 independent alternative vendors take over The Deaf Institute in Manchester city centre, making it the perfect place to get a feel of how you want your special day to be, all while being budget-friendly.
Taking place from 12pm – 4pm on Sunday 17 September, tickets are already on sale and will set you back £6.13 each – with a complementary glass of prosecco included.
Find out more and grab tickets here. Tickets will also be available on the door.
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Central Bay’s VIP launch party
Quayside MediaCity
Thursday 14 September
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Ad Maiora will be one of the traders joining Kargo. Credit: SuppliedTang will be one of the traders joining Kargo. Credit: Supplied
Central Bay will be throwing open its doors for the launch of its waterfront foodhall Kargo MKT this week – and they’re inviting 50 members of the public to join with a plus-one.
It’ll be a chance to sample the traders’ – ranging from Ad Maiora’s incredible sandwiches to Brazilian-Mexican fusion street food from Rio-Mex – cooking before the venue officially opens.
Central Bay will be one of the biggest independent food and drink operations in the North, with four new independent restaurants, 20 foodhall and street vendor kitchens, pop-up events, indie markets, live music performances and recreation space for children.
To enter the competition to win tickets to the VIP launch, head here and sign up by 5pm on Tuesday 12 September.
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Empowering Women in Business brunch club at MUSU
MUSU, 64 Bridge Street
Friday 15 September
This event will give like-minded women in business the chance to get together and network, while sampling the food of one of Manchester’s most prestigious restaurants.
The Women in Business Brunch club will have two ticket options – for £40 you can have a VIP culinary experience, or for £20 you can have a selection of light bar bites.
Signature bespoke cocktails and fizz will be served on arrival, with special guest speaker Claire Stone offering tips on mindset to come away feeling empowered and full of confidence.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie / Credit: ATG Tickets
The highly-anticipated 2023 UK tour of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie has finally arriving here Greater Manchester.
Following a record-breaking three-year West End residency, sold-out UK & Ireland Tour, and an Amazon studios award-winning film, the smash-hit and critically-acclaimed musical has returned to The Lowry stage, and is set to play all week.
The musical tells the story of Jamie New – a 16-year-old living on a council estate in Sheffield who doesn’t quite ‘fit in’ and is terrified about the future, but is determined to be a star.
It’s that time of year again… Oktoberfest is back in Manchester for 2023.
This celebration of German heritage translates across the globe, with Albert’s Schloss in the heart of the city centre at the helm in Manchester for the seventh year running.
With the festivities officially kicking off this Saturday from 6:30pm, keeping to the tradition of a star tapping (or boshing) the first keg, Schloss is set to welcome internet sensation and TikTok star, Big John to do the honours, while for the rest of the festival, you can expert biers, bratwurts, the sound of Albert’s Oompah band, and plenty of the usual Albert’s Schloss debauchery.
Mossley’s arts and music venue, The Vale, is celebrating its second birthday this Saturday with a free daytime ‘open doors’ event for all the family.
With a weekend of fun and culture for all ages planned, some of the family-friendly activities include music and dance taster workshops, street theatre, storytelling, arts and crafts activities, and live music, while lots of yummy food will be available to tuck into, and the bar will be well stocked with a range of alcoholic and soft drinks.
Later in the evening, a ticketed ‘tropical disco’ night will see live bands and DJs play until midnight.
Featured Image – Duopix Photography | The Manc Group | RHS
What's On
Manchester City have announced a special away day fan zone for festive fixture
Danny Jones
In a real added bonus for away fans making the roughly two-hour journey to their only fixture over the festive period, travelling Man City supporters are being treated to a dedicated away-day fan zone for their upcoming game against Nottingham Forest.
Now this is the kind of backing we want to see from big teams.
That’s right, for those visiting Nottingham for the meeting against the fellow Premier League side and one-time European Cup winners, Manchester City will be putting on a special and exclusive fan zone.
Confirmed on Christmas Eve ahead of the match this coming Saturday, 27 December, the club revealed a quick glimpse of the pop-up supporters’ park.
As detailed in the announcement, the public events space known as ‘The Nest’ will be open exclusively to away-ticket holders heading to the City Ground.
Perfect for a quick pit-stop before and after the clash, the venue is one of the closest you’ll find to the stadium itself and, better still, is located roughly just a 10-minute walk away from the railway station.
There will be a huge bar offering a wide selection of alcoholic and soft drinks, plus plenty of street food to enjoy. Here’s hoping the players don’t indulge in too many of those this Christmas, especially following Pep Guardiola’s ‘fatty’ comments.
They kick off at 12:30pm, but will everyone make the weight?…
Once again, Man City have advertised this as an away-day ticket-holder-only event, so we would probably call ahead and double-check if you’re a Blue who just so happens to live/be in the area and want to go along.
It also goes without saying that this will serve as an ideal and presumably trouble-free place to celebrate after the result, as it’s a strictly sky-blue event and we’d wager the title contenders and serial trophy winners to come out on top.
So, if you needed any extra assurance that making the approximately 81-mile trip to Nottingham, we’d say potentially going top at Christmas and cheersing a few pints with your mates on a would-be concourse designed just for you is plenty of added motivation.
As for those of you staying firmly in Greater Manchester this holiday season, there’s no reason you can’t still have a little away day of your own:
Featured Images — Manchester City (via X)/The Manc Group
What's On
10 of the very best British Christmas specials and episodes to watch on TV this holiday season
Danny Jones
‘Tis the season to sit on your backside and do nothing but gorge on mountains of food and watch TV for hours on end as you make your way through all the Christmas specials and best of British telly you can muster.
Now, there’s nothing worse than when it feels like there’s nothing on you’re stranded in that spot on the sofa that’s too comfy to vacate, so that’s where we come in.
Along with all the usual stuff you’ll find in the TV guide at this time of year, we thought we’d round up some of the very best Christmas specials made here in the UK and Ireland to have ever aired – that way, you’ll have a steady supply of festive viewing and barely need to move an inch.
In no particular order, let’s get stuck into it, shall we?
The best British Christmas TV specials of all time
Where else to start than with the pride of Wales and a series that millions watch from start to finish every year? Gavin & Stacey.
Still revered as one of the most beloved comedies to ever come out of the UK, their two festive specials are also part and parcel (pardon the pun) of many Brits’ Christmas.
It still feels a bit weird going back and watching Corden as Smithy before the days of American fame, that first Nessa entrance; Uncle Bryn being, well, Bryn – even the soundtrack takes us back – but after the huge success of last year’s Gavin & Stacey finale, we’re ready to cry buckets all over again.
9. The Office – ‘Christmas Special’ (Part 1 and 2)
Next up is not only this particular telephile’s ultimate Christmas TV event but possibly one of the very best episodes of British telly in history. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant broke new ground with this genre-defining comedy, and while they fine-tuned cringe throughout the series, this was pure heart.
Rom-com juggernaut Richard Curtis dubbed this two-part Christmas special spread across just 96 minutes as the culmination of what he believed to be “one of the great romantic stories of all time” between Tim and Dawn, and the perfect end to a “masterpiece”.
You’ll hear no arguments from us.
Is it the best Christmas special in British TV history?
8. The Royle Family – Christmas Specials (1999, 2000, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012)
Another classic not only British but fundamentally Manc comedy, The Royle Family might just be one of the best things Greater Manchester ever produced – and that’s saying something – and perfectly captures the comfortable monotony of sitting in front of the telly for hours on end.
That goes doubly so for the multiple Christmas specials, of which there are many and while they all do a great job of creating that familiar feeling of a Northern front room that the series was so good at throughout its entire run, the 1999 Christmas with the Royle Family special where the late great Caroline Aherne’s water breaks and that tear-jerking scene with Ricky Tomlinson…
It gets us every time.
Set just down the road in Wythenshawe, it still has us weeping just as much now as it did back in the day.
7. Peep Show – ‘Seasonal Beatings’
Cauliflower may or may not be traditional, but one thing we can agree on is that watching Peep Show‘s hilariously miserable, ill-mannered, tense, ever-awkward and bloody brilliant Christmas episode from 2010 is very much part of our annual holiday ritual.
The fifth episode of the seventh season – which many would rightly champion as peak-era Peep Show – may only last less than half an hour, but it feels like an eternity of familiar festive agony and walking on eggshells before the fantastic crescendo that is Mark pouring gravy into a shredder.
‘Merry Chris-Mark!’
If you don’t think Peep Show’s Christmas special/festive episode is one of the best in British TV history, you’re just wrong, sorry.
6. Ted Lasso – ‘Carol of the Bells’
Approaching the halfway mark, and we’re going to be somewhat controversial and introduce not only a very contemporary pick but one that isn’t technically a UK production, but the show is set entirely in England, and if there’s one thing it has tried to be since the start, it’s almost too cookie-cutter British
Now, we’re going to qualify that we have a weird relationship with Ted Lasso; it’s by no means the funniest thing we’ve ever seen, and the broad-strokes American look at football is frustrating at times, but one thing this show does do well is being deeply sincere, and never more so than in its Xmas special.
Plus, you get to hear Hannah Waddingham sing her pipes off – what’s not to like?
Christmas is about reminding your loved ones how much they mean – regardless of what you make of the show, this episode nails that.
5. Extras – Christmas Special (Part 1 and 2)
Our penultimate pick is also our second Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant creation: the Extras Christmas special, which aired back in 2007 and still has some of the funniest gags in the history of British TV as far as we’re concerned.
Managing to rope in even more big names for this equally cringeworthy and even painful to watch at times conclusion to the show, which also ran for just two series like The Office, the frustrating arc of Gervais’ main character Andy Millman is such a great payoff when all is said and done.
Only an hour and a half in total, well worth sticking on if you’ve never seen it before.
Just look at how many famous faces they managed to rope in for this fantastic two-parter. (Credit: Press Image via BBC)
4. Doctor Who – ‘End of Time’ (Part 1 and 2)
From a David Tennant cameo to him in arguably one of his greatest-ever performances in his final full-time appearance as the space-travelling Time Lord in what we are officially declaring the best Doctor Who Christmas special to date, and some of Russell T. Davies’ very best work.
It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 15 whole years since the national treasure said goodbye to the role in the gut-wrenching two-parter, which also saw the return of John Simm as ‘The Master’, but we’re still confident that there hasn’t been a better Xmas/New Year’s Day special pairing than the one below.
Here’s hoping RTD’s recent comeback will see a return to form by the next one in December 2026.
That delivery of ‘I don’t wanna go’ still makes us well up.
As we gradually approach the end of our list, we want to give so much deserved love to what we think isn’t just the underdog of British telly but an unsung hero when it comes to spotlighting friendship, positive male relationships and downright fraternal love.
It’s Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Finishing – the festive editions. We know we’re biased, but we really love the one with Paul Heaton. If you’ve ever sat down to watch an episode of this laid-back, laughter-filled show, you’ll know that these two can often achieve that warm, heartfelt and cosy feeling regardless of whether it’s Christmas or not.
It’s also a great antidote to any latent toxic masculinity left on screen, and with some serious emotion being laid bare in these Christmas special episodes, especially for us, this is what reality TV should be. We’re already looking forward to the next instalment at 9pm on Christmas Eve.
— Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (@MWGoneFishing) December 22, 2025
2. Click & Collect
Ok, we promise this is the last Merchant mention on this list, as we’re intensely aware of some bias on our end, but this straight-to-TV BBC short film really took us by surprise when we first saw it and is well worth setting aside a nice round hour to enjoy.
Not only does the core premise feel like a very relatable scenario for many parents rushing to sort out everyone’s Christmas presents in time, but it’s a touching tale of family, kindness and sparing that extra bit of patience during what can be a tough time of year for lots of people.
Trust us, you’ll love it.
Asim Chaudhry is fantastic.
1. Only Fools & Horses – ‘Heroes and Villains’
And finally, what better place to round off this list than with only the series consistently voted the greatest British comedy of all time, but the episode that is widely considered its best-ever Christmas special? It can only be Del Boy and Rodney dressed up as Batman and Robin in ‘Heroes and Villains’.
Now, there is a whopping total of 18 Only Fools Christmas specials, and we’re sure everyone has their own personal favourite, but surely there isn’t a single one more iconic than the first episode of the legendary 1996 festive trilogy.
It also sets up events for ‘Time on Our Hands’, one of the most moving scripts they ever wrote – but it all starts with the much-loved duo plodding through the mist in capes.
It’s still regarded as the best British comedy ever, but where does it rank on the list of all-time greatest Christmas TV specials?
A very Christmas special mention…
Father Ted – ‘A Christmassy Ted’
Not technically British, we know, but the cult Irish hit remains one of the funniest comedies to ever come out of our corner of the world, and if you’ve never seen Ted, Dougal and a bunch of other clergymen get stuck in a women’s lingerie section like it’s a warzone, you’re seriously missing out.
Mrs Doyle is her typical quick-witted self, and Father Jack can be found making the occasional outburst from his chair as usual and overall, ‘A Christmassy Ted’ is a very funny bit of seasonal telly.
Not strictly British but still one of the best Christmas specials in TV history if you ask us.
Come on, you have to agree – we absolutely smashed that.
Some old, some new, some maybe a little bit out of left field, but all absolutely guaranteed to keep you entertained this festive period.
If you think we’ve made the cardinal sin of missing an all-time TV great, then please feel free to give it to us in the comments and educate us on the best British Christmas specials.
In fact, one of our other writers, Emily, has forced me to add a line about The Vicar of Dibley Christmas Specials too… so here’s the line. You can also find her round-up of all the best new bits coming to the box this holiday season down below.
Emily Sergeant -
8th September 2023 
