FILM

No Country for Old Men, January 18

The Coen brothers are back on top form, reining in the black humour in favour of an honourable adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel about a man on the run with a case full of stolen dollar bills. It’s a taut, thoughtful thriller, with a rampaging psychopath (the stunning Javier Bardem) at its dark heart, but its gore and mayhem aren’t the main issues. Arguably even better than Fargo, it has great performances from Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin and Woody Harrelson.

Sweeney Todd, January 25

Judged by one American critic as “the best movie musical ever made”, the latest Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration looks their most fascinating yet. Sondheim’s masterly musical about the demon barber of Fleet Street hits the screen with buckets of blood and Burtonisms; Depp is already being touted for that elusive Oscar.

The Savages, January 25

Small but perfectly formed, The Savages is about a warring pair of siblings, played, with predictable excellence, by Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Cloverfield, February 1

Imagine a monster movie shot in the style of The Blair Witch Project — as a shaky handheld film — and you will know what to expect of the mysterious new project from JJ Abrams, creator of Lost and Alias. Teen hit of the year?

There Will Be Blood, February 8

The superlatives will gush, along with the crude oil, over Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film. Daniel Day-Lewis plays a driven oil prospector whose ambitions devastate both the landscape of early-20th-century California and his relationship with his adopted son. For once, the term “monumental” applies: Day-Lewis is more force of nature than actor.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, February 8

Another contender for the top prizes will be Julian Schnabel’s impressive telling of the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the French journalist felled by a stroke and left in a “locked-in” condition, in which only one of his eyes could move. Mathieu Amalric is haunting and moving as Bauby, and the film, despite its grim premise, is magnificent.

Juno, February 8

Every year brings a small but wonderful gem of a film. The Little Miss Sunshine of 2008 is set to be Juno, a tartly funny comedy about a goth teenager (Ellen Page) who finds herself pregnant before high school is out. The script hums with one-liners and the cast rise brilliantly to the mix of human drama and comedy, notably Allison Janney, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, as the baby’s adoptive mother.

My Blueberry Nights, February 22

The singer Norah Jones makes her screen debut in Wong Kar Wai’s road movie, along with an impressive array of more established talent: Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz.

In Bruges, March 28

Martin McDonagh’s debut feature, with which fans of his plays will feel right at home, is a brilliant jeu d’esprit about the nature of integrity in a rotten world, with a reborn Colin Farrell as a punk gangster on the run, and the ever brilliant Brendan Gleeson as his world-weary accomplice. Funny and gory, in a way Quentin Tarantino would kill for.

Shine a Light, April 4

The rock movie of the year should be this one, Martin Scorsese’s film of the Rolling Stones in concert. Since he directed one of the best rock-concert films ever, The Last Waltz, about the Band, and capped it with his excellent Dylan film three years ago, I predict a riot.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, May 22

They say there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. Wrong. There are three certainties: death, taxes and Hollywood sequels. This year brings more dollops of Star Trek, The Hulk and, of course, Harry Potter and Narnia. But there’s only one I can honestly say I am looking forward to: Steven Spielberg’s new Indiana Jones film. The reason is simple: curiosity. Spielberg doesn’t need the money, so why is he doing it? Can he and 65-year-old Harrison Ford re-create the old magic, or are they doomed to disappoint millions?

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, October 3

On the question of disappointing films, I have to admit I was hoping that How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, based on the book by my old friend Toby Young, would be a stinker. Simon Pegg plays a hapless English hack trying to make it in the Big Apple. I’ve seen a 10-minute trailer, and my worst fears have been confirmed: it’s really very funny.

Cosmo Landesman

ART

From Russia: French and Russian Master Paintings 1870-1925 from Moscow and St Petersburg, Royal Academy, W1, January 26-April 18

As we went to press, this blockbuster was back on again, after a fraught period of diplomacy and brinkmanship that led to a special act of parliament to protect the works on display. Fingers crossed, for it promises to be a treat. The RA will be bringing over a mass of masterpieces from Russian collections, including, unbelievably, Matisse’s greatest painting, The Dance.

Tickets £11, at ratickets.org.uk/welcome.asp , or in person if your visit is less than 48 hours away

Alexander Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography, Hayward Gallery, SE1, February 7-April 27

The brilliant Russian pioneer — painter, sculptor, graphic artist — transformed the art of photography in the 1920s. The Hayward is showing 120 of his images, many seen here for the first time, courtesy of a certain Chelsea FC owner.

Tickets £9, at www.haywardgallery.org.uk

Hadrian: Empire and Conflict, British Museum, WC1, July 24-October 26

The BM, finally beginning to find its feet under the redoubtable Neil MacGregor, is following up its excellent First Emperor extravaganza with a show devoted to the brilliant and apparently gay Roman emperor Hadrian. Famous for his love of architecture — the wall is one thing, but how stupendous is Hadrian’s Pantheon in Rome? — this energetic warrior-builder looks a perfect subject for the BM treatment.

Tickets on sale from February 6 at 020 7323 8181 or information@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Mark Rothko, Tate Modern, SE1, September 26-February 1 2009

My show of the year, though you have to wait until the autumn for it, annoyingly. It’s claimed as an unprecedented assembling of Rothko’s late work, including the Seagram paintings owned by the Tate.

Tickets £12, available in September at any Tate, or at https://membership.tate.org.uk/tickets.asp

Francis Bacon, Tate Britain, SW1, October 1-January 4 2009

Another strong showing from the Tate empire, a retrospective of the late artist’s work, gathering together his strongest paintings from all periods of his life.

Tickets, as above

Saatchi Gallery, SW1

Early in the year should see the unveiling of the new Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. I hoped exactly the same thing in my preview last year, and it never happened. If it does open, Saatchi’s gallery will show new art from China and India.

Waldemar Januszczak

TELEVISION

The Big Food Fight, Channel 4, from next week

Channel 4 is carrying on the campaigning work it started with Jamie’s School Dinners. Now it’s taking on the hazards of over-industrialised food in a series that brings together Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to catch us at our overstuffed, post-Christmas weakest. It won’t be easy telly to watch, but it will get your juices flowing if you care about what you eat.

The Last Enemy, BBC1, date tbc

The drama year on television begins with it a nasty hangover from 2007. Whatever Whitehall’s resolutions about keeping track of data discs, it won’t reassure the characters in this superior thriller. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Carlyle, it’s about the surveillance society stepping over a line. “It’s a near future where the only way we can account for ourselves is through huge collections of personal data,” says its producer, Gub Neal. “Mind you, it’s what I feel every time I ring the bank.”

The Ladies No 1 Detective Agency, BBC1, March

With only a phone and old typewriter to work with, the perils of new technology do not trouble Precious Ramotswe, played by Jill Scott in The Ladies No 1 Detective Agency. Her simple goodness, and the loving portrayal of Botswana, convinced writer Richard Curtis and Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella they could make something special of Alexander McCall Smith’s bestseller.

Ashes to Ashes, BBC1, February

It’s back to the 1980s, which is where this time-shifting sequel to Life on Mars has landed. DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) stars again. But will the camel coat be in mothballs?

Thatcher, The Long Walk to Finchley, BBC4, Feb 27

Be sure to catch the excellent Andrea Riseborough, winner of the prestigious Ian Charleson award and star of Party Animals, as young Margaret Thatcher on the political make.

Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe, C4, March

Like McCall Smith, Hawking has sold more than 9m copies of a book, but A Brief History of Time was more bought than read. Twenty years on, the story of the cosmos is made accessible in a landmark two-parter.

Life, ITV1, March/April

Damian Lewis is the latest Brit to go American in the service of a drama series, this one about a cop who has done time for a crime he didn’t commit. The series is doing for Lewis what House did for Hugh Laurie.

Lark Rise to Candleford, BBC1, January 13

Rural England returns after its starring appearance in Cranford. This time, it is the bucolic memories of the early 20th century that provide the gentle stories that made Flora Thompson’s semi-autobiographical trilogy of novels so enchanting. A big hit for the National Theatre in the 1970s, expect the same for this 10-parter starring Julia Sawalha, Dawn French, Brendan Coyle, Mark Heap, Ben Miles and Liz Smith.

Sally Kinnes

POP

Several big names have albums due, although some of them, to be brutally frank, are overdue for a “return to form”.

Oasis

Actually, each new Oasis album that emerges is hailed as a “return to form”, but it never quite is. Maybe this year’s effort, which the band will be mixing in LA soon, will hit the spot when it emerges later in the year (no firm date yet).

Madonna

Madge’s albums are also invariably hailed as a “return to form”, but usually aren’t; but we give her the benefit of the doubt, because she has defied the laws of pop gravity for so long. The new album is due “early 2008”, with a greatest-hits set likely later in the year. As Madonna has left her label Warner to tie-up with events company Live Nation, it will be intriguing to see exactly how she releases her music. Will she do a Radiohead?

REM

This band have been talking up their next album for the best part of a year, so if it isn’t the return-to-form they’ve been claiming they’re going to look pretty silly. Snow Patrol producer Jacknife Lee at the controls hints at a return to their more anthemic style (and more Guitars . . . please).

The Breeders

We’re sorry the Pixies reunion isn’t continuing, but, on the other hand, we’re looking forward to the new album from Pixies bassist Kim Deal’s other band. Called Mountain Battles, it’s due in April.

Cat Power

An eagerly awaited covers album from the wonderful singer called Jukebox will be out in a couple of weeks.

Estelle

Britain’s lost hip-hop/soul superstar returns from her American exile in March, with a brilliant new album boasting contributions from Wyclef Jean, Mark Ronson, Kanye West and John Legend.

Top gigs

The big gigs include Kaiser Chiefs at Elland Road in May, Bruce Springsteen at Old Trafford and the Emirates stadium in May and the Millennium Stadium in June, and Foo Fighters at the City of Manchester stadium and Wembley in June. (www.seetickets.com )

New acts

The talent we’re expecting to break through this year includes a new Amy Winehouse, a new Busted, a successor to Arcade Fire, the Welsh Dusty Springfield and a Supertramp for the 21st century. Adele is none of the above, but winning the inaugural Critics’ Choice Brit award has set the folk-soul singer up for a breakthrough year. Gabriella Cilmi comes riding in from Australia on the Amy slipstream, with the voice and the songs to score high in the charts. Duffy has the looks, the retro stylings and the big voice, but do her songs, in this post-Lily landscape, have the required contemporary twist? Jack McManus soars effortlessly through immaculate and impossibly catchy soft-rock and pop, with lots of 1970s chord progressions and tinkly piano bits. Is it time for the Supertramp revival? We’re certainly ready for another Busted, and One Night Only should fit the bill with their hooks and good looks. And if there’s room for another Arcade Fire, then the New York four-piece Vampire Weekend, whose record collection seems to contain everything from afrobeat to blowsy Hollywood musicals, and alt-rock to disco-punk, should step up to the plate (out Feb).

Mark Edwards and Dan Cairns

THEATRE

Scenes from a Marriage

Here’s a change: British theatre’s first port of call in 2008 is Coventry. At the Belgrade, Trevor Nunn directs a new stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage. Imogen Stubbs and Iain Glen star as the troubled couple. From January 12, www.belgrade.co.uk

The Vertical Hour

Other heavyweights helping the year start auspiciously include David Hare, whose Iraq play The Vertical Hour is about to receive its UK premiere at the Royal Court with Anton Lesser and Indira Varma starring.

From January 17, www.royalcourttheatre.com

Speed-the-Plow

Kevin Spacey, still heading the Old Vic, takes the lead in David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow.

From February 1. www.oldvictheatre.com

Jersey Boys

In the West End, success seems promised to the latest musical transfer from Broadway. Jersey Boys tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the 1960s group whose hits include Sherry and Big Girls Don’t Cry. A huge hit Stateside, the show opens at the Prince Edward in February. www.prince-edward-theatre.co.uk

The Histories

Spring sees the RSC bring its production of Shakespeare’s history cycle from Stratford to the Roundhouse in London. The eight plays can be seen separately or, during some weekends in March and May, as a sequence. From the slightly bonkers set of the Henry VIs, to the sleek and sinister Richard III, the audience can see the Bard’s vision of England develop. www.rsc.org.uk

Twelfth Night/Ivanov

Shakespeare also features in the Donmar West End season, at the Wyndham from September. Next Christmas, Derek Jacobi will star as Malvolio in Twelfth Night (opening December 5), before Kenneth Branagh directs Jude Law’s Hamlet in 2009. But the season will open with Branagh taking the title role in Chekhov’s Ivanov, in a version furnished by Tom Stoppard. www.thisistheatre.com/londonshows

Hamlet

We’ll not need to wait until 2009 to get a “celebrity Hamlet” though: David Tennant, the current Doctor Who, will bring his impish presence to Elsinore in an RSC production come July. www.rsc.org.uk

Equus

Following Daniel Radcliffe’s performance this year, Equus develops its reputation for breaking in new talent as Alfie “brother-of-Lily” Allen takes on the role of disturbed teenager Alan Strang. Simon Callow joins him on tour from January 31. www.equustheplay.com

The Good Soul of Szechuan

This may seem set to be quite a male year, but events will surely prove otherwise. For instance, the Young Vic has something special up its sleeve — Jane Horrocks doing Brecht. Horrocks stars as Shen Te in The Good Soul of Szechuan, in May.

www.youngvic.org

Louis Wise

BOOKS

Stephen King: Duma Key (Hodder, January)

The world’s favourite plot-spinner returns with a novel about a one-armed artist in Florida, who finds his pictures have become strangely predictive, even dangerous .

JG Ballard: Miracles of Life — Shanghai to Shepperton (Fourth Estate, February)

The long-awaited memoirs of one of the strangest and most interesting British writers of the 20th century, author of Empire of the Sun and Crash.

Peter Carey: His Illegal Self (Faber, February)

The eight-year-old son of missing parents who were radical activists in the late 1960s becomes an outlaw, journeying from the affluent Upper East Side home of the grandmother who has raised him to the jungle in Queensland, northern Australia.

Louis de Bernières: A Partisan’s Daughter (Harvill Secker, March)

Still searching for that winning Captain Corelli touch, de Bernières’s latest is about a fortysomething man, in a loveless, sexless marriage, involved with a refugee from Tito’s Yugoslavia who tells tall stories, during the 1970s winter of discontent.

Hanif Kureishi: Something to Tell You (Faber, March)

Already building up a huge word-of-mouth, Kureishi’s new novel features a psychoanalyst looking back on 1970s London and its excesses, and the way its repercussions continue.

Salman Rushdie: The Enchantress of Florence (Cape, April)

Renaissance Italy and the Mughal empire are brought together in a story about an Indian princess who is involved in political intrigue in 16th-century Florence.

CJ Sansom: Revelation (Macmillan, April)

A terrific historical crime novel: a serial killer is at large in Tudor London, where sectarian religious struggles rage and factions at Henry VIII’s court nervously wait to see if Catherine Parr will marry him. Fantastically gripping, as well as brilliantly evocative of feel and preoccupations of period.

Sebastian Faulks: Devil May Care (Penguin, May)

It’s the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth, and to celebrate, here’s a new James Bond novel — as written by Sebastian “Birdsong” Faulks.

Zoë Heller: The Believers (Fig Tree, November)

The Booker-listed novelist sets her latest in New York, where the Livitnoffs find their sense of the world tested when the head of the family falls ill.

Peter Kemp

CLASSICAL

World premieres of new operas and new productions of work by contemporary composers are a consistent thread in the programming of our leading companies. After James McMillan’s The Sacrifice (Welsh National Opera) last September and Jonathan Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio (Opera North) in December (touring January to March), all of the big institutions have eagerly awaited premieres.

The Minotaur

Harrison Birtwistle’s latest, starring John Tomlinson and Philip Langridge, and directed by Langridge’s son, Stephen, is eagerly awaited. It has Antonio Pappano conducting his first new work at Covent Garden (from April 15; www.royalopera.org ).

Scottish Opera

Even cash-strapped Scottish Opera re-duced to four main-house shows, is performing the first of five short operas and the long overdue Scottish premiere of Judith Weir’s first big success in the theatre, A Night at the Chinese Opera (from April 11; www.scottishopera.org.uk ).

Lost Highway

English National Opera, in temporary exile from the London Coliseum at the Young Vic, offers the UK premiere of Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth’s Lost Highway in repertoire with a new production of Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy (from April 4; www.eno.org ).

Glyndebourne

The first festival commission for a decade is Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons, based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novella (from August 10). The first new summer production is Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, starring Danielle de Niese as the upwardly mobile Roman courtesan, and Alice Coote as her lover, the Emperor Nero. Emmanuelle Haïm conducts; Robert Carsen directs (from May 18; www.glyndbourne.com ).

Don Carlo

Nicholas Hytner returns to Covent Garden with a new production of Verdi’s opera — based on the Schiller play he directed at Manchester’s Royal Exchange — starring Rolando Villazon in the title role, Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip II, and star-in-the-making Marina Poplavskaya as Elisabetta di Valois. Pappano conducts (June 6; www.royalopera.org ).

Opera North

A summer season (May to July) of Shakespeare-based operas — Verdi’s Macbeth, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette — and a revival of Phyllida Lloyd’s staging of Britten’s Peter Grimes (January to March) is not to be missed (www.operanorth.co.uk ).

Anniversaries

The year has some notable ones: the centenaries of Olivier Messiaen and Eliot Carter (happily still with us and active) will be commemorated, especially Messiaen, who gets a year-long festival at the South Bank for the pleasure of those who revel in musical indigestion, while the 150th birthday of Puccini means business as usual for a composer who needs no special celebrations. The 50 years since the death of Vaughan Williams will be noted with, among others, a concert performance of his John Bunyan opera, The Pilgrim’s Progress at Sadler’s Wells (June 20-22; www.sadlerswells.com ).

Hugh Canning

DANCE

New York City Ballet

This year sees a new spring dance season at the London Coliseum, opening with a big showing from New York City Ballet (March 12) in a four-programme repertory celebrating George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Ballet and Broadway (www.eno.org ).

Stuttgart Ballet

Also at the Coliseum, this troupe returns to the UK for the first time in 27 years with John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet (March 25; www.raymondgubbay.co.uk ).

Carlos Acosta

And again at this venue, the glamorous Cuban stars in two shows with dancers from the Royal Ballet (March 31) and from his native island (April 9; www.eno.org ).

Royal Ballet

At Covent Garden are new works by Christopher Wheeldon, to music by Steve Reich (February 28), and Kim Brandstrup, to Prokofiev (April 23). Wayne McGregor’s sensational Chroma (White Stripes) comes back, on a bill including a revival of Kenneth MacMillan’s dark work, Different Drummer (February 2). Also returning, after decades, is Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering, a masterpiece about love and friendship, to Chopin (May 17; www.roh.org.uk )

Northern Ballet Theatre

The prolific NBT director-choreographer David Nixon adds to his stock of literature-themed creations with Hamlet, set in 1940s occupied Paris (Grand Theatre, Leeds, February 16; www.northernballettheatre.co.uk ).

Birmingham Royal Ballet

This company continues its annual homage to Stravinsky with the premiere of Michael Corder’s new version of Le Baiser de la Fée (Hippodrome, July 3; www.brb.org.uk ).

English National Ballet

For its “arena” season at the Albert Hall, ENB departs from the classics for a razzmatazz spectacular, Strictly Gershwin, by Derek Deane, with a jazz orchestra and singer Barbara Cook (June 13 www.ballet.org.uk ).

Sadler’s Wells

As always, the venue has programmes to keep dance fans of eclectic tastes happy all year. The Canadian La La La Human Steps troupe dance Amjad, the director Edouard Lock’s frenetic new slant on ballet classics (January 30, and touring). The celebrated Pina Bausch and Tanztheater Wuppertal shows two of her seminal works from the 1970s, Café Müller and The Rite of Spring (February 13). Via flamenco, hip-hop and contemporary dance from home and abroad, we reach the summer show (July 22), the dance musical West Side Story. This year’s China Now culturefest sees the collaborations of the choreographers Akram Khan, with dancers from the National Ballet of China in Bahok (Liverpool Playhouse, March 7) and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui with Shaolin monks in Sutra (Sadler’s Wells, May 27). An unusual summer visitor to the Royal Opera House (August 4) will be the Guangdong Military Acrobatic Troupe with the acrobatic Swan Lake. (www.sadlerswells.com ).

Barbican

The centre bookends its dance events with the earthy Fabulous Beast in its new work, James son of James (February 5 and touring), and the return of the much-loved Mark Morris Dance Group with the UK premiere of his Romeo and Juliet (November 5; www.barbican.org.uk ).

David Dougill

COMEDY

Chris Rock, January 8-26

America’s sharpest stand-up kicks off his world tour in the UK. Rock’s slimline frame belies the heavyweight punch of his incisive comedy. Don’t miss.

Mark Watson, January 10-February 15

The laconic Bristolian takes his Can I Briefly Talk to You About the Point of Life? show on the road. Watson operates on more octane than the average car, but his observations are charming as well as funny.

Stewart Lee: 41st Best Stand-Up Ever, January 16-April 20

Lee’s new show is a masterclass in sustained irony, some of it directed at himself, as he ponders his status in the comic pantheon as designated by Channel 4. Don’t listen to them — he’s Britain’s best (and brainiest) comic live.

French and Saunders, February 25-May 6

Yes, the superstars of British comedy really are back on stage for a lengthy tour.

Teenage Kicks (ITV1, March)

Following a nasty divorce, Vernon (Adrian Edmondson), former front man of a punk band, tries to be the cool dad to his kids. Big mistake.

Gavin & Stacey (BBC3, spring)

Having won three British Comedy Awards, the Esssex-boy-meets-Welsh-girl hit returns for a second series.

Lab Rats (BBC2, summer)

Executive producer Armando Iannucci turns his attention from the spin doctors of Westminster to poke fun at research scientists. Written by Carl Cooper and The Thick of It’s Chris Addison.

Back to You (C4, summer)

Kelsey Grammer’s new and curiously old-fashioned sitcom received mix reviews in America, but anything the former Frasier does is still worth checking out. He plays Chuck Darling, a disgraced broadcaster, booted out to pasture on the regional airwaves. Patricia Heaton plays his co-anchor.

The Mighty Boosh, September 11-December 9

Television’s new hotshots, Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, purvey a strange new strain of surreal comedy that has made them Britain’s favourite new act.

All tickets and dates for live shows from www.chortle.co.uk

Sally Kinnes and Stephen Armstrong