From Mufasa to Gavin and Stacey: a complete guide to the week’s entertainment in the UK

Going out: Cinema

Mufasa: The Lion King
Out now
How did Scar become Scar? These and other mysteries are set to be uncovered in this Lion King prequel about the early life of Mufasa, the orphaned lion cub whose death as the leonine monarch in the 1994 animation traumatised an entire generation.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Out now
The greatest villain in British animation – hell, British film – is back. Feathers McGraw, the nefarious penguin from Wallace and Gromit’s finest adventure, The Wrong Trousers, returns to confound Aardman’s dynamic duo once more. It’s hard to conceive of a better Christmas present – except perhaps a nice bit of wensleydale.

Baby John
Out Christmas Day
This Indian Hindi-language action thriller film, directed by the mononymic Kalees, sees a police officer (Varun Dhawan) fake his death and go into hiding in order to safely raise his daughter. Naturally, he has a nemesis (Jackie Shroff) who has other ideas.

Spirited Away
Out Boxing Day
The enchanting Studio Ghibli classic returns to the big screen for Christmas, at which time the sequence where some family members transform into enthusiastically gluttonous pigs may prove particularly topical. Screenings at Imax cinemas in January comes with a live intro from the delightful popular podcast Ghibliotheque. Catherine Bray

Going out: Gigs

RnB Xmas Ball
The O2, London, 22 December
Now with a tweaked lineup – original headliners Jodeci pulled out – this celebration of 90s R&B is back for its second year. A returning SWV are joined by Tell Me It’s Me You Want hitmaker Keith Sweat, alongside supergroup TGT, AKA Tyrese, Ginuwine and Tank. Michael Cragg

The Lottery Winners
Manchester Academy, 27 to 29 December
Ahead of next February’s fourth album, Koko, the follow-up to last year’s surprising UK chart topper Anxiety Replacement Therapy, the indie pop quartet pay a trio of shows in their home city. The perfect setting for a post-Christmas pogo session before getting back to the cold meats. MC

An Italian Christmas
Wigmore Hall, London, 23 December
In the midst of a programme of music from the Italian baroque that includes two works by Alessandro Stradella and Arcangelo Corelli’s famous Christmas Concerto, the Dunedin Consort and a quintet of vocalists give the first performance of the latest work the group has commissioned from Caroline Shaw. Andrew Clements

Down for the Count Orchestra
Turner Sims, Southampton, 22 December
Sharp-end contemporary-improv seekers might pass on the two decade-old Down for the Count Orchestra’s lovingly authentic covers of the great 1930s and 40s songs of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and more – but their jubilant Christmas show catches the freewheeling swing of jazz when it was the pop music of its era. John Fordham

Going out: Art

Dürer to Van Dyck
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, to 23 February
The wonders of North European art are unleashed in a show of drawings that include a stag with coral-like horns and a mask in the shape of a lion’s face. There are slices of reality, too, like Rembrandt’s portrait of an actor learning lines. A Christmas gift of great art.

Silk Roads
British Museum, London, to 23 February
The journey of the Magi, the legendary procession of gift-laden travellers that’s so much part of the Christmas story, becomes reality in this survey of the merchant routes that connected east and west in ancient and medieval times. All the spices and gold give this epic show a seasonal twist.

Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre
Natural History Museum, London, to 5 January
This show is ideal for the holidays, an enjoyable education in evolution for all ages. It reveals that today’s birds are actually living dinosaurs and explores how they have adapted with a stunning range of skills and behaviours. Hummingbirds dance, owls hunt, and interactive exhibits bring avian existence to life.

The Traumatic Surreal
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, to 16 March
As the centenary year of surrealism approaches its end, this exhibition offers a sideways look at the movement founded in 1924 Paris. It shows how, after the second world war, female artists in Germany, Austria and Switzerland took up its belief in the psyche. With Méret Oppenheim and Pipilotti Rist. Jonathan Jones

Going out: Stage

Live at Christmas
Cambridge Corn Exchange, 21 December
Each year a crack team of comics assemble for a show that may not be explicitly festive but is definitely unbeatably jolly. This instalment features the cerebral Sara Pascoe, Aussie comic Steen Raskopoulos, self-lacerating Old Etonian Ivo Graham and the reliably brilliant Rhys James and Suzie Ruffell. Rachel Aroesti

Circa: Duck Pond
Royal Festival Hall, London, to 30 December
Australian company Circa is one of the best bets when it comes to contemporary circus with theatrical nous. This show skews towards comedy – the title’s a spoof of Swan Lake – and should be a crowd-pleaser, strong on stagecraft, spectacle and some very impressive tricks. Lindsey Winship

St Nicholas
Omnibus theatre, London, to Christmas Eve
Looking for an escape from all the Christmas cheer? This dark tale from Conor McPherson (The Weir) offers an alternative festive fable. Nick Danan stars in this supernatural story of a jaded theatre critic, a badly made bargain and a coven of modern day vampires. Kate Wyver

Alice in Wonderland
Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot, to 11 January
Dive down the rabbit hole for whimsical adventure as Alice is welcomed back into Wonderland. A sequel to the classic, Nick Lane’s high-energy adaptation sees Alice gather her old friends to fight the evil forces and memory wiping jam tarts. KW