What's On North 4-11 May: Pilot Light TV Fest

Each week The Skinny team hand-pick a selection of the best events from the North's cultural calendar to provide you with this 'ere top ten guide to the most exciting goings-on for the week ahead. From gigs, plays and exhibitions to spoken word, pop-up foodie events and one-off film screenings, we give you the insider's guide to things to do in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds every Thursday morning.

The Revolution Will Be Televised

With the prevalence of Netflix, Amazon Prime, iPlayer and the like, we've never had greater access to TV past and present. And boy, are we hooked. Honouring exactly that is Pilot Light TV Festival in Manchester, returning this weekend (4-7 May) to celebrate the best in TV and web series from across the globe.

With a much-anticipated celebration of Brass Eye's 20th anniversary one of this year's highlights, here we look back at Chris Morris's seminal show and realise we need his blistering satire more than ever, while elsewhere in the programme you'll also find homages to Mad Men, Sugar Rush and more.

In the meantime, you can check out the best things to watch this week on the big screen, the small screen and your laptop screen, including Neil Gaiman series American Gods.

New issue out now! 

Pick up a copy for interviews with Metronomy, Forest Swords, Perfume Genius, Weirds, Pumarosa, Pond, Her's, comedian Katy Brand, producer Anz and more; a Museums at Night preview; our highlights for Leeds Indie Food; Manchester International Festival artistic director John McGrath on this year's bash; a guide to living in Florence; book reviews, events listings and LOADS OF OTHER GREAT THINGS.

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New Stuff on the Site 

New in Food: Water Lane Boathouse, GRUB and more

We're excited by the latest venue from the Belgrave Music Hall/Headrow House lot; Friends of Ham's new gaff; FINCA's restaurant space at Constellations and GRUB's new home at the Mayfield site. All that and more, of course, which you can find out about here. Photo: Andrew Benge

Films to watch in preparation for World War III

Concerned about the genuine possibility of global thermonuclear war? Maybe if we could get the 45th President of the USA to sit down and watch these films, he'd remove his small finger from the doomsday button...

Julian Barratt on hilarious new comedy Mindhorn

Julian Barratt makes a jump to the big screen with the endearingly silly Mindhorn, in which he plays a washed-up actor caught up in a murder plot. He talks about the pomposity of actors and a possible return of the Mighty Boosh. Read our interview with him here.

Also This Week:

Liverpool Disco Festival
Various venues, Liverpool. Sat 6 May, 12pm

Celebrating 30 years of popular soul music party Southport Weekender, Liverpool Disco Festival fires up the glitter cannon with a line-up of internationally renowned house, disco and gospel/soul maestros including Glitterbox, David Morales, Jazzy Jeff (pictured), D-Train, Ultra Nate, Tony Humphries, Joey Negro, John Morales, Mr Scruff and more.

LS6 Beer Festival
Left Bank, Leeds. Thu 4-Sat 6 May, times vary

Returning for its seventh year, LS6 Beer Festival will be welcoming the likes of Magic Rock, North Brewing Co, Northern Monk, Ilkley Brewery, Leeds Brewery, Saltaire and Wharfedale, along with a range of British ciders, street food vendors, live entertainment and games – with all money raised going to support the development of Left Bank Leeds.

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Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. Sat 6-Sat 20 May

A play with songs by Lizzie Nunnery / Directed by Gemma Bodinetz
Liverpool 2017. Eve has been doing the maths her whole life. But when the squeeze comes, how do you balance a life that doesn’t add up and a family that refuses to read the bottom line? Lizzie Nunnery brings us a powerful play with songs about searching for the magic formula to the problems of life.

Eat Me + Preach!
Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool. Fri 5 May, 7.30pm (disco 10pm)

Ever been to a three-course gourmet dinner presented by a troupe of the Northwest's finest drag artists? Course you ain't, which is why the latest production from Bearded Child, Eat Me, sounds like *quite* the feast. The meal is then followed by Preach!, a queer basement disco promising a "genderfucking mecca for self expression, regression and exploration." Count us in.

Manchester Vintage Kilo Sale
Manchester Metropolitan Students' Union. Sat 6 May, 11am

Run by the specialists from Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair with stock supplied by Europe's largest vintage wholesaler, the Manchester Vintage Kilo Sale lets you wade through six tonnes of preloved mens and womenswear from the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s, before taking them to the weighing station and paying just £15 per kilo.

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