These are a few of our favourite films to curl up to and escape for a while. So, put your feet up and relax …
Sex and The City: The Movie on Netflix
Light, funny, stylish – what’s not to like? It never gets old, no matter how many times we watch it. We simply can’t resist Carrie’s charm and her fabulous friends – the inimitable Kim Catrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis – from their fashion to their swag and, of course, New York City itself. No need to click ‘next episode’ either. This is the kind of eye candy we need right now.
The First Wives Club on Amazon Prime
The original cool girls’ club, the iconic trio of Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton make this the wild and wacky film we’ve loved for years. In case you didn’t know, the story follows three friends from college who meet again at the untimely funeral of their classmate. They all learn that they’ve been replaced by their rich husbands for younger women – one of whom happens to be Sarah Jessica Parker – so, understandly, revenge ensues. A fun watch about love and friendship, with lots of laughs, music and glamour – pop it on the watch-list if you haven’t already seen it, or watch it again for the warm and fuzzies.
When Harry Met Sally on Apple TV
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal traversing an autumnal city cinematically sums up this time of year. Their natural chemistry oozes out of the screen and feels like a warm hug on a cold day. They start, of course, as two graduates forced together by a mutual friend to drive to New York to start their adult lives. When fate brings them back together five years later, they form a friendship and have to deal with their real feelings. Plus, Meg boasts the perfectly oversized fashion of the ’90s we so love now, while the evolution of her hair as the movie progresses is a story in itself!
You’ve Got Mail on Amazon Prime
Directed by the legendary Nora Ephron, this film is the perfect antidote to reality. Meg Ryan stars once again, this time as Kathleen Kelly (clear Irish ancestry), the owner of children’s bookshop ‘The Shop Around The Corner’ … a fictional place where we always longed to go. Queue Tom Hanks as Joe Fox of the bookshop empire ‘Fox Books and Sons’. Whien a Fox Books superstore pops up beside Kathleen’s shop and her business begins to suffer, the pair start an unlikely online friendship – long before internet dating or apps – where they have no idea who they are talking to. It’s an enemies-to-lovers trope we just cannot get enough of. Throw it in an autumn movie marathon, you will not regret it.
Bridget Jones’s Diary on Netflix
It is beginning to look a lot like Bridget Jones season, with the dodgy Christmas jumpers, street brawls and belly laughs that ‘Bridge’ brings. Walk the snowy streets of London (not in your knickers, preferably) and get into the festive feeling before the madness begins. The fourth film in the series, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, is due for release on Valentine’s Day 2025, with Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant set to reprise their iconic. roles. We cannot wait.
Notting Hill on Netflix
Hugh Grant is back again, this time with leading lady Julia Roberts. London city, the changing seasons, one of the most credible love stories on screen and the hilarious friend ensemble all make for a perfect movie night in. If you want more quintessential British fair from writer Richard Curtis and the always loveable Grant, Love Actually is also available on Netflix, while Four Weddings And A Funeral is on Amazon Prime or Apple TV. A trifecta of joy!
Gosford Park on Disney+
Slightly more high intensity than the rest, it’s one to get lost in. The film stars the incredible late Maggie Smith, who we also love from the Downton Abbey series, which deals with similar upstairs-downstairs dynamics. You can’t go wrong with a cast that includes Dame Helen Mirren, Kristin Scott Thomas (from Four Weddings And A Funeral fame), Kelly Macdonald, Clive Owen and Ryan Philippe.
Pride and Prejudice on Apple TV
A Jane Austen adaptation is essential viewing for cosy nights in, so 2005’s Pride and Prejudice is an old reliable. Autumnally crisp (possibly because Keira Knightley looks a little chilly throughout), Joe Wright’s direction is a feast for the eyes with sun-speckled rolling landscapes, quaint English cottages and opulent interiors. You may recognise Matthew MacFadyen from his later Succession days, although the characters couldn’t be more night and day. If you want to invest your time in the original (if only for Colin Firth coming out of the lake), the six-part series from 1995 is available on BBC iPlayer. Another Austen classic, Emma, starring either Gwyneth Paltrow (1996) or Anya Taylor-Joy (2000) are also available on Amazon. The choice is endless!
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