London | November 2026 – February 2027
Riverside Studios in Hammersmith is closing its 50th anniversary year by welcoming back three people who helped shape its history. Here are five things to know.
1. Hayley Mills in Conversation (8 November)
The BAFTA, Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning actress helped launch Riverside’s very first season in 1976. Known for Disney classics like Pollyanna and The Parent Trap, as well as Whistle Down the Wind and, more recently, Wild at Heart and M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, she’ll share stories from a remarkable career at this special fundraising event.
2. Hanif Kureishi in Conversation (10 January)
Kureishi began his literary career managing Riverside’s bookshop in the late 1970s, before writing My Beautiful Laundrette and The Buddha of Suburbia. He’ll talk about his life and work, including his memoir Shattered about the 2022 accident that left him tetraplegic, and his new memoir Are You with Me Now?, out in November.
3. Leigh Lawson: Now & Then (21 February)
Lawson starred in Riverside’s very first in-house production, The Cherry Orchard, in 1978. He’ll share poems from his collection Now & Then and the stories behind them, tracing his journey from a difficult childhood to films like Tess and Being Julia.
4. A starry anniversary season
Since March, Riverside has hosted conversations with Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Lenny Henry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Robert Lindsay, Simon Callow and Lindsay Duncan, plus the teams behind TFI Friday and Top of the Pops. The In Conversation series has been so successful that it will continue into the venue’s 51st year.
5. Tickets are on sale now
All three events are on general sale. They’re intimate evenings, so book soon if you’d like to go, and sign up to Riverside’s mailing list to hear about future guests.
Info
Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, London W6 9BN
Nearest station: Hammersmith