8 reasons to get excited about autumn – with the best new TV shows and films this year

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You don’t have to look far online at the moment before you come across a ‘best things about autumn’ type list or an article about ‘hygge’. Autumn seems to be everyone’s favourite season, mine included. Goddess knows we all need something to look forward to right now! 

I just love watching the seasons change and autumn with all of its colour from falling leaves is one of my favourites. For meteorologists, summer comes to an end on August 31 and autumn begins on September 1, running until November 30. This coincides with the end of the school summer holidays and return back to schools in the first week of September in the UK. Our weather is still more similar to end of May/early June though so it’s still relatively warm.

But astronomical autumn (defined by the Earth’s axis and orbit around the Sun) has summer ending on September 21/22 in the northern hemisphere and autumn beginning on September 22/23 (this year September 22nd to December 21st).

On the autumn equinox, day and night are of roughly equal length and the nights will become increasingly longer than the days, until the winter solstice.  It also marks the time of year when the northern hemisphere begins to tilt away from the Sun, resulting in less direct sunlight and consequently the cooling temperatures.

In Greek mythology, autumn began when Persephone was abducted by Hades to be the Queen of the Underworld. In distress Persephone’s mother, Demeter (the goddess of the harvest), caused all the crops on Earth to die until her daughter was allowed to return, marking spring.

We typically think of ‘fall’ as the North American version of the word ‘autumn’, but it was in fact in widespread usage in England until relatively recently. Originally a shortening of the phrase fall of the leaf, the phrase was common in England in the 17th century. The word autumn entered English from the French automne and didn’t become common usage until the 18th century!

There are so many reasons I’m looking forward to autumn for. Here are my 8 reasons why autumn is the best season so you can get excited too!

Scroll to the end for my Autumn TV shows and film - both new and classic, including what Gilmore Girls episodes are the 'fall' ones...

8 reasons why fall is my favorite season

(Forgive me for going all American in some of the terminology in this post but more people search the American terms so I’m trying my luck – blame Google.)

Autumn is a new start

September to me, feels like the true New Year. January is miserable, Christmas is gone and you are back to work feeling blue – it’s not a time for testing resolutions.

However, September feels like the start of something new, a change in the seasons and the kids going back to school.

A time for brand new stationery and getting good habits back on track after a summer of trips and time spent gallivanting around in the balmy weather.

It’s the final quarter of the year, a chance to take stock and achieving the things you want to achieve before the year comes to an end.

Autumn is a season of hope

It’s a season full of hope and excitement. You know that at the end – Christmas and New Year’s awaits.

Exciting events in autumn

Planning Halloween, Bonfire Night, Christmas and New Year gives you so much to look forward to.

Halloween and dressing up is so fun. Kids are super cute at Halloween and trick or treating with them makes my heart melt quicker than Olaf on a sunny day.

I have a bunch of helpful posts for Halloween with kids that you might find useful: 20 ways to make Halloween at home fun for kids, My guide for a happy Halloween at home, The ultimate guide to the best Halloween films for kids and 4 easy ideas for Halloween fun at home.  

Autumn can be about slowing down

It’s a season where you can give yourself permission to slow down from a hectic summer and embrace home comforts.

Most people spend more time at home relaxing with family which is what life is all about.

Autumn is about being cosy

Dark cosy nights with candles on, wrapped up in blankets.

Sitting inside watching the rain fall and the wind howl feels very self-indulgent but you are abated of any guilt from going out because no one expects you to. 

Autumn is a time for great food and drinks

• Three words – hot chocolate season
• Pumpkin ‘errythin’ – try my one pot pumpkin soup with apple, lentils and chickpeas that you can make with leftover carving pumpkin guts or butternut squash
• We welcome back delicious comfort food like hearty stews and casseroles and trade off our summer salads for warming soups. Nothing beats comfort food and it’s where British cuisine excels itself. Try my my slow cooker vegan mung bean and spinach dahl recipe.

Autumn fashion

Autumn fashion is without a doubt the best (and incidentally most comfortable fashion). I love that our fashion in autumn seems to match the vibrant colours and earthy tones of the season (side note that this suits me as I’m a ‘Dark Autumn’ colour season – if you know, you know).

I’m all for warm socks and stylish boots, layers, cosy knitwear and cardigans. And I love a good scarf and an autumn coat.

Having a bad hair day = no problem, chuck on a cosy hat. Autumn fashion also means less hair removal. I’m all for growing your own heat with furry legs for winter.

Autumn TV and films 2024

The autumn TV schedule starts which is usually awesome.

Upcoming TV shows this autumn include:

• The Perfect Couple, Netflix, September 5th: In this adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s novel, she plays the matriarch of the exorbitantly wealthy Winbury family, whose son’s wedding is shaping up to be Nantucket’s hottest event of the season… until a body washes up on the beach, kicking off a murder investigation where everyone is a suspect. Starring Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning, Meghann Fahy.
• Three Women, Starz, September 13th: Betty Gilpin (Glow), DeWanda Wise, and Gabrielle Creevy play a trio of “ordinary” women whose lives are at an inflection point. Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies) is a grieving writer who sets out on a cross-country journey, meets these women, and convinces them to tell their stories.
• Agatha all Along, Disney Plus, September 18th: Now this one I am really looking forward to. Make sure you have watched WandaVision before you watch this or read this blurb! After the events of WandaVision, the witch Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) finds herself in the worst place she could be: without her powers, and trapped by one of Wanda’s (Elizabeth Olsen) spells. It’s only after meeting a goth teen — portrayed by Heartstopper’s Joe Locke — that she begins to dream of regaining her magic. Agatha All Along is helmed by WandaVision showrunner Jac Schaeffer, and it also stars the fabulous Aubrey Plaza.
• The Penguin, HBO, September 19th: Colin Farrell reprises his role as Oz Cobb/The Penguin from 2022’s The Batman.
• Nobody Wants This, Netflix, September 26th: I want this! Kristen Bell and Adam Brody star in a new romcom loosely based on creator Erin Foster’s life, Bell plays Joanne, an outspoken podcaster, and Brody plays Noah, a stuck-in-his-ways rabbi. 
• Heartstopper (season 3), Netflix, October 3rd: Season 2 ended with Nick beginning to understand the extent of Charlie’s mental health issues, and it’s this that will drive the story through Season 3. You can also expect Bridgerton‘s Jonathan Bailey.
• Disclaimer, October 11th, Apple TV: Based on Renée Knight’s 2015 novel and follows a female journalist (Cate Blanchett) who built a career on exposing the transgressions of others and discovers she’s the main character in a book that threatens to expose a long-held secret of hers. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
• Rivals, Disney Plus, October 18th: Jilly Cooper’s much-loved 1980s “bonkbuster” novel Rivals follows an eccentric, power-hungry “country set” and the rivalry between ex-Olympic horse rider and Tory MP Rupert Campbell-Black (David Tennant) and media mogul Lord Tony Baddingham (Alex Hassell). There’s an all star cast including Danny Dyer, Aidan Turner and Katherine Parkinson which should make this a good watch.
• Day of the Jackal, Sky Atlantic, November 7th: Eddie Redmayne stars as top assassin The Jackal from Frederick Forsyth’s famous novel. 
• Dune Prophecy, HBO, November TBC: Spin off series set thousands of years prior to the movies and focuses on the origin of the Bene Gesserit, the witches whose machinations would eventually lead to the rise of Paul Atreides.
• Joan, ITV1 and ITVX, date TBC: Stars Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) and Frank Dilane (Fear the Walking Dead, Harry Potter). It follows the story of Joan Hannington, who is a notorious London jewel chief, and is inspired by her real life story in a six part series.

You can watch many great films and TV shows on Amazon prime video with a FREE 30 day trial here (affiliate link). 

Some new films to look forward to this autumn include:

• Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, cinemas, September 6th: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara return for the second movie 36 years later, alongside Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega.
• Joker: Folie à Deux, cinemas, October 4th: The long awaited sequel to Todd Phillips’ Joker is almost here, and it’s got Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix and is apparently a musical?!
• His Three Daughters’, cinemas and Netflix, September 6th: Three sisters — Type-A Katie (Carrie Coon), stoner Rachel (Natasha Lyonne), and peacekeeper Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) — as they reluctantly gather to say goodbye to their father during his final days. I’ll watch anything with Natasha Lyonne in, she’s the best.
• ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’, cinemas, September 6th: Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega star in this long overdue Tim Burton sequal.
• My Old Ass, cinemas, September 27th: 18-year-old woman named Elliott (Maisy Stella) goes on a magic-mushroom trip and soon finds herself hanging out with an unlikely companion: her future self (Aubrey Plaza). Again, I’ll watch anything starring Aubrey Plaza.
• The Substance, cinemas, September 20th: Demi Moore plays a TV star ‘aged out’ of the industry. She then finds out that a secret subscription service would allow her to foster a younger version of herself, although the plan requires both her and her dewy twenty something “twin” (Margaret Qualley) to abide by a strict set of rules but things go awry and get gory. Vogue has called it Demi Moore’s performance of her career, which is bold as did they see her in GI Jane?!
• Lee, cinemas and then Sky cinema, September 27th: Starts Kate Winslet as a photographer during WW2 who photographed concentration camps after the Nazis were defeated and changed the way we view warfare. Also stars Andy Samberg, Alexander Skarsgard and Marion Cotillard.
• Megalopolis’, cinemas, September 27th: Francis Ford Coppola returns with a visionary named Caesar (Adam Driver) who dreams of a utopian city for all. His rival, Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), is determined to keep the powerful in power by any means necessary. Naturally, his party-girl daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) falls in love with Caesar. There’s also Shia LeBeouf in drag, Jon Voight’s conspicuously Trump-like billionaire and Aubrey Plaza plays a character named Wow Platinum.
• Gladiator 2, cinemas, November 22nd: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington and Connie Nielsen lead the cast of this long awaited sequel that sees the heir to the Empire forced to fight to prove himself.
• Wicked, cinemas, November 22nd: The first part of the cinematic version of Broadway’s record-breaking, Wizard-of-Oz-revising musical comes to the big screen, with Cynthia Erivo as the woman destined be the Wicked Witch of the West, Ariana Grande as the future Glinda the Good and Jeff Goldblum as the man behind the curtain; Bowen Yang, Michelle Yeoh and Jonathan Bailey follow them down the yellow brick road.
• Moana 2, cinemas, November 27th: After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana journeys to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she has ever faced.

Don't forget to check out my blog post for the best family Halloween movies or Halloween TV shows for kids. 

And if all else fails, you can re-watch Gilmore Girls – it doesn’t get more autumnal than that. Honourable mentions go to Downton Abbey and Virgin River for all the ‘fall feels’.

The best fall episodes of Gilmore Girls by season are:

• Season 1, episodes 6, 7, 8, 9
• Season 2, episodes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10
• Season 3, episodes 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
• Season 4, episodes 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 22
• Season 5, episodes 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 19
• Season 6, episodes 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
• Season 7, episodes 4, 5, 6
• A Year in the Life, Fall

15 classic autumn films to rewatch to get you in the mood for fall are:

• Practical Magic
• When Harry Met Sally
• You’ve Got Mail
• St Elmo’s Fire
• Good Will Hunting
• Harry Potter
• The Craft
• Sweet November
• Hocus Pocus
• Mystic Pizza
• Little Women
• Autumn in New York
• Dead Poets Society
• Mona Lisa Smile
• Fantastic Mr Fox

You can watch many great films and TV shows on Amazon prime video with a FREE 30 day trial here (affiliate link). 

So those are the top 8 things that I am looking for to autumn for. They are making it a little easier for me to say goodbye to the summer.

What are you looking forward to autumn most for? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked my reasons why fall is my favourite season, then you might also like my Guide to autumn and these posts:

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