You’ve Got Mail
“Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.” The opening of You’ve Got Mail, in which Meg Ryan waxes lyrical about autumn to Tom Hanks over a pleasingly retro form of email, will make you long for autumn no matter what time of year it is. As the season unfolds, the pair’s unwitting love-hate relationship progresses against a backdrop of warring bookshops and two very desirable Manhattan apartments. One of the purest comfort watches there is.
Stepmom
It’s autumn in New York, Susan Sarandon is the divorced mum in her heavenly Victorian clapboard house upstate, and Julia Roberts is the ex’s new girlfriend, a glamorous fashion photographer who has taken up residence with Ed Harris in a very spacious Manhattan loft. The interiors are one draw here, but so is the spectacle of Central Park and the New York countryside turning golden and red as the characters, decked out in cashmere, play out their various emotional entanglements. Prepare to cry, but, really, what is nicer than crying under a quilt from your sofa in the cold weather?
When Harry Met Sally…
Oh and here’s a younger Meg Ryan, in fall mode again as she and Billy Crystal’s friendship evolves over the course of a decade, beginning with a drive from Chicago to New York as they leave college, and ending at a New Year party where they finally get their act together. The film features some especially dreamy shots of golden leaves in New York, notably when Harry and Sally stroll through Central Park in the middle of the film discussing their sex dreams. It was November when they filmed it, and Billy Crystal later revealed that if they had shot it a day later, the leaves would have disappeared, after a rain storm blew them all away.
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Only Murders in the Building
The fifth season of this comedy murder mystery is about to land on Disney+, and we're pretty excited. Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short investigate a series of murders in and around their distinguished Upper West Side building, The Arconia, under the guise of doing a true crime podcast. It's autumnal in spirit rather than aesthetics, although we can't get enough of Selena Gomez's brilliant autumn outfits every time a new series rolls around.
Virgin River
If your tastes run to very traditional soap operas, with plenty of will-they won’t-they romances, the occasional ‘whose baby is that?’ subplot, and a lovely setting, then Virgin River is for you. This is part of the very appealing subgenre of ‘big city medic moves to small town and finds fulfilment’ American films and TV shows (cf. Doc Hollywood, Hart of Dixie), as a nurse grieving the death of her husband moves to the remote Northern California town of Virgin River. Starting work for the local ornery doctor, she inevitably finds love along the way with the local rough and ready bar owner. It’s filmed in British Columbia, so expect lots of lovely redwoods, misty mornings on the river, and plaid lumberjack outfits.
Charmed
As Halloween looms on the horizon, shows about witches or the supernatural generally are where it’s at, and Charmed, which sustained us through many an evening in the early 2000s, is a great example. It follows three sisters (the immortal trio of Alyssa Milano, Shannen Doherty and Holly Marie Combs, who happen to be immensely powerful witches, trying to save the world while carrying on a reasonably normal life in contemporary San Francisco. Their missions often collide with the real world, causing havoc with their romantic relationships and bringing them into frequent contact with the police. For a similar vibe, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a marvellously nostalgic watch.
Practical Magic
We could spend a long time in the genre of witchy films and TV shows that are perfect for October viewing, but Practical Magic, starring a young Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as two witches in Massachusetts, has to be our favourite. We’re especially besotted with Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing as the witch aunts who bring them up, and given that the film combines two of our favourite ever plot elements, murder and magic, we’re set for some very cosy viewing. Our runner-up in this genre is of course Hocus Pocus, in which Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy have an absolute whale of a time as modern-day witches in Salem.
Wednesday
If autumn makes you long for a little fantasy/comedy/horror in your viewing (as it does us), then Wednesday, whose second season is currently in progress on Netflix, is an excellent port of call. Jenna Ortega’s stellar performance anchors the show, as she investigates strange goings-on at new boarding school, Nevermore Academy, where misfits and outcasts make up the student body. Filmed at Cantacuzino Castle, in the Romanian mountain town of Bușteni, there’s plenty of Gothic aesthetics to go around.
Poirot/Miss Marple
There’s nothing like a murder mystery to get you feeling cosy, and the combined Poirot and Miss Marple oeuvre has plenty to offer here. Some are especially autumnal in their vibe - look to David Suchet’s classic Poirot investigating a suspiciously staged murder at a country house in the depths of autumn in The Hollow, surrounded by falling leaves aplenty. Alternatively, is there anything more cosy than Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple poking her nose into a dramatic village death in A Murder is Announced, in which a vital clue is signalled by all the characters asking another character if they’ve put the central heating on for the first time.
Dawson's Creek
Opening as every autumn series should, as the leaves turn orange at the start of a school year, Dawson's Creek is a coming-of-age drama that follows a group of friends - Dawson, Joey, Pacey, and Jen - as they navigate the ups and downs of adolescence in the small, cosy coastal town of Capeside, Massachusetts. With all the stereotypes you'd expect (and want) from a romantic, teenage series (scaling up the side of houses, running away from home, falling in love with inappropriate people etc.) this is an instant classic that (mainly) stands the test of time. The nostalgic charm of the will-they-won't-they love story, plus the picturesque New England setting and very American 90s decor makes it the perfect viewing for an introspective autumn evening.
Gilmore Girls
Given that Gilmore Girls starts at the beginning of a new school year in September and each season follows suit, it is the quintessential autumn watch. Couple that with the constant references to and appearance of snow midway through the season, orange-hued opening credits and fact that it's about as comforting a show as you can find and it really is the perfect thing to hunker down with. For the uninitiated, Gilmore Girls follows the lives of Rory and Lorelai Gilmore, a mother-daughter duo who live in a small town in Connecticut and have an incredibly close relationship. It charts Rory's entry to a new, private school, Lorelai's tumultuous relationship with her parents as well as her equally unsteady love life, and the lives of the charming townspeople of Stars Hollow. The first five seasons are some of the best television you'll find, whereas the last two are not up to the mark and as for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, the less said the better.
Persuasion
A Jane Austen adaptation is never a bad idea, but the best one for autumn is Persuasion, a book which is set in autumn and has a perspective very much in keeping with the season. The best version is the 1995 film, which, unlike many Austen adaptations, tones down the make-up, the costumes, and the interior design, lending it a distinctly more realistic feel. Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds are so wonderfully understated that the inevitable happy ending is surely the most touching in the entire canon of adaptations; between them they perfectly convey the quiet virtues of kindness, loyalty and intelligence that make Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth the most attractive of Austen’s heroes.
Little Women
Autumn inevitably turns our minds to Christmas and is there any book – or film dramatisation of a book – that speaks to Christmas more than Little Women? The recent adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel certainly does it well, and the ice skating, autumnal landscapes and bundles of layers that the March women all wear can only heighten the allure. Where summer is a time for romanticism and escapism, nostalgia and a happy – if tinged with sadness – ending are what we crave in autumn and Little Women hits every note perfectly. It's the ideal movie to watch on the sofa, bundled in a blanket, clutching a hot chocolate while sobbing into your sleeve.
Coco
Disney has really upped the ante when it comes to pulling at the heartstrings as of late, and Coco is a guaranteed tearjerker. The uplifting intergenerational tale is set during Mexico’s Day of the Dead (which falls between 1 to 2 November) and is a big celebration of the Mexican culture of honouring the departed. The film follows Miguel who yearns to be a musician, much to his family’s dismay. As he sneaks away to steal his favourite deceased musician’s guitar from a mausoleum ahead of an open mic show, Miguel accidentally turns himself into a living ghost, capable of interacting with the ancestral spirits that flood into his hometown each Day of the Dead – with the dead styled in the bright and intricate Día de los Muertos skulls.
