Next week the seventh episode of George Lucas's famed space saga will be released on a wave of hype and eager anticipation. Star Wars: The Force Awakens no longer has Lucas at the helm, the man with the Jar Jar Binks way with words having passed his company to Disney and the creative mantle to others, in the first instance JJ Abrams. We can expect homage and nostalgia accompanied by a frisson of fresh faces and new tricks. It ought to be a blast.

In the arts there is never a best of anything. There is good, great and glorious. But best? There is, however, Stop Making Sense. Talking Heads invited the director Jonathan Demme to film them in performance over three nights in December 1983 at Pantages Theater in Hollywood. The result is (arguably) the greatest concert movie ever made.

It began with the sinking of Titanic and the loss of not one but two heirs to the title. James Cameron having already filmed this disaster, the producers of Downton Abbey were spared the expense of re-enacting it. Last week another Hollywood blockbuster was in viewers' thoughts as the most iconic scene from Alien was re-enacted at the Downton dining table. His Grace’s ulcer burst on scene in a lurid shade suggesting Crawley blood is less blue than previously supposed.

Not just a mere rock star but spiritual guru, peace campaigner, political icon, thorn in the flesh of Richard Nixon and the CIA, and ultimately martyr. John Lennon, who would have been 75 today (9 October), has proved an impossible act to follow. Even his former songwriting partner Paul McCartney, who's hardly been deprived of adulation over the last few decades, can't get over the fact that Lennon has achieved that mythic status known only to a rarefied handful.

It has never been easier for cinema to capture the terror and splendour of the mountains. Cameras can do what they never could before, which is why Everest, released this week, gets audiences as close to the roof of the world as any multiplex experience ever will. But mountains are about more than altitude. In this edition of Listed, we clamber about the history of cinema looking for the movies which tell us about the men and women - though it seems to be mostly men - who have brought summit fever to the big screen.

It's Monday morning, some way between the start of school term and the recall of students to college or university. This moment when the routine of study is reimposed creates some of our strongest memories. As the original voice of teenage rebellion, it’s perhaps not surprising that rock ‘n roll voices the pain of education more than the joy.

This week Legend opened in cinemas starring Tom Hardy and Tom Hardy. The actor’s double turn as the Kray twins is only the latest in a surprisingly long tradition of actors taking more than one role in a film. To show off their range, and give the audience a bit of fun, actors have doubled (or trebled, or more) up as twins, siblings, parents and children, doppelgängers and often characters who are entirely unrelated. For this edition of Listed, theartsdesk revisits some of the stellar turns by those actors taking more than one credit in the cast list.

September is upon us and it’s nearly time for the new season. English National Opera’s Artistic Director John Berry may have left the building but his enterprising legacy lives on in a 2015-16 season that looks on paper as good as any in the past 20 years; what happens after that is anyone's guess. Still, there shouldn’t be too much grief that ENO Music Director Edward Gardner has moved on, since his successor Mark Wigglesworth already has a fine track record with the company.

It’s forecast to rain for a fortnight, just as the schools tip out their restless young. The roads are jammed, and Calais hasn’t been this bunged up since Edward III laid siege for the whole year in 1346. It must be summer. To help you celebrate if you’re one of the lucky ones who got away, or to get through it if not, our new music team has suggested a summer playlist both eclectic and exhilarating. From Madonna to Motörhead, the Beach Boys to My Bloody Valentine, whether you’re downing cocktails, or drowning out the rain on the tent roof, these are our songs of summer.

Once upon a time... Storytelling is an integral part of all human cultures, and a central pillar of an enlightened education. Some children get the hang of it quickly – they are, as the phrase has it, natural storytellers. This week the Royal Court introduces several youthful writers with Primetime, a series of short plays written by primary school children between the ages of eight and 11.