The best scary TV shows to watch this Halloween

Scary shows for families with younger children

Creeped Out (Netflix)

Dystopian horror, two seasons, 2017 (rated PG by Netflix)
A masked character called “The Curious” guides viewers through a collection of eerie tales in this excellent but at times unsettling show designed for younger audiences. With its intriguing explorations of out-of-control technology, there’s a definite feel of Black Mirror about the series.

Doctor Who (iPlayer)

Sci-fi, 39 series, 1963- (suitable for most children and families)
Since 1963 the BBC’s flagship science fiction show has had people of all ages hiding behind the sofa as villainous aliens endanger the lives of the time-travelling Doctor and his companions. With every episode available to watch on iPlayer, it’s time to kick off the inter-generational debates about which is scarier: the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Silence or the Weeping Angels?

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix)

Supernatural comedy drama, three series, 2017-19 (rated PG by Netflix)
If you are looking for something gothic and wacky, this adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s novels is a good bet. It stars Neil Patrick Harris as the dastardly Count Olaf, the evil guardian of three children whose parents are supposedly killed in a mysterious fire. He’s on a mission to get his paws on the orphan’s inheritance. It’s a dark and wickedly funny series. Look out for enjoyable appearances from Joan Cusack as the count’s well-meaning neighbour and Patrick Warburton’s superb narrator.

Scary shows for 12+ audiences

Wednesday (Netflix)

Comedy horror, one season, 2022- (rated 12+ by Netflix)
Tim Burton is the brains behind this delightful reimagining of the Addams Family story. Starring Jenna Ortega as Wednesday, the show follows her exploits at Nevermore Academy after she is expelled from her old school. This spooky show benefits from a terrific lead performance from Ortega and some great turns from Gwendoline Christie and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Look out for the return of Christina Ricci (who played Wednesday in the 1990s movie) as Marilyn Thornhill.

Goosebumps (Disney+)

Horror comedy, one season, 2023- (rated 12+ by Disney+)
RL Stine’s horror tales have already been made into a 74-episode series in the 1990s, as well as a movie franchise, video games, comics and musicals. Now it’s Disney’s turn. This five-part reboot, developed by Rob Letterman and Nicholas Stoller, tells of five students investigating a teenager’s death three decades earlier. There are a number of jump scares in this spooky series but, mercifully, it’s not all cheap thrills.

Scary shows for adults and older teenagers

Stranger Things (Netflix)

Supernatural horror, four seasons, 2016- (rated 15+ by Netflix)
This is a series that seems only to get better and scarier. It started as a cute sci-fi tale of children in 1980s Indiana finding a portal to a monster-infested world, and mutated into a big-budget juggernaut with movie-length episodes. Millie Bobby Brown was just 12 years old when the show propelled her to worldwide fame, as a mute girl with special powers. Stranger Things became a phenomenon, with 8.2 million people watching it in the first 16 days. There is even a theatre show based on the series, which is coming to the West End from November 17.

Ghosts (iPlayer)

Supernatural comedy, five seasons, 2019-23
Silly, wholesome fun from the Horrible Histories team about a young couple inheriting a dilapidated house that turns out to be filled with restless spirits. Now in its final series, it’s finishing at the height of its popularity and achieves that rare balance of comedy and pathos. It will be missed.

The Watcher (Netflix)

Thriller, one season, 2022- (rated 15+ by Netflix)
This thriller about a creepy house has an amazing cast: Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale as a city couple who move to the suburbs, only to start receiving demonic letters; Jennifer Coolidge as the woman who sells them the property; and Mia Farrow as the weird neighbour. Based on a 2018 New York Magazine article, the series, masterminded by Ryan Murphy, is a crazy, baffling watch, but worth surrendering to.

What We Do in the Shadows (Disney+)

Comedy horror, four seasons, 2019-22 (rated 16+ by Disney+)
A clever and witty parody documentary based on the 2014 New Zealand film of the same name, co-written and co-directed by Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) and Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok). It follows a gang of vampire housemates in New York City as they go about their daily activities. It’s The Office with fangs.

Red Rose (Netflix)

Horror, one season, 2022- (rated 15+ by Netflix)
This teen horror from the producers of Sex Education is a triumph that makes technology the villain. An app lures young people from Bolton with the promise of riches but then makes their lives a misery by posting on social media or deleting messages from their friends. It’s a captivating watch.

Bodies (Netflix)

Supernatural sci-fi horror, one season, 2023- (rated 15+ by Netflix)
Mashing up crime fiction, horror, sci-fi and costume drama, this fascinating reworking of Si Spencer’s graphic novel interweaves timelines. Four sleuths, all outsiders from different eras, somehow investigate the same murder in the East End of London. DI Hillinghead (Kyle Soller) is a closeted gay detective in 1890. DS Whiteman (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), a Polish-Jewish refugee, is a corrupt cop during the Blitz. DS Hasan (Amaka Okafor) is a Muslim officer in 2023. Amnesiac DC Maplewood (Shira Haas) inhabits a dystopian 2050. What it all adds up to has yet to emerge, but there are hints of a grand conspiracy linking all the timelines, with Stephen Graham’s shadowy Elias Mannix likely to be at its heart.

The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix)

Horror, one season, 2018 (rated 15+ by Netflix)
The creepy story of what happens at Hill House to Hugh and Olivia Crane and their five children as they attempt to renovate a mansion is classic Halloween material. A quarter of a century after the initial events, the estranged siblings are reunited and have to face terrors once more as they explore how the experiences of the past shaped their present.

Scary shows for adult-only audiences

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (Netflix)

Horror anthology, one season, 2022- (rated 18+ by Netflix)
A series of eight scary stories, this anthology is curated by Guillermo del Toro, the Oscar-winning director, and includes films made by eight directors, each adding their unique style to the terrors. Actors involved include Rupert Grint, Dan Stevens, Andrew Lincoln and F Murray Abraham. Be warned, these shows are not for the faint-hearted.

Interview with the Vampire (iPlayer)

Supernatural horror, one season, 2023-
Forget subtext: you won’t be needing that here. Based on Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles — famously resurrected by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in 1994’s Interview with the Vampire — the playwright Rolin Jones’s update sinks its fangs deep into the narrative’s homoerotic vein. Eric Bogosian plays the journalist Daniel Molloy, unnerved to be summoned to an audience with the New Orleans vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) 50 years after they last met. Holding gloomy court in Dubai, Louis reveals how his existence was transformed, in 1910, by an encounter with the magnetic Frenchman Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid). Vampire fans will revel in this gorgeously florid take on a genre that reinvents itself with each generation.

The Enfield Poltergeist (Apple TV+)

Docuseries, one season, 2023-
Arriving just in time for Halloween, this four-part docuseries investigates the famous case from 1977 of the “Enfield Poltergeist” in north London. Using 250 hours of rare audio footage and re-creations plus interviews with people involved in the original case, this is a must for those fascinated by the supernatural.

American Horror Story (Netflix)

Horror anthology, 12 seasons, 2011-23 (rated 18+ by Netflix)
Eleven series of this anthology show, created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, have run across more than a decade, with some more rounded in their feel than others. The early seasons are best, with season three a particular highlight. However, if you are looking for a true horror marathon, why not try working your way through the lot?

Bates Motel (C4 streaming)

Thriller, five seasons, 2013-
You can imagine Alfred Hitchcock turning in his grave at the prospect of a prequel to his 1960 film Psycho. Yet this series is surprisingly good, owing to standout performances from Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates and Vera Farmiga, who plays his mother. The series is just as eerie as the original film but now, with 50 episodes, the story has more space to breathe. Perhaps even the master of suspense would be pleased.

The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)

Horror, one season, 2023- (rated 18+ by Netflix)
It is fair to say that Mike Flanagan’s 2021 miniseries Midnight Mass is one of the true masterpieces of supernatural TV. His latest eight-part epic — a Succession-style takedown of an opioid-pushing pharmaceutical dynasty based on the gothic tales of Edgar Allan Poe — is less successful. While it undeniably benefits from some excellent performances, notably Bruce Greenwood’s unrepentant patriarch Roderick Usher and Mark Hamill as the dead-eyed family lawyer Arthur Pym, it’s an overly didactic exercise in Grand Guignol grotesquerie with little emotional heart.

Servant (Apple TV+)

Thriller, four seasons, 2019-
For more than three decades the director M Night Shyamalan has delighted us with the supernatural and twist endings. And he’s the producer of this deeply creepy drama that is at once addictive and unsettling. It centres on a wealthy young couple (Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell) who are grieving the loss of their baby son. To recover, they bond with a lifelike doll. Oh, and Rupert Grint, aka Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter films, shows up. To say any more would be to spoil this treat.

Hannibal (Prime Video)

Horror, three seasons, 2013-15 (rated 18+ by Netflix)
This is not the first time that the story of Hannibal Lecter has been told on screen, and it probably won’t be the last. This psychological thriller stars Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal, locked in a war of mind games with FBI agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). The series is based on the events of Thomas Harris’s novels Red Dragon, Hannibal and Hannibal Rising.

The Walking Dead (Disney+)

Survival horror, 11 seasons, 2010-22 (rated 18+ by Disney+)
One of the longest-running and most celebrated horror shows, The Walking Dead tells the story of a post-apocalyptic fight for human survival against a zombie uprising. Starring Andrew Lincoln as a deputy who wakes up from a coma to find the world has changed for ever, this is a mystery and survival adventure of the highest order with plenty of scary bits along the way.