They’re here! The early evenings, the cold nights, the days full of clouds and fog. Which can mean only one thing - it’s only autumn, AKA spooky season!

We’re all for getting outdoors and making the most of the crisp autumn leaves, getting our fill of brisk air on chilly walks, and getting a chance to break out our cosy coats, hats, and scarves that have been in hiding through the spring and summer. But some days, all you want to do is pull the curtains tights, stick the kettle on, and snuggle down to binge-watch some spooky series. 

So join us as we go through 10 of our favourite TV shows to take us all the way to halloween and beyond! It’s spooky season, after all, not just spooky day, so we’ve got plenty of time to get through lots of brilliantly made shows that make us want to click ‘next episode’ again and again. 

We’ll go from the sweet and silly and ramp our way up to the downright scary.

1. Haunted Hotel

A single mum and her kids move into a hotel left to them by her brother, who is also still there in ghost form, alongside a demon trapped in the body of a little boy from the 1700s and plenty of other quirky, kooky ghosties and ghoulies. Silly, heartwarming, and fun, this ghost-themed show might not scare your socks off, but it’s a great, easy watch to get you in the spooky mood.

2. What We Do in the Shadows

A spin-off from the 2014 movie of the same name, this series follows 4 vampires and their faithful familiar as they navigate their vampiric nature alongside modern problems. Another silly watch with some gory moments. Vampires have never been so relatable! 

3. Over The Garden Wall

From the outside, you may wonder why this kids’ cartoon is further up the scary scale than two things made primarily for grown-ups, but trust us when we tell you that among the cute, sweet, and funny elements, there are some genuinely dark and creepy moments in this series. 

Taking place over 10 episodes or ‘chapters’, Over The Garden Wall follows two young brothers as they try to find their way home from ‘The Unknown’, a scary and seemingly endless forest that seems lost in time and space, while also trying to not get caught by ‘The Beast’, a dark entity that stalks the night and those who get lost in his forest. 

The art and music created for this series is (chef’s kiss) immaculate, and has amassed a huge cult following, myself included - this year will be the 11th year that I have started out my own spooky season with this particular gem of a show!

4. Interview with the Vampire

Flamboyant, dramatic, sexy, over-the-top, and gory - this series based on the famous Anne Rice novels has everything you could possibly want from classic vampire fiction. The series follows vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac as he recounts his vampiric life to jaded journalist Daniel Molloy, and truly it’s so sublimely well-made that I don’t know how it isn’t everything everyone is talking about all the time (hey, look, if the vampires can be over-dramatic then so can I.) 

Taking a look at the complicated meanings of love, memory, and what it is to be a predator, this series will seduce you, scare you, and suck you dry (I would say to get your mind out of the gutter, but I do believe this show wants it there, so…)

5. Supernatural

What year is this!? 2012!? Am I scrolling Tumblr, reblogging gifs of Cas and Dean staring lovingly into each others’ eyes while Sam mopes around in the background saying ‘Hey guys, check this out…’? 

NO, it’s 2025, and I’m telling you to treat yourself to the brilliantly cheesy, fantastically fun, and occasionally pretty scary show that raised a generation of cringe weirdos (myself included) - Supernatural! Truly one of those shows that you can go back to again and again and have as much fun as all the times before. 

If you’re not familiar, allow me to introduce you to Sam and Dean, two brothers who spend all of their time chasing down ghosts, demons, monsters, and occasionally the actual Devil, all while staying in crappy motels and listening to mullet rock in their 1967 Chevy Impala. It’s exactly what television was made to show. Move over, 5s, a show full of 10s is talking. 

6. Stranger Things

Aahh, this show. Vintage vibes, teenagers having to save the world, monsters from other dimensions, evil scientists, D&D, Winona Ryder - what doesn’t it offer?

Follow Will, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Eleven, and the rest into the upside down in 1980s Indiana to find out what supernatural forces and government secrets are threatening their town, and perhaps their whole world. Spooky, fun, nostalgic, and with gorgeous sound and set design, how could we have written this list without Stranger Things?

Is Season 5 out yet!?

7. Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

It’s the king of monster-lovers everywhere, the brilliant Guillermo del Toro! This is an anthology series, so you can watch in any order you want, as you explore catacombs beneath a cemetery, supernatural storage units, eerie autopsies, sadly secluded homes, and more. 

The tales in this series have the range, darling. From icky, to genuinely frightening, to heartbreaking - it’s a must-watch during spooky season. 

8. From

An underrated hidden gem, From is an absolute must-watch for lovers of shows like Lost who also want to lean in to the spooky, autumnal, halloween vibes. In this series, the residents of a secluded small town from which they can’t leave huddle down and hide as soon as the sun goes down, not daring to go or even look outside lest they come face-to-face with creatures from the woods. Creatures who, at first sight, don’t appear to be the vile monsters they actually are.

Mystery, mayhem, and some seriously creepy and nail-biting tension all pervade this show that deserves way more accolades and attention than it has! 

9. The Terror

Are you scared yet? We’re almost at the end of our list, and now we’re at the seriously scary. The Terror (series one) packs in dread of a cold and callous kind. Based on real historical events, but with a folkloric, supernatural twist, The Terror follows the sailors of two 19th century exploring ships as they try to find the Northwest Passage, but an exceptionally cold winter means their ships become stuck in the frozen desert of the arctic and they have no choice but to abandon them. What lengths will they go to to survive, and will any of them make it?

Monsters of both the supernatural and the human kind, compelling characters, chilling settings, and (spoiler alert) cannibalism, this series questions the violence of colonialism, the desperation in the will to live, and the dangers of arrogance in the face of the unknown. I’ve not met anyone who has watched this show and not become obsessed. Must, must, must watch. 

And finally…

10. The Haunting of Hill House

My goodness I love this show. A (very) loose adaptation of the absolutely swear-word fan-swear-word-tastic novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson, the series follows a dual-timeline wherein the Crane family try to navigate their lives following the traumatic events which take place during and after their stay in the haunted Hill House. It is a love letter to the original novel while still being entirely its own thing, it is a love letter to the horror genre overall, and it is a masterpiece unto itself. I will never stop rewatching and recommending this show.

You’ll sob your heart out, you’ll bite your nails to the quick, and you’ll get some of the biggest on-screen frights of your life. The Haunting of Hill House has well and truly earned its place at the top of this scale of scary series for spooky season. 

…And there we have it! Our top 10 series to binge during the run up to halloween and right into the dark and gloomy weeks that follow it, until spooky season runs out and our thoughts turn to those of the holly-jolly kind. 

There are, of course, so many others out there to get through. Honorable mentions include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and of course any and all of the Scooby-Doo shows. We could go on and on (and on and on and on and…)

What’s your take? Will you be watching (or rewatching!) any of these over the coming weeks? What’s your favourite spooky scary TV series that’s perfect for this time of year? Let us know in the comments!