British TV shows often get darker and weirder than most mainstream American shows, and some of them are creepy enough to keep their audiences awake at night. Most “creepy” shows tend to fall under the horror genre, but British comedies can be just as unsettling. Without necessarily being horror comedies, it’s possible to create a dark and tense atmosphere while still being hilarious.
Some of Britain’s best writers, including Chris Morris, Charlie Brooker and even Roald Dahl, have made creepy shows with plenty of humor. While America also has some similar shows, it’s rare for a mainstream show to feature such a perfect blend between darkness and humor. British networks seem more willing to commission all sorts of creepy shows, including horrors, comedies, and detective dramas.
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10 The League Of Gentlemen
The Surreal Sitcom Has An Unsettling Tone
The League of Gentlemen takes its name from the sketch comedy troupe that created it. Three of the four members of the group play almost every character in the strange, secluded town of Royston Vasey, which often gives it the same feel as other big British exports Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Little Britain. One thing that makes The League of Gentlemen stand out is its twisted, disquieting atmosphere.
The League of Gentlemen
frequently deploys horror tropes to give small-town England the same atmosphere as a haunted house.
The League of Gentlemen frequently deploys horror tropes to give small-town England the same atmosphere as a haunted house. The very few normal characters in town tend to be outsiders, while the inhabitants frequently manage to whip themselves into a panic over just about anything. Steve Pemberton and Reese Shearsmith have gone on to produce some more surreal, disturbing comedies, with Psychoville and Inside No. 9.
9 Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
The Horror Spoof Is A Must-Watch For Fans Of British Comedy
British TV horror was arguably at its peak in the 1970s and 1980s, but it’s fair to say that a lot of the old classics have lost some of their impact over the years. Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace aired in 2004, and it acts as both an homage to this era and a hilarious parody. Matthew Holness stars as Garth Marenghi, an egotistical horror writer who presents each episode with the smug warning that it’s so scary it could have severe physical side effects.
Darkplace
is filled with intentionally ludicrous plot contrivances and shoddy physical effects.
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace is a hilarious British sitcom, filled with intentionally ludicrous plot contrivances and shoddy physical effects. However, it’s hard to argue against its creepy atmosphere. While the stories themselves are nowhere near as scary as Garth Marenghi makes them out to be, the show does succeed in cultivating a retro atmosphere that seems detached from reality.
8 Broadchurch
Broadchurch Focuses On A Small Town Where Anyone Could Be A Killer
Broadchurch seems to be cobbled together using many of the detective genre’s biggest tropes, but it still works fantastically well. The drama follows two detectives investigating a murder in a small town filled with secrets. This premise sounds like a cliché, but the writing and the intriguing characters make Broadchurch stand out from the crowd. David Tennant and Olivia Colman lead the ensemble cast as the two primary investigators.
Broadchurch
isn’t a horror show, but it creates a deeply unsettling atmosphere at times.
Broadchurch isn’t a horror show, but it creates a deeply unsettling atmosphere at times. Like many great crime shows, it delves into the nature of criminal behavior. However, the investigation switches subjects with such frequency that it also casts the entire town in a different light. Everyone in the community becomes a potential suspect as neighbors and families turn against one another. Broadchurch shows how paranoia and mistrust can make innocent people look like villains.
7 The Enfield Poltergeist
The True Story Of One Of Britain’s Most Famous Hauntings
The case of the Enfield Poltergeist is one of the most famous alleged supernatural events in the history of Britain. It has inspired many movies and TV shows, including The Conjuring 2. Apple TV’s The Enfield Poltergeist takes things back to basics. It’s a documentary retelling of the investigation, but with plenty of narrative flair. Just like with the real-life case, the line between fact and fiction gradually starts to blur.
Those who are interested in the case might also want to watch 2015’s
The Enfield Haunting.
The Enfield Poltergeist recounts events in a style similar to many true-crime documentaries, which makes the paranormal elements seem disturbingly real. The production uses a full recreation of the house, as well as transcripts from contemporary interviews. Those who are interested in the case might also want to watch 2015’s The Enfield Haunting, a miniseries starring Timothy Spall which offers a fictionalized version of events.
6 Whitechapel
A Painfully Tense Detective Show With Plenty Of Horror
Whitechapel is a detective show set in London’s East End. The first season tracks the investigation into a serial killer obsessed with recreating the Jack the Ripper murders from the Victorian era. This puts a fresh twist on most other Jack the Ripper TV shows and movies, which revel in the seedy allure of 1880s London. Whitechapel reintroduces the human element to an often mythologized tale, and since it’s an original case, it has plenty of surprises.
Whitechapel
makes these historical crimes seem real again, shedding the idea that they are mere ghost stories.
Whitechapel could have been a superb miniseries if it had just stuck to one season, but it continues after the Ripper case is solved. The second season uses a similar playbook, but it focuses on London’s notorious Kray twins rather than Jack the Ripper. Whitechapel makes these historical crimes seem real again, shedding the idea that they are mere ghost stories. It’s important, therefore, that the show keeps up a nervous energy throughout.
5 Tales Of The Unexpected
Roald Dahl Presents A Chilling Anthology
Roald Dahl’s children’s novels include classics such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The Witches. Although some people may only know him for these books, he also wrote for more mature audiences. Tales of the Unexpected is an anthology series which adapts many of his short stories, although as the show progressed it began creating original stories and selecting works from other writers too.
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As an anthology series, Tales of the Unexpected often changes tone for different stories. Some are more lighthearted, while others are rather melodramatic. Mostly, Tales of the Unexpected tells strange, dark stories, and it always delivers a cunning twist at the end. The show attracted some big names over the years, including some icons of the horror genre, such as Peter Cushing, Janet Leigh, Ian Holm and Joseph Cotten.
4 Remember Me
Michael Palin And Jodie Comer Star In A Ghostly Tale About Past Traumas
Michael Palin is most famous as a member of Monty Python. Since the group’s heyday in the 1970s, he has made a series of popular travel documentaries, written books and acted in several movies. Remember Me gave him a starring role on TV once again, but it’s a completely different genre to Palin’s usual work. He stars as an elderly man whose whole life has been plagued by the supernatural. When he moves into a care home, the staff there are drawn into the dark mystery too.
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Palin is surprisingly effective in his dramatic role, and he is supported by a cast which includes a young Jodie Comer, years before Killing Eve. Remember Me hints at a disturbing mystery from long ago, and it slowly pulls on this thread. However, it also has enough room to provide some unexpected twists. Remember Me uses some old English mythicism to create a perplexing atmosphere.
3 Black Mirror
The Sci-Fi Anthology Shows How Technology Can Enhance Humanity’s Darkest Tendencies
Black Mirror has changed gradually, as it has adapted to the international audience that Netflix has given it. Before being sold to Netflix, Charlie Brooker’s sci-fi horror anthology show started out on Britain’s Channel 4, with just three episodes per season instead of six. These early episodes remain some of the creepiest and strangest that the show has to offer. They’re also the episodes which capture the essence of the show’s dystopian technological horror the best.
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At its best, Black Mirror can take a simple concept to its limits. For example, season 1’s “The Entire History of You” envisions a world in which people can record everything that they see and hear, but this technology just worsens people’s fears and insecurities. Black Mirror season 7 is coming in 2025. While the last couple of seasons have shown signs of expanding beyond the boundaries of the original premise, it has maintained the same disquieting tension in many episodes.
2 Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared
The Internet Sensation Became An Equally Disturbing TV Show
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared started out as a series of surreal videos on YouTube, and they quickly went viral. The success of the macabre puppet show meant that Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared eventually made the transition to TV, and it did so without losing any of its originality or its essence. Using the appearance of a children’s show allows Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared to wander off into deeply disturbing territory, while still finding time for moments of dark humor.
In keeping with its child-friendly aesthetic, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared has plenty of musical interludes. However, unlike Sesame Street, these songs are often about death and other mature topics. The upbeat music is contrasted by the dark undertones of the lyrics, as the characters become increasingly disenfranchised, lost and afraid. The whimsical innocence of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is merely a facade which conceals something much more cynical and upsetting.
1 Jam
The Creepy Sketch Show Tries To Provoke Its Audience
Chris Morris is most famous for his shows Brass Eye and The Day Today, as well as directing the British dark comedy movieFour Lions. Jam is much more surreal and disturbing. It’s an experimental sketch show that tries to find the boundaries of good taste in comedy, and it proudly marches well beyond these boundaries. Morris is no stranger to controversy, and Jam received plenty of complaints.
The entire atmosphere of the show feels suffocating and confusing, from the sound distortions to the strange visual interludes.
Jam‘s sketches often deal with taboo subjects. A child helps a man dispose of a body, a man buries himself alive to avoid dying of old age, a doctor uses proceeds from phone sex to help a child with cancer. These off-putting ideas are only one part of what makes Jam so upsetting. The entire atmosphere of the show feels suffocating and confusing, from the sound distortions to the strange visual interludes and jarring editing.
