The Living and the Dead (2016)
Ghost Story
One of the best and most original ghost stories in some time, a mini-series for the BBC set in the 1890s, this does remarkable things in entirely turning the genre on its head
TV Mini-Series
A TV Mini-Series is a work made for television. Unlike a tv series, it tells a self-contained story that is spread across several episodes, ranging from two to more, although after around ten or so episodes it starts to blur into becoming a regular series. These episodes range from half-hour to one-hour or commonly two-hour timeslots.
The extended running time of such a format allows greater ease with storytelling than a regular feature film. It is often the favoured form for works adapted from books as the greater running time allows a more faithful treatment – a number of Stephen King works have found their best telling here. The Mini-Series has also worked well for disaster spectacles, biopics and retelling of historical and True Crime stories, and adaptations of popular classics.
Mini-series are often treated as a form of spectacle and given larger budgets than tv series in order to appeal to a wider audience. A mini-series can also serve as a pilot for a potential tv series.
The Long Shadow (2023)
True-Life Serial Killer
An exhaustive and very accurately detailed tv mini-series based around the Yorkshire Ripper, a serial killer who targeted prostitutes in the north of England between 1975 and 1981
Lord of the Flies (2026)
Reversion to Barbarism
A tv mini-series remake of William Golding’s classic novel about schoolboys stranded on a desert island and their descent into barbarism. This gets the essence of the book with a raw primality that makes for exciting viewing
Lost in Austen (2008)
Modern Woman Trapped Inside Pride and Prejudice
A great tv mini-series where modern girl Jemima Rooper is transported back into Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice but disrupts the story with her modern ways
The Lost Room (2006)
Everyday Objects with Mysterious Powers
One of the most conceptually ingenious tv mini-series ever created concerning a quest for objects from a mysterious hotel room that have been imbued with amazing powers.
The Lost World (2001)
Lost Plateau of Dinosaurs
A TV mini-series adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle lost world story, this has been produced by the BBC as a glorious period adventure with CGI dinosaurs
The Magical Land of the Leprechauns (1999)
Leprechaun Fantasy
Lively and undeniably likeable Hallmark mini-series that celebrates Irish myth. Giddily silly nonsense conducted with a boisterous energy
Marian, Again (2005)
Missing Woman Psycho-Thriller
Strong and effective UK tv thriller where Stephen Tompkinson becomes obsessed with the girlfriend who went missing years earlier after he thinks he sees her again
The Martian Chronicles (1980)
Human Colonisation of Mars/Ray Bradbury Adaptation
Ray Bradbury’s book about the human colonisation of Mars is an SF classic for its wistful, nostalgic poetry. This tv mini-series adaptation is killed by a lumbering director who over-explains Bradbury’s imagery in the most literal ways
Merlin’s Apprentice (2006)
Arthurian Legends Adventure
Sequel to Hallmark’s earlier tv mini-series Merlin featuring a return performance from Sam Neill in the title role, this is otherwise a generic and unmemorable work of Arthurian fantasy
Messiah (2001)
Serial Killer Thriller
A strong and worthwhile serial killer thriller mini-series from the BBC with a killer targeting victims with the names and professions of the apostles
Meteor (2009)
Impending Meteor Collision
Disaster TV mini-series where assorted well-known faces fight through the chaos to prevent an impending meteor strike
The Midnight Club (2022)
Teenagers Tell Horror Stories
Mike Flanagan horror mini-series adapted from Christopher Pike’s book, this is set around a group of patients in a hospice who form a group to tell each other horror stories
Midnight Mass (2021)
Vampires and Religion
Mike Flanagan returns with his best work to date. Effectively a Catholic version of Salem’s Lot, this comes with some flat out great pieces of writing
The Midwich Cuckoos (2022)
Telepathic Alien Children
The third screen adaptation of John Wyndham’s book, previously filmed as Village of the Damned, this gives the story an update in some interesting ways
Midwinter of the Spirit (2015)
Woman Exorcist
Very impressive British mini-series about a woman exorcist. This dispenses with the usual head-turning, barf-bag theatrics and feels like the first theologically thought out work of its type, one that largely eschews horror effect to come together as a superbly well-written story
The Mists of Avalon (2001)
Revisionist Arthurian Legends
TV mini-series based on Marion Zimmer Bradley’s book that offers a revisionist take on the Arthurian legends, telling the story through the eyes of the women of the saga
The Monkey King (2001)
Epic Chinese Legend
A tv mini-series adaptation of the famous Chinese legend Journey to the West made for US audiences by Hallmark Entertainment. The story remains stolidly earthbound and the meta-fictional contortions the story has to add to engage in to have the monk hero replaced by a contemporary Thomas Gibson are bizarre
Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025)
True-Life Body Snatcher and Necrophile
An eight-episode tv mini-series based on true-life necrophile/grave robber Ed Gein. This expands the story out and considerably embellishes the facts but is one of the most outrageously out there pieces of tv watching you will ever come across
Mother Love (1989)
Psychopathic Mother
There was undeniable shock value watching 1960s sex symbol Diana Rigg cast as a venomous middle-aged woman with murder on her mind. While this BBC mini-series won awards, you feel that a 1960s Hammer psycho-thriller would have conducted it in half the time
MPD Psycho (2000)
Split-Personalitied Detective vs a Body-Hopping Killer
Takashi Miike tv mini-series with a mind-bogglingly confusing plot involving a split personalitied detective, possession, a terrorist pop star and barcodes imprinted in eyeballs
A Murder at the End of the World (2023)
Hi-Tech Murder Mystery
Brit Marling is one of the most intelligent creative faces of the 2010s/20s. Here she co-writes, co-directs and stars in a fascinating murder mystery set in the tech world at a futuristic retreat
My Life as a Fairytale: Hans Christian Andersen (2001)
Fairytale Author Biopic
TV mini-series that purports to tell a biography of fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen only to freely rearrange or outrighly invents aspects of Andersen’s life
Mysterious Island (2005)
Desert Island Survival/Giant Animals
Hallmark tv mini-series adaptation of Jules Verne’s desert island drama featuring no less than Patrick Stewart as Captain Nemo. This sinks badly amid incredibly shoddy giant animal digital effects
Neverland (2011)
SF Version of Peter Pan
Following Tin Man and Alice, another of Nick Willing’s ingenious rewritings and rationalisations of classic children’s tales in science-fiction terms. Here the essentials of Peter Pan are transported to another planet
Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (2006)
Stephen King Anthology
TV mini-series that adapts eight Stephen King short stories. As with any anthology, the stories vary in quality but are generally quite reasonable
On the Beach (2000)
The Nuclear Holocaust
TV mini-series remake of the 1959 nuclear war film. With no longer the need to make messages as in the original, the story has been expanded out with a lush romantic sweep
The One Game (1988)
Reality Games
Mind-twisting mini-series where videogame designer Stephen Dillane is wound into a series of reality and illusion games
The Owl Service (1969-70)
Folk Myth Replays in the Present
A British children’s tv mini-series about a mysterious dinner service that presages the playing out of a Welsh myth, this is seen as one of the original influences on the Folk Horror genre
Pennies from Heaven (1978)
Musical Daydreams
Dennis Potter was the greatest writer to ever work in televisio. This mini-series is one of his most celebrated works, featuring characters bursting out into lip-synched Golden Oldie songs, making biting contrast to their downbeaten lives
Phantom of the Opera (1983)
Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House
TV mini-series remake of The Phantom of the Opera starring Jane Seymour that rewrites and rearranges much of the story to negligible effect
The Phantom of the Opera (1990)
Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House
Lush tv mini-series with Charles Dance as the Phantom, this stands too much in the shadow of the then recent Lloyd Webber musical and its making The Phantom into a romantic figure as opposed to a horror icon
The Phantom (2009)
Comic-Book Superhero
A mini-series based on the classic comic-book masked hero but the attempts to modernise The Phantom for the post-Dark Knight era seem bizarrely awkward
Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018)
Unexplained Disappearance
The Picnic at Hanging Rock with its hauntingly unsolved mystery is considered one of the greatest Australian films of all time; this mini-series in six one-hour parts drags every beat of the story out and pads the slim original with so many other character mini-dramas and backstories that the mystery is drowned out
The Plot Against America (2020)
Alternate History
You might be inclined to dismiss on the basis of its title as some of lunatic fringe YouTube conspiracy video. But what we actually have is a strong and powerfully written alternate history mini-series based around the idea of Charles Lindbergh becoming US President in 1940 and the country’s subsequent slide into fascism
Quatermass (1979)
Alien Megalithic Artefacts Reactivated
The fourth and final of Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass stores, which shows the professor as an old man in decaying future Britain trying to deal with an alien force manifest through ancient megaliths. A surprisingly bleak and cynical end to the saga but still with the greatness of Kneale’s writing
Red Riding (2009)
Hunt for a Serial Killer
Depending on how you saw this, this is either a UK tv mini-series or three separately released films. Taking place over a decade, the three stories have a common locale and overlapping characters in the story of the hunt for a serial killer and the battle against a corrupt police department in Yorkshire
The Replacement (2017)
Workplace Psycho-Thriller
Mini-series made for the BBC that seems to have closely studied the late 80s/90s psycho-thriller – Fatal Attraction, Single White Female. Morven Christie is a pregnant mother who takes a leave of absence from work only to discover that her replacement appears to be plotting to kill her
Requiem (2018)
Abducted Child Mystery/Occult Conspiracy
This BBC tv mini-series starts out seeming a mystery about the disappearance of a child as the investigating heroine makes the jolt realisation that she is the missing child, before the show edges over into occult conspiracy. Very nicely written and beautifully directed with a line-up of standout performances
Rillington Place (2016)
True-Life Serial Killer
BBC mini-series based on true-life serial killer John Reginald Christie that was earlier filmed as the classic >i>10 Rillington Place. Tim Roth steps into the role and the show adopts an exacting feel for the period to portray Christie’s crimes with considerable effect
Riverworld (2010)
All of Humanity Resurrected on an Alien Planet
The second tv mini-series of Philip Jose Farmer’s classic SF novels trashes the books just as badly as the first attempt. The premise and characters are indifferently rewritten, while the show is churned out by a director with a tatty indifference to what he is making
Rose Red (2002)
Haunted House
A Stephen King scripted tv mini-series about the investigation into a haunted house. This is not quite a classic in the vein of its model The Haunting but is a solid and effective entry
Rosemary’s Baby (2014)
Satanic Impregnation
Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby was a classic film that popularised the modern interest in occult and deviltry on film; this sad remake is something that only parrots the cliches that have set in in the ensuing 46 years and clumsily mishandles all of Polanski’s comically edgy paranoia
Rules of Engagement (1989)
Impending Nuclear War
The last gasp of the mid-80s era of nuclear anxieties that brought Threads and The Day After, a tv mini-series about the imposition of martial law in a British city as US-Soviet nuclear war looms in Europe
Salem’s Lot (1979)
Town of Vampires/Stephen King Adaptation
One of the best Stephen King adaptations made as a tv mini-series concerning a town overrun by vampires. Director Tobe Hooper excels himself, staging the book in terms a series of captivating set-pieces
‘Salem’s Lot (2004)
Town of Vampires/Stephen King Adaptation
TV mini-series remake of the Stephen King novel, this fails to hold a candle to the earlier 1979 version
The Secret of Crickley Hall (2012)
Ghost Story
Ghost story BBC mini-series adapted from a novel by horror writer James Herbert that unfolds between two different eras. With an amazing cast of Before They Were Famous names.
Secret Smile (2005)
Psycho Ex-Boyfriend
Creepy UK tv mini-series with David Tennant as a psycho boyfriend obsessed with Kate Ashfield
See No Evil: The Moors Murders (2006)
True Life Serial Killers
True Crime mini-series based on the infamous Moors Murders of the 1960s and one that seems determined to conduct the least interesting account of the murders possible
The Shining (1997)
Haunted Hotel/Cabin Fever/Stephen King Adaptation
Stephen King expressed dissatisfaction with the way Stanley Kubrick handled his novel and here remakes it as a tv mini-series that adheres more closely to the book. While Kubrick’s film is far better, this is not bad where even the perpetually awful Mick Garris subdues his tendency to overdo everything towards some subtlety
The Silent Sea (2021)
Sinister Happenings at a Moonbase
South Korean tv mini-series about the investigation of a moonbase with illicit experiments and something possibly alien unleashed
The Singing Detective (1986)
Meta-Fiction/Detective Story Daydreams
One of the most extraordinary works ever made for tv. From the pen of Dennis Potter, a mini-series that blends film noir, meta-fiction and autobiography
Snow Queen (2002)
Fairy-Tale/Epic Quest
The Hallmark tv mini-series version of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale is lushly produced but tends to plod when it should come to life as fantasy
Sole Survivor (2000)
Mysterious Plane Crash/Psychic Powers/Dean R. Koontz Adaptation
Dean R. Koontz adapted mini-series about plane crash survivors and psychic powers that comes with a series of wild twists that the script fails to offer adequate explanation for
Something is Out There (1988)
Cop and Alien Partner vs Body-Hopping Alien
Mini-series that was a popular hit in its day, which largely steals its premise of a human and alien cop hunting a body-hopping alien from The Hidden. What makes the show work past its rather ordinary story, is the two leads and their wittily sparring Lethal Weapon-type relationship
SS-GB (2017)
Alternate History/England Under Nazi Rule
The alternate history has never fared well on film but this British mini-series is an excellent variant on the Nazis Win World War II scenario. As opposed to the similar but tedious The Man in the High Castle series, this is marvellously understated and written with superb tension
The Stand (1994)
Showdown Between the Forces of Good and Evil After the Collapse of Civilisation/Stephen King Adaptation
The Stand is regarded as Stephen King’s best novel, an epic that depicts the final showdown between good and evil in the aftermath of civilisation. The mini-series adaptation was alas placed into the ham fists of one of King’s worst adapters. Mick Garris
The Stand (2020-2021)
Showdown Between the Forces of Good and Evil After the Collapse of Civilisation/Stephen King Adaptation
The Stand is in my opinion Stephen King’s greatest book. The question is whether this new mini-series version will improve on the laughably failed 1994 version
Station Eleven (2021-2022)
Post-Apocalyptic World
A beautifully-made post-apocalyptic story told as a mandala of threads and surprise connections that stretch over twenty years
Storm of the Century (1999)
Stranger Manipulates a Small Town/Stephen King Mini-Series
One of the best Stephen King tv mini-series with Colm Feore as a mysterious stranger who manipulates and turns an entire town against themselves
Supernova (2005)
Solar Disaster
Disaster TV mini-series about the end of the world due to the sun about to go supernova. Cliche plotting, canned action scenes and bad science ensue
Taken (2002)
UFOs and Alien Abductions
TV mini-series in ten two-hour parts that deals with UFOs, covering several generations from the 1940s to the present. An interesting take on UFO encounters with the benefit of some phenomenal performances
Talking to Heaven (2002)
True-Life Medium Biopic
A Hallmark tv mini-series based on the life of the supposed true-life medium James Van Praagh
Ted and Alice (2002)
Alien Visitor Comedy
Amiably good natured if unchallenging comedy where Dawn French engages in a relationship with an alien visitor
10.5 (2004)
Disaster Mini-Series/California Super-Quake
Disaster mini-series based around the great belief that a super-earthquake will come and pitch most of California into the ocean. Despite devoting some four hour of screen time to it, the drama feels painfully padded at times, while the special effects sequences come out as not very special
The 10th Kingdom (2000)
Fairytale Parody Mini-Series
Hallmark mini-series set in a world 200 years after the classic fairytales have occurred, this wittily deflates or contrasts classic story elements with the present-day
The Third Day (2020)
Folk Horror
A UK TV mini-series that borrow much from The Wicker Man in a complex and fascinating story about the discovery of folk religion on a small island and becoming caught up in pending rituals
Tin Man (2007)
Modernised Wizard of Oz
Nick Willing conducts the first of his SF revampings of popular tales. Here The Wizard of Oz is reworked into a Steampunk fantasy with some startling reinterpetations of the familiar characters
The Triangle (2005)
Solving the Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle
An impressive line-up of genre names came together for this big event mini-series that sets out to offer a conclusive explanation for the Bermuda Triangle in a plot that juggles an entertaining stew of wild ideas involving timewarps, alternate timelines and government cover-ups
The Tripods [Season 1] (1984)
Earth After an Alien Invasion
Classic tv mini-series about rebellion in a future where Earth is controlled by giant alien tripod machines, this still holds up as something great today
Ultraviolet (1998)
Vampire Hunters
A British mini-series that offers an ingenious modernised reconeptualisation of the vampire genre, depicting the activities of a secret agency of vampire hunters
V (1983)
Alien Invasion
Very popular mini-series during its day (that was followed by a tv series) concerning the alien invasion and occupation of Earth, this has an utter banality that fails on almost every level – as human drama, science and even basic plausibility
V: The Final Battle (1984)
Alien Invasion
Follow-up to the popular V mini-series, this is an absurd melodrama that is made up of incredibly bad science-fiction writing and directed with zero plausibility
The War of the Worlds (2019)
Period Alien Invasion/H.G. Wells Adaptation
BBC mini-series that sets out to restore the H.G. Wells novel to the era it was written. This it does, as well as restores many aspects that other films change. At the same time, it also introduces some radical changes that make it the most variant of the adaptations to date
The Watch (2020)
Terry Pratchett Adaptation
Mini-series based on the works of Terry Pratchett that feels as though it is made, designed and cast by people who haven’t even read the books
The Watcher (2022)
True Crime/Family Terrorised by a Mystery Letter Writer
Compulsively watchable Ryan Murphy mini-series about a family whose life is torn apart by a sinister letter-writing campaign. A true story that gets far most bizarre than most fiction
Watership Down (2018)
Animation/Talking Rabbit Quest
BBC tv mini-series remake of the classic Richard Adams novel about talking rabbits on a quest. To get it over with, the animation is not the high-end quality that we have been spoiled with by Pixar et al. On the other hand, what remains is an excellent faithfully told version of the story
We Hunt Together (2020)
Lovers on a Killing Spree
BBC mini-series about two lovers on a killing spree that works through some great performance and engaging character arcs
Whitechapel (2009)
Modern-Day Jack the Ripper Killings
Fascinating British mini-series about a series of modern-day Jack the Ripper copycat killings, one where the writers have clearly done their research
The Witches of Oz (2011)
Wizard of Oz Sequel/Modernisation
Sequel/modernisation (it is confusing what) to The Wizard of Oz relocated in New York. This tv mini-series may be the cheapest work ever served up bearing the Oz name and flounders amid the shabbiness of its effects and utter lack of magic its director conjures
World on a Wire (1973)
Virtual Reality
Fascinating work from Rainer Werner Fassbinder, one of the earliest depictions of Virtual Reality on screen and one that sets most of the genre’s tropes in place
Years and Years (2019)
Near Future Family Saga
Exceptionally written UK mini-series from Doctor Who producer Russell T. Davies following a diverse family throughout the 2020s that become a projection of current trends turned nightmarish