Copyright © 2026 OyList. All Rights Reserved.
Share
Items17
1
Blake's 7 (1978)
8.0/10on IMDb
First aired
A shipful of fugitives faces down a Federation with the resources to keep them running. The pleasure is in the fragile alliance aboard the Liberator. If you like space adventure more when you have doubts about the people in the same ship, start here.
More about Blake's 72
Sapphire & Steel (1979)
7.8/10on IMDb
First aired
Joanna Lumley and David McCallum play agents sent to stop time from breaking into places where it shouldn't. They can make an ordinary room feel unsafe simply by watching it. Pick this if you enjoy a mystery that leaves you to listen for clues instead of laying out how its world works.
More about Sapphire & Steel3
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981)
8.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Arthur Dent barely gets off Earth before it's demolished to make way for a bypass. The BBC adaptation of Douglas Adams has the courage to let that premise play as an inconvenience. Try it for the comedy in the voices and the timing, with the universe itself mostly there to make the next joke possible.
More about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy4
Space: 1999 (1975)
7.3/10on IMDb
First aired
The Moon is blown out of Earth's orbit with the crew of Moonbase Alpha still on it. Come for the model work and the spacecraft, then see if the isolation takes hold. The base feels as if it was built to last, which makes the prospect of being stuck inside it rather less comforting.
More about Space: 19995
The Day of the Triffids (1981)
7.3/10on IMDb
First aired
The 1981 BBC version starts with a man waking up in a hospital to discover that people have lost their sight. The walking plants are the famous part, but the time spent getting your bearings beside a character who doesn't know the scale of what's happened is the best reason to choose this version.
More about The Day of the Triffids6
The Tomorrow People (1973)
7.2/10on IMDb
First aired
The 1973 version follows young people developing powers such as teleportation. It gives growing up an appealingly odd literal meaning. Choose this when you want a serial built around youngsters discovering the rules as they go, with enough sincerity to make the homemade-looking parts endearing.
More about The Tomorrow People7
UFO (1970)
7.9/10on IMDb
First aired
The secret organization fighting alien incursions has to keep its work hidden even when it reaches into Commander Straker's private life. Try A Question of Priorities for an episode where the job puts someone he loves at risk. The show's futuristic look is fun, but it's the conflict between the uniforms and the lives inside them that gives it staying power.
More about UFO8
The Tripods (1984)
7.4/10on IMDb
First aired
Young people caught up in a resistance to the machines that rule their world make a good entry point into the BBC's John Christopher adaptation. The rural settings give the machines a satisfying sense of scale. The television version stops before adapting the final novel, so go in for the journey and turn to the books if you want the conclusion.
More about The Tripods9
Star Cops (1987)
7.3/10on IMDb
First aired
A police force goes where people have started living and working in space. The appeal is in watching familiar detective work follow those people out there. It's a refreshing choice if the question you want a space show to answer is who investigates a crime there.
More about Star Cops10
Survivors (1975)
8.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Terry Nation's 1975 series follows Abby Grant and other people trying to make a life after a pandemic. It is at its most unsettling when a question about putting a group together turns into a question about who gets to make the rules. Choose it for patient arguments about how to live after the disaster.
More about Survivors11
The Changes (1975)
7.4/10on IMDb
First aired
When people begin smashing the machines around them, Nicky Gore gets separated from her parents and finds help among a group of Sikhs. It is a bracing choice if you want a children's serial that takes the collapse of the everyday world seriously, and gives its young lead a wider circle of people to depend on than she started with.
More about The Changes12
Quatermass (1979)
6.9/10on IMDb
First aired
John Mills plays an aging Quatermass searching for his granddaughter, who has joined a group called the Planet People. This is the 1979 serial. Try it if the idea of a scientist trying to understand a mass movement among the young sounds more interesting than another clean-cut alien invasion.
More about Quatermass13
Timeslip (1970)
7.8/10on IMDb
First aired
Liz and Simon find a gateway from their own time into the past and future. Start with The Wrong End of Time, which sends them back to 1940. The serial gives its youngsters room to work out which parts of what they see matter before anyone else takes them seriously.
More about Timeslip14
Chocky (1984)
7.6/10on IMDb
First aired
Matthew Gore has a presence in his head that asks unusual questions about life on Earth. The TV adaptation of John Wyndham is a good choice when you want a first-contact story small enough to fit inside a household. Its unease comes from how hard it is for the grown-ups to tell what Matthew is actually experiencing.
More about Chocky15
Doomwatch (1970)
7.3/10on IMDb
First aired
The BBC series follows scientists investigating research that might turn dangerous. Choose it when you want the anxiety of a project whose consequences haven't been thought through. The best scare it offers is the gap between recognizing a problem and getting anyone to act on it.
More about Doomwatch16
Terrahawks (1983)
7.1/10on IMDb
First aired
Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr send a puppet task force up against Zelda and her alien forces. This is a livelier choice if the darker serials have started to run together. The hand puppets and vehicles are half the pleasure, especially when the show gives Zelda the room to make an entrance.
More about Terrahawks17
The Nightmare Man (1981)
6.7/10on IMDb
First aired
Fog cuts off a Scottish island while the inhabitants try to make sense of a series of killings. The island and the uncertainty make this a good late-night choice if you like a science fiction explanation to announce itself slowly. Give it time to feel like a local mystery before you settle on what kind of story you're watching.
More about The Nightmare Man
