What to Watch Tonight UK · Sunday 25 October 2026
The clocks went back last night, so the evenings are suddenly darker and Halloween is less than a week away. Tonight’s picks lean into it. BBC Two has one of the great Stephen King films late tonight, BBC iPlayer and Netflix have a British haunted house film that most people missed, and our Doctor Who pick is a ghost story about time itself.
Tonight’s three picks
ON TV TONIGHT: Misery (1990) on BBC Two at 10:45pm
- Channel: BBC Two at 10:45pm, until 12:25am
- Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes
- Age rating: 15
- Director: Rob Reiner, from Stephen King’s novel, with a screenplay by William Goldman
- Starring: James Caan and Kathy Bates
- UK availability: On BBC Two tonight. Also streaming on MGM+ through Prime Video Channels
Best-selling novelist Paul Sheldon crashes his car in a Colorado snowstorm and wakes up in the remote farmhouse of Annie Wilkes, his “number one fan”. She is a former nurse, and she is not happy that he has just killed off her favourite character. Kathy Bates won the Oscar for Best Actress for Annie, and she is still one of the most frightening characters in film. Reiner keeps it tight and tense, and that scene still makes people wince.
Perfect if you liked The Shining, Gerald’s Game or Stand by Me. More Stephen King is on the way: Mike Flanagan’s Carrie has been renewed, and Kathy Bates is back in American Horror Story.
HIDDEN GEM: His House (2020) on BBC iPlayer and Netflix
- Service: BBC iPlayer, free. Also on Netflix
- Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes
- Age rating: 15
- Writer and director: Remi Weekes, in his feature debut
- Starring: Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Wunmi Mosaku and Matt Smith
- UK availability: Streaming now on BBC iPlayer and Netflix
Bol and Rial have escaped war-torn South Sudan and are given a run-down house in an English town while they wait for asylum. They must follow the rules, keep their heads down and never cause trouble. But something has followed them, and it is living in the walls. Weekes uses the haunted house to tell a story about grief, guilt and starting again, and the scares are as good as the story. It came out on Netflix in lockdown and slipped past too many people.
Perfect if you liked The Babadook, Get Out or Saint Maud. Wunmi Mosaku is also in Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning.
DOCTOR WHO CLASSIC: Doctor Who — “Hide” (2013) on BBC iPlayer
- Service: BBC iPlayer, free
- Episode: Series 7, written by Neil Cross
- Runtime: 45 minutes
- Age rating: 12 (series rating on UK streaming)
- Starring: Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman, with Dougray Scott and Jessica Raine
- Why now: Halloween week, the clocks have just gone back, and Matt Smith is also in tonight’s hidden gem
- UK availability: Streaming now on BBC iPlayer
In 1974, a ghost-hunting professor and a gifted psychic are trying to photograph the Witch of the Well at Caliburn House, a crumbling mansion on a lonely moor. Then the Doctor and Clara turn up. It starts as a proper old-fashioned ghost story, with candles, cold spots and things that go bump in the night. Then it turns into something cleverer, and a lot more Doctor Who. It is a great way to spend your first dark Sunday evening.
Perfect if you liked The Haunting, The Stone Tape or “Blink”. Our last Doctor Who pick was “The Robot Revolution”, and the Doctor has a busy week off screen too, with a new Tales of the TARDIS book and a trip to wartime Malta on audio. Find your next adventure in our Doctor Who watch guide.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
Start early with “Hide” on BBC iPlayer, then try His House if you want something properly scary. Save room for Annie Wilkes on BBC Two at 10:45pm, and do not watch it alone.
Plan the week ahead with our UK Release Calendar.
What are you watching tonight?