What to Watch Tonight UK · Tuesday 27 October 2026
Four days to Halloween, and tonight has a Star Trek ghost story that first aired 59 years ago today. It was also the first episode Walter Koenig ever filmed as Chekov, so it is a fitting way to remember him. BBC Two has a Stephen King horror late tonight, and Channel 4 has a British chiller that most people missed.
Tonight’s three picks
STAR TREK CLASSIC: Star Trek — “Catspaw” (1967) on Paramount+
- Service: Paramount+
- Episode: Season 2, episode 7 of the original series
- Runtime: 50 minutes
- Age rating: PG
- Written by: Robert Bloch, author of Psycho
- Directed by: Joseph Pevney
- Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley, with Walter Koenig as Chekov
- Why tonight: First shown on 27 October 1967, held back to air in Halloween week. Walter Koenig died this week at 90
- UK availability: Streaming now on Paramount+
A crewman beams back from a lifeless planet and drops dead, and a strange voice warns Kirk that the Enterprise is cursed. Down on the surface, Kirk, Spock and McCoy find witches in the fog, a castle, a dungeon and a black cat that seems to give the orders. It is Star Trek’s Halloween episode, and it is pure fun. Look out for Chekov on the bridge: this was the first episode Walter Koenig filmed, though others reached screens first.
Perfect if you liked The Twilight Zone, classic Hammer horror or Doctor Who at its spookiest. Read our tribute to Walter Koenig, see our last Star Trek pick, “The City on the Edge of Forever”, and find your next episode in our Star Trek watch guide.
ON TV TONIGHT: The Boogeyman (2023) on BBC Two at 11pm
- Channel: BBC Two at 11pm, until 12:35am
- Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
- Age rating: 15
- Director: Rob Savage, from a Stephen King short story
- Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair and David Dastmalchian
- UK availability: On BBC Two tonight. Also streaming on Disney+
A therapist and his two daughters are still reeling from the death of their mother when a frightened stranger turns up at his home office. The man leaves something behind, and soon the youngest girl is sure that something lives in her wardrobe. Rob Savage, the British director of Host, knows exactly how to use a dark room, and Sophie Thatcher is excellent as the older sister. It is a proper lights-off scare for a Tuesday night.
Perfect if you liked Lights Out, Sinister or The Babadook. For more Stephen King, see our pick of Misery.
HIDDEN GEM: Saint Maud (2019) on Channel 4
- Service: Free to stream on Channel 4
- Runtime: 1 hour 24 minutes
- Age rating: 15
- Written and directed by: Rose Glass
- Starring: Morfydd Clark and Jennifer Ehle
- UK availability: Streaming now on Channel 4. Also to rent or buy on the main digital stores
Maud is a young private nurse in a faded seaside town who has found God, and she is sure He has given her a mission: to save the soul of Amanda, the dying dancer she cares for. Nobody else can see how lonely and fragile Maud really is. Rose Glass’s first film is short, strange and very British, and Morfydd Clark is unforgettable. It arrived in the middle of lockdown, so plenty of people never caught it. The final shot will stay with you.
Perfect if you liked Hereditary, The Witch or Midsommar. Morfydd Clark is also back as Galadriel in The Rings of Power, and if you want another grief-soaked chiller, try our pick of The Night House.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
Start with “Catspaw” on Paramount+ and raise a glass to Walter Koenig. Then go dark with Saint Maud on Channel 4, and if you still dare, BBC Two’s The Boogeyman at 11pm will make you check the wardrobe before bed.
Plan the week ahead with our UK Release Calendar, and find more picks on What to Watch.
What are you watching tonight?
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