What to Watch Tonight UK · Friday 30 October 2026
The night before Halloween, BBC Two has Brian De Palma’s Carrie at 10pm, and next week marks 50 years since it first reached cinemas. Before that, a lockdown séance that went viral is now free on ITVX, and Star Wars has its own witches for Halloween weekend.
Tonight’s three picks
ON TV TONIGHT: Carrie (1976) on BBC Two at 10pm
- Channel: BBC Two at 10pm, until 11.35pm
- Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes
- Age rating: 18
- Directed by: Brian De Palma, from Stephen King’s first novel
- Starring: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, William Katt and John Travolta
- UK availability: On BBC Two tonight and on BBC iPlayer shortly after broadcast. Also streaming on Prime Video and MUBI
Carrie White is bullied at school and terrorised at home by her fanatical mother, and nobody knows what she can do when she is pushed too far. De Palma turns Stephen King’s first novel into a split-screen nightmare, and the prom is still one of the great set pieces in horror. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie were both nominated for Oscars, which almost never happens for a horror film. Fifty years on, it remains cruel, sad and frightening.
Perfect if you liked Misery, The Exorcist or Saint Maud. Mike Flanagan’s new Carrie series is on Prime Video, and it has already been renewed for a second season.
HIDDEN GEM: Host (2020) on ITVX
- Service: ITVX, free with adverts
- Runtime: 57 minutes
- Age rating: 15
- Directed by: Rob Savage, who wrote it with Gemma Hurley and Jed Shepherd
- Starring: Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore and Emma Louise Webb
- UK availability: Streaming on ITVX, where it arrived on 23 October, and on Shudder
Six friends stuck at home in lockdown hire a medium to run a séance over a video call. Somebody does not take it seriously, and something answers. Rob Savage made Host in 2020 while the country was locked down, and the whole film plays out on laptop screens. It sounds like a gimmick, but it is short, clever and genuinely frightening, with scares that land because you are staring at a screen too. Watch it with the lights off.
Perfect if you liked Paranormal Activity, Unfriended or The Blair Witch Project. Savage went on to make The Boogeyman, one of our picks this week, and Other Mommy, which we reviewed this month.
STAR WARS CLASSIC: Star Wars: The Clone Wars — “Nightsisters” (2011) on Disney+
- Service: Disney+
- Episode: Season 3, episode 12, the first of a three-part story
- Runtime: About 23 minutes
- Age rating: PG
- Written by: Katie Lucas
- Directed by: Giancarlo Volpe
- Starring: Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress
- UK availability: Streaming on Disney+
Count Dooku betrays his assassin, Asajj Ventress, and she escapes to Dathomir, home of the Nightsisters, a clan of dark side witches led by Mother Talzin. This is where Star Wars gets properly spooky, with mist, spells, invisible assassins and a revenge plan that changes the rest of the series. Watch it with “Monster” and “Witches of the Mist” for a perfect Halloween weekend triple bill. The Nightsisters are back on Thrawn’s side in Ahsoka season two.
Perfect if you liked Ahsoka, The Witcher or Sleepy Hollow. Dave Filoni’s plans for the Nightsisters were in our Morning News on 18 October, the latest is in our Star Wars News, and our Star Wars watch guide shows you where to go next.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
Start the night with “Nightsisters” on Disney+, then turn the lights off for Host on ITVX, which runs under an hour. At 10pm, BBC Two’s Carrie is the classic, and it has not lost any of its power.
Plan the week ahead with our UK Release Calendar, and find more picks on What to Watch.
What are you watching tonight?
The Morning News follows at 8am, and the Evening News at 6pm.