10 Upsetting Children's TV Show Episodes That Gave You Nightmares

10. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances - Doctor Who

There is an argument to be made that Doctor who isn't, strictly speaking, a children's show. But tell that to the generations of children who have grown up watching Doctor Who and a society that has a collective childhood memory of hiding behind the sofa from the Daleks. For the all time scariest though, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances has to rank pretty highly.

For one, it's one of the few episodes that does a really good job of incorporating children into the storyline, so it's easy for kids to get emotionally invested through the experiences of Nancy's gang. Secondly, there is nothing that will ever not be creepy about a small child wearing a gas mask mindlessly wandering around asking people if they're his mummy.

And finally, the sheer amount of body horror involved in this episode really pushes the envelope, as characters become exposed to the gas mask child and begin to transform, with gas masks sprouting out of their faces with terrifying sound effects to accompany it.