10 Scariest TV Episodes To Watch This Halloween

5. The Empty Child - Doctor Who

Doctor Who Empty Child
BBC

"Are you my mummy?"

Four words is all it takes to send shivers down the spine of any nuWho fan. While Blink may get most of the attention for the show's scares, the Weeping Angels are nothing compared to these ghostly gas-mask kids wondering just where their mother has got to.

Like many of the best - and scariest - Who episodes it plays on our innate fears, and does so with a real mesh of genre tropes, from the creepy child to the gas-masks and ghosts.

It expertly builds the tension through its wartorn London setting and the way the child follows Nancy everywhere, from phones ringing when they shouldn't be, typewriters typing without anyone touching them, and a tape recording play long after the tape has run out. The child stalks Nancy and the fear stalks us, never once letting up.

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Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.