15. Chimera (1991)
Thinking about it, I was only 10 when this aired so perhaps it was too dark a show for me to be watching back then. But hey...I also watched most of Twin Peaks at that age too, so perhaps my TV tastes were already a little advanced. Regardless of the appropriateness of the show, it stuck with me for many years and today it is still a gripping piece of British drama that deserves a second look. The story revolves around a journalist Peter (played by John Lynch), investigating the death of his girlfriend at a fertility clinic, only to discover genetic cross breeding between man and apes. The result is the rather frightening looking Chad. needless to say, the whole ape, half boy stayed in my head for many years. It is a dark story indeed, Chad brutally kills several members of staff at the clinic, Peter's girlfriend included, and ends up on the run, pursued by the government. What puts this as above at another level is not just the horror of Chad's actions but the childlike nature he continues to imbue. As it encounters and is befriended by two children, you watch with a mixture of fascination and dread, having witnessed the violent murders of staff at the end of episode one. Naturally with this kind of story there a a number of moral questions raised and it stands as a fascinating insight into genetic breeding as well as a tense piece of horror. Make sure you watch it in its four-episode form. The TV movie was heavily edited and looses the magic of the original.