Television series
Aquila
- Science fiction
- Treasure hunt
- Light-hearted
A spacecraft buried since Roman times emerges from an archaeological dig, and two teenage boys become its unlikely custodians. Aquila blends sci-fi wonder with the comedy of keeping an impossible secret, all wrapped in that particular brand of BBC children's drama that treats young characters as genuinely competent. It's for anyone who loved the idea of alien contact but wished the adults would just get out of the way.
If you liked this
The Tomorrow People1973
British sci-fi for young audiences that takes its teenage heroes seriously, treating their discoveries with genuine stakes and consequences. Same DNA of kids-versus-adults-who-won't-listen, but with telekinesis instead of spaceships.
But The 1970s effects and pacing demand patience; it moves at a rhythm that feels glacial by modern standards, and the serialization can drag.
Red Dwarf1988
A comedy-drama about unlikely people trapped together with an impossible responsibility, managing humour alongside real jeopardy. British, inventive, fundamentally about how ordinary people cope with extraordinary circumstances.
But The comedy is very broad and sometimes leans hard on innuendo; if you're looking for subtle sci-fi, this might feel too silly.
Dark Season1991
A modern echo of Aquila's core premise: teenagers discover something that shouldn't exist and spiral into conspiracy and consequence. It captures that same sense of young people in over their heads, forced to trust only each other.
But It's significantly darker and more intense than Aquila, with a tone closer to horror. If you want the lightness of 1990s BBC children's drama, this will feel heavy.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Aquila
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Time Slip
Both follow teenagers who stumble into a secret that demands their complete silence and ingenuity. Where Aquila asks 'how do we hide this?', Time Slip asks 'what happens when we touch it?'. Different genre logic, identical emotional architecture.
A BBC series where two teenagers discover a rift in time and must navigate the consequences of what they find. Like Aquila, it pairs wonder with genuine peril and trusts young characters completely. But where Aquila's secret is spatial, this explores temporal paradox and causality—a completely different engine exploring the same emotional core.
But The production is unmistakably 1970s BBC, with very low budgets and effects that appear primitive. It requires accepting how people made television then, not now.
More like this (7)
Robot Wars1998
Contemporary BBC series where ordinary people design and build something extraordinary, then must defend it. Same era, same spirit of ingenuity and problem-solving, though the tone is more playful competition than covert mystery.
But It's a game show, not a narrative drama, so there's no arc or character development. If you're drawn to Aquila for its story, this offers a different experience entirely.
Stargate SG·11997
Military sci-fi that values its ensemble cast and treats exploration with wonder. Released the same year as Aquila, it has similar DNA: discovery, secrecy, consequences. The scale is enormous where Aquila is intimate, but the fundamental magic is there.
But It's American television with American pacing and length. Ten seasons is a commitment, and the tone shifts significantly as it goes on.
The Box of Delights1984
A BBC Christmas fantasy where a young person discovers something magical and is drawn into adventure. Like Aquila, it features a teenager as the active agent, trusting their own instincts over adult authority. Shares the same sense of wonder.
But It's explicitly nostalgic and fantasy-based rather than sci-fi. The 1980s production values and pacing demand the right seasonal mood.
Cagney & Lacey1982
A procedural that values character and partnership above formula. Though aimed at adults, it shares Aquila's interest in ordinary people managing extraordinary situations through wit and loyalty. The chemistry between leads mirrors Tom and Geoff's dynamic.
But It's a cop show from the 1980s, so the tone is grittier and the concerns entirely adult. Structurally nothing like Aquila.
Alan Garner's The Owl Service1969
A Welsh BBC drama where teenagers uncover something ancient and are caught in its patterns. Genuinely eerie, genuinely smart. It respects its young characters' intelligence and agency in ways many 1990s dramas aspired to.
But It's slow, cryptic, and psychologically complex rather than action-driven. The 1969 production looks distinctly period. Mystery demanding patience, not instant gratification.
The Midnight Sky2020
Both explore the isolation of holding an impossible secret. Aquila is two boys managing excitement and danger together; Midnight Sky is one woman managing despair alone. The ship connects them both—both stories live in the tension between knowledge and the world's indifference to that knowledge.
A film about isolation and connection, where one person on Earth must communicate across impossible distance to save someone in space. It's tonally quieter and more introspective than Aquila—less about adventure, more about the weight of knowing something no one else can verify. Beautiful, contemplative sci-fi about secrets that are crushing to keep.
But It's an adult film and genuinely slow, built on mood and grief rather than plot momentum. Nothing like the pace or energy of a 1990s children's adventure series.
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello2005
Both turn on the discovery of something ancient and extraordinary, and both explore what happens next—not the triumph of finding it, but the complicated aftermath. Aquila asks 'how do we keep it?', Jasper Morello asks 'should we have found it at all?'. Same moment of discovery; opposite conclusions about its meaning.
An animated film, steampunk and Gothic, about a crew who discover something that shouldn't be real and must decide what to do with it. Shot in stunning monochrome, it's a meditation on curiosity's cost and the weight of secrets. Completely different visual language from Aquila, but the emotional question is identical: what do you do when you find something that changes everything?
But It's adult, visually dark, and genuinely unsettling. The tone is melancholic rather than adventurous. If you loved Aquila for its lightness and excitement, this will feel oppressive.
Recommended by
The Magician's House, My Friend Walter, Dark Season, The Prince and the Pauper, Willo the Wisp, L'Incoronazione di Poppea