Television series
Moondial
Moondial is a beautifully strange BBC children's drama about a girl who steps through a moonlit sundial into the past. It's eerie without being scary, thoughtful about childhood loneliness, and made with the kind of visual imagination that lingers. For kids who like genuinely uncanny stories, and adults who remember it as formative.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy slow-burning ghost stories where the scares are quiet and the period atmosphere does most of the work, the sort of children's television that trusts you to keep up.
Skip it if you want brisk, escalating plotting, since this moves at a leisurely pace and its effects look dated beside modern fantasy.
What it asks of you: Six half-hour episodes that take their time, with a slow build and a gloomy, moonlit mood; it rewards patience more than close attention.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Box of Delights1984
A Christmas fantasy that shares Moondial's sense of wonder and temporal magic. Dark, gorgeous, and genuinely moving—it proves BBC children's drama could be art.
But It's very much of the 1980s. The pacing and effects will feel glacial to anyone raised on faster cuts.
Dark Season1991
A German series about time, mystery, and kids caught in forces they don't understand. Moondial's DNA but adult—darker, more intricate, with the same obsessive worldbuilding.
But It demands patience and note-taking. The plot is genuinely complex, which some find frustrating.
Land of the Lost1974
American children's sci-fi about siblings trapped in a timeless place. Same premise energy: isolation, danger, a world with its own rules that kids must learn to navigate.
But Much cheaper-looking than Moondial, and the dialogue can be clunky. Charm doesn't always equal quality.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Moondial
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Railway Children1970
Both are stories about children processing loss and displacement through their encounter with place. Moondial does it through fantasy; Railway Children through realism. Both suggest time and magic are one thing.
A completely different genre—pastoral family drama—but made with the same visual grace and belief that children's stories matter. Captures that specific British melancholy about time and separation.
But Nothing happens in the conventional sense. It's about presence and observation, not plot. Can feel like watching paint dry if you're not in the mood.
More like this (6)
The Witches1990
Roald Dahl adaptation about a child in a magical-realist nightmare. Has Moondial's tonal balance: genuinely unsettling but ultimately about courage and agency.
But The witch makeup is grotesque by design. Some children find it genuinely distressing.
Bagpuss1974
Stop-motion British children's series that's haunting and philosophical about imagination, memory, and loss. Very strange for a kids' show, in the best way.
But Only nine episodes, and they're strange enough to feel incomplete. Not cosy despite the aesthetic.
Labyrinth1986
Jim Henson fantasy about a girl navigating a surreal world to save her brother. Gorgeous production design, genuine stakes, and that same 80s uncanniness.
But Dated in ways that matter. The David Bowie content is its own thing to reckon with.
Alan Garner's The Owl Service1969
Sixties BBC adaptation about teenagers cursed by an old Welsh legend. Genuinely creepy, gorgeously shot in black and white, and treats young people's lives seriously.
But It's slow and very of its era. The gender politics are dated in ways that distract. Only sixteen episodes.
Suspiria1977
Both use visual geography as a character. The sundial and the academy are protagonists themselves. Both suggest that some places are alive in wrong ways.
Dario Argento's nightmare fever dream about a girl in a cursed dance academy. Utterly different in tone—stylish, operatic, adult—but shares that hypnotic sense of being trapped in a place with its own terrible logic.
But It's genuinely violent and sensual in ways Moondial isn't. The plot barely exists; it's pure atmosphere. Not a thriller if you need answers.
Come and See1985
Both treat childhood as a state vulnerable to forces beyond consent or understanding. Moondial's supernatural horror and Come and See's historical horror ask the same question: what happens to a child who encounters evil they can't comprehend?
A Soviet film about a child soldier in WWII. It sounds completely opposite to Moondial, but it's also about a child's consciousness transformed by a world of adults' violence. Brutally, unforgettably made.
But It's one of cinema's most harrowing experiences. This is not escapism. Not appropriate for younger viewers and deeply difficult for anyone.
People
Writing
- Helen CresswellCreator