Television series

The Midwich Cuckoos

Name: The Midwich Cuckoos
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction
Released: 2022
Cast: Keeley Hawes, Max Beesley, Aisling Loftus, Ukweli Roach, Lara Rossi

Alien contact

A contemporary reimagining of John Wyndham's classic, where every woman in a small English town mysteriously becomes pregnant overnight. As the pregnancies progress and the children develop, Susannah Zellaby—a psychotherapist—must navigate the community's terror, wonder, and fractured bonds. Unsettling science fiction that asks what we owe to the unknowable.

TVMaze rating

3.1

If you liked this

The Leftovers2014

Haunting, character-driven speculative drama about inexplicable loss and how communities fracture under impossible strain. Builds to devastating emotional truth rather than easy answers.

But Relentlessly bleak and sometimes abstract. Demands patience and emotional investment; not comforting viewing.

Servant2019

M. Night Shyamalan's unsettling domestic thriller about a nanny, a grieving couple, and the uncanny. Deft tonal control and slow-burn dread that accumulates into genuine unease.

But Increasingly surreal and divisive. The plot operates on dream logic rather than conventional narrative resolution.

The Outsider2020

Stephen King adaptation about a supernatural crime that upends a small town's certainties. Excellent cast, genuine menace, and the kind of slow-building dread that makes you trust the storytelling.

But Starts strong but loses narrative momentum in the second half. Some characters are thinly sketched.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Midwich Cuckoos

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

We Need to Talk About Kevin2011

Both use the arrival of children as the catalyst for a community's moral and emotional reckoning. Both ask: what do we owe to life that arrives not as gift but as mystery or transgression?

Lynne Ramsay's devastatingly austere film about motherhood, blame, and the unknowability of another person—even one you made. Tilda Swinton is extraordinary. A portrait of maternal love curdled into something more complex and terrible.

But Non-linear, formally demanding, and almost unbearably grim. No catharsis or comfort; pure psychological devastation.

Maniac2018

Audacious psychological thriller with Emma Stone and Jonah Hill as strangers in a pharmaceutical trial. Genre-shifting, visually dazzling, and genuinely affecting beneath the stylistic flourish.

But Wilfully strange and formally ambitious to the point of obscurity. The ending divides viewers sharply.

Dark Matter2024

Nine crew members wake with no memory aboard a drifting spaceship. Mystery and paranoia build in tight quarters; the show respects its audience's intelligence and patience.

But Cancelled on a cliffhanger after three seasons. If unresolved endings infuriate you, skip it.

The OA2016

Visually imaginative sci-fi about a blind woman with impossible abilities. Ambitious in scope, genuinely strange, and unapologetically sincere about the metaphysical.

But Also cancelled prematurely. Frustratingly incomplete and narratively incoherent at times.

Under the Skin2014

Scarlett Johansson as an alien predator moving through Scotland. Hypnotic, unsettling, and committed to mood over exposition. Asks what we truly see when we look at each other.

But Glacially slow with minimal dialogue. Long static shots; not for anyone wanting conventional plot momentum.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence2001

Spielberg explores parenthood, desire, and the uncanny through a child-like android. Gorgeously shot and genuinely moving; science-fiction as emotional fable rather than spectacle.

But Tonally uneven and sentimental in ways that feel dated. The ending divisions opinion on whether the story earns its sentiment.

The Listener2009

Both foreground the psychological toll of the inexplicable and the tendency of communities to fragment under existential pressure. Both trust silence and uncertainty as narrative tools.

Estonian sci-fi miniseries about an astronomer detecting alien signals and the isolation that follows. Quiet, meditative, visually striking; concerns itself with what we might become if first contact arrived on the wrong terms.

But Slow-paced and deliberately remote in tone. Subtitled; minimal action. Will feel glacial to viewers wanting plot momentum.

Annihilation2018

Both stage the impossible in a bounded space and explore the collapse of rational certainty. Both ask what we become when our assumptions about the natural order fail, and whether communication with the incomprehensible is even possible.

Alex Garland's densely layered sci-fi about a shimmer zone where biology breaks its rules and soldiers venture inward. Unsettling, intellectually rigorous, visually stunning; makes mystery feel genuinely dangerous rather than convenient.

But Resists explanation and easy resolution. The ending is abstract and will frustrate viewers wanting clear narrative payoff.