Looking for dark sci-fi or fantasy TV suggestions

Emerald City is one I want to watch now..

Incidentally, I did watch Stranger Things last month, and I absolutely loved it. Partially it was that 80s aesthetic and the soundtrack that hooked me. I hadn't been that impressed with Netflix produced stuff, but that one was great. Speaking of Netflix produced things, I wasn't so keen on their series of Black Mirror (preferring the Channel 4 ones), but I did like the last episode a lot, although it could have been tighter.

I actually discovered lots of great for me stuff since that initial post (I think I did some other similar polls which mentioned more). So to make a new list off the top of my head while rementioning some others, faves, no matter how loosely have been:

Utopia
Les Revenants (The Returned)
Real Humans
Black Mirror
Dead Set
In the Flesh
Psychoville
Inside No. 9
League of Gentlemen (relatively old show, but it sort of counts and I only finished watching it in the last couple of years)
Garth Merenghi's Darkplace
Torchwood Children of Earth and to a lesser extent Miracle Day
Doctor Who's Heaven Sent (and Face the Raven) which nicely counts for this SF/ fantasy/ horror kind of topic.
And I enjoyed the 4400.

If Dexter were fantasy/ SF, or generally the fantastic, which it is not, that is another dark one I only got around to last year and liked it a lot (although I did stop after a few seasons).

I also during that period, I think, finally watched all of the episodes of Blake's 7 (and it can be very dark SF). What a great classic. Also Chocky. Both shows that I'd seen as a kid, but never all of the episodes.

These days I find myself following "real" science the most, but I'll always have a special place in my heart for science fiction. Partially because I like how SF speculates upon potential ramifications of science. Had I not been lazy when it came to learning the language of mathematics I would have studied science much more.

Did anyone else see the Inside No. 9 Christmas special? I wouldn't spoil it for anyone, but I think that Darkplace fans (as well as general fans of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton obviously) might find it interesting. It's not my fave Inside No. 9 episode, but there isn't a lot of creepy Christmas fare.

Edited by Logan - January 04 2017 at 12:41

The ones I have enjoyed over the last year and some are still currently running....

Since I've been bingeing on anime as of late, I'll leave you with some suggestions:

Dollhouse (a Joss Whedon series) was one of my favorites. I also liked the Canadian series Continuum.

My wife and I just started watching JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL.  It's a BBC series set in Victorian times.  

^ Yeah looks worth catching.

dr wu23 wrote: Logan wrote: There's so much great stuff to watch these days, and of course with the internet, PVRs, more specialty stations, and other services its become easier to find things and watch "on demand". Utopia is fantastic, made by Channel 4 in England, that and Black Mirror were recommended to me in a British thread I made here some years ago. The violence can be really off-putting, though. I've introduced it to a few guests at my house and half loved it, while the other half could not stomach it. Here the Space channel have shown it, as well as all the others I mentioned, but it's also available online (broadband recommended). I watch quite a bit at places such as Dailymotion (which would be a good name for a high fibre cereal). Utopia's basic premise concerns overpopulation. In The Flesh is about rehabilitated zombies, and how accepting society is of these people. Real Humans, like In the Flesh, deals with marginalization, in this case it's androids and there are questions about how accepting society should be of them. Thanks for the heads up....I'll look into Utopia and the other ones. ps: I'm also a big P K Dick fan.....have a personal letter from him before he passed away.

I'll definitely be watching the shows you've mentioned.

Getting a personal letter is amazing. Very jealous. There's no writer who has drawn me in more than him.

There's so much great stuff to watch these days, and of course with the internet, PVRs, more specialty stations, and other services its become easier to find things and watch "on demand". Utopia is fantastic, made by Channel 4 in England, that and Black Mirror were recommended to me in a British thread I made here some years ago. The violence can be really off-putting, though. I've introduced it to a few guests at my house and half loved it, while the other half could not stomach it. Here the Space channel have shown it, as well as all the others I mentioned, but it's also available online (broadband recommended). I watch quite a bit at places such as Dailymotion (which would be a good name for a high fibre cereal).

Utopia's basic premise concerns overpopulation.
In The Flesh is about rehabilitated zombies, and how accepting society is of these people.
Real Humans, like In the Flesh, deals with marginalization, in this case it's androids and there are questions about how accepting society should be of them.

Thanks, Doug, am now looking into those. Penny Dreadful's macabre storytelling seems promising to me (sounds quirky too), and The Expanse for having an interesting central mystery.    The sense of mystery and leaving things to the viewer's imagination is important to me. It's the way the philosophical implications are handled that commonly determines the effectiveness of a sci-fi show, and that's one reason why I like dystopian speculative fiction so much. I have also realized that I like sci-fi/ish soaps quite a bit, which can be hokey. Les revenants (an existential undead tale) is quite remarkable for its bleak atmosphere and utter lack of humour, whereas the violent Utopia has a dark sense of humour, In the Flesh (another undead tale) is angsty, and Real Humans can be kitschy, funny and violent. One thing I commonly find with my favourites too is that existentialist explorations are quite pronounced, which reflects on my own unsurity of being. I often go for tales of alienation, of individuals who have become marginalized... I most whatever I watch, not just an interesting plot but deep and often ambiguous characterization is found Often there's internal as well as external conflict, but I suppose that's common to most drama, that's a Writing 101 thing after all.

A show that I didn't mention that can be very dark in a black comedy way is Misfits -- it's a sort of superantihero type show. I used to like it a lot -- can be very juvenile.   People developed various superpowers because of a lightning storm and some of those powers can be quite hilarious, disturbing and tragic, such as Lactokinesis, the power to manipulate dairy based products, a power to cause genital erosion, hypnotic breasts, and permanent tortoise mimicry.

Edited by Logan - March 15 2016 at 18:54

Reviving this rather than starting a new topic, think I moved off site before reading all the comments. I'm more into live action dramas and I generally prefer serials and mini-series. I watched the remake of Battlestar Galactica religiously when it came out, and despite not generally liking such adaptations, that re-imagined version was very good. It was a grower. Will look into Serial Experiments Lain and Texhnolyze. I caught some of Under the Dome when it was showing on TV here, but kept forgetting about it.

I just finished watching both seasons/series of the Swedish robot drama, Real Humans (Äkta människor) which came out in 2012. Excellent show, but sadly, like several other serials I mentioned in my first post, it only lasted two seasons/series, and was left on a cliffhanger. There was a US/UK co-production called Humans that came out last year called Humans which I had intended to watch (Neil Maskell who plays Arby in Channel 4’s Utopia is in it), but then I learned that it was based on the Swedish show, and I tend not to go for re-makes (though multiple novel adaptations are fine).

Was very upset that Utopia and In the Flesh were not renewed past series two, and hope that there will be a third series of Les revenants, though I felt that at least that concluded in quite a satisfactory way.

Doctor Who's Face the Raven and Heaven Sent (I adored Heaven Sent) also gave me that dark dramatic feel that I love.

Will be watching the Japanese television drama of Never Let Me Go with my wife -- one of my favourite books and the film version was well done.

Anyway, keep the recommendations coming (especially if you know and like the shows I have listed).