19 Fantastic British Sci-Fi Series You Can Binge Right Now

Iain De Caestecker in “The Fades”. (Photo: BBC)

The Fades

This supernatural series tells the story of Paul, a nerdy teen who can see the spirits of the dead. Known as the Fades, these creatures are what’s left behind after humans die, but aren’t able to move on to the afterlife. (It’s kind of a fancy way of saying ghost, only way more malevolent.) The Fades are becoming increasingly vengeful toward the living, and have developed a plot to take over the world. It’s up to the people who can see them – like Paul – to try and prevent the apocalypse. (There’s a lot more to it than this, but it’s hard to explain without spoiling the plot of the whole show. And it’s better if you see how this all works out for yourselves.)

The cat features the fantastic Iain De Caestecker, whom you probably know now from his work on Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. He’s joined by Natalie Dormer, Daniel Kaluuya, Sophie Wu, Tom Ellis and more.

Unfortunately, The Fades was canceled much too soon, and only got a single season of just six episodes from BBC Three. This is incredibly upsetting because the show is incredibly smart and dark and shocking television. It features great character development and an utterly absorbing story. So, of course, it ends on a cliffhanger. And we’ll never know whether Paul and his friends succeed in stopping the apocalypse. Sigh. Normally, I’m hesitant to recommend shows that end  so abruptly and ambiguously.  But, The Fades is one of those rare programs where every moment leading up to the ending is worth trading for the fact that you don’t really get one.

Number of Seasons: 1

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime and Hulu