The 80s might hold the title for the best decade in terms of science fiction on the telly, but these days, we’re not far behind. Interstellar space travel, gallivanting through different timelines, extrasensory perception, it’s all there baby, and it is glorious! Some of the shows on this list are famous names, some flew under the radar, but pretty much all of them are totally watch-worthy.
Check it!
1. Fringe
Get past the first few episodes of this show, and it turns into something remarkable. Directed by J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), the show follows an FBI agent, a ‘mad’ scientist and his son as they investigate ‘fringe events’, a cool term for the really weird shit that’s started happening all over the world.
2. Wayward Pines
Ethan Burke, a secret agent, investigates the mysterious disappearance of two other agents in the strangely sinister town of Wayward Pines. It’s based on the novels of the same name and stars Matt Dillon (after oh so long), so it’s pretty much the perfect mystery show.
3. Stranger Things
One of the most celebrated shows of the year, Stranger Things stars Winona Ryder as a high-strung mother desperately searching for her 12-year-old son, which leads to some truly extraordinary mysteries, the biggest of which is a little 11-year-old girl.
4. Sense8
A group of eight strangers from around the world suddenly find themselves mentally linked, able to connect with each other’s thoughts and actions. It’s created by the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix), so you kind of have to watch it!
5. Misfits
A science fiction comedy-drama that proved the British can do funny like nobody’s business. Misfits follows a bunch of (mostly) pottymouthed young offenders sentenced to work in a community service programme. They obtain special powers after a freaky electric storm, which doesn’t stop Robert Sheehan’s character from trash-talking his way to the record books.
6. Black Mirror
This is an anthology style series that looks at how technology and human behaviour can become intertwined in the worst of ways. Suffice to say, things get pretty messed up.
7. Westworld
One of the most anticipated science fiction thrillers of the recent past, this show is only about 2 episodes old at the moment, but looks like it’s doing everything right. It’s based around a futuristic Western-themed amusement park where things are not as they seem. It stars Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood.
8. The Expanse
A detective and a rogue ship captain investigate the case of a missing young woman, hundreds of years in the future. Humans have colonised the solar system and travel the planets, so their journey is a lot more far reaching than usual. This show is a good example of hard science fiction done right.
9. Orphan Black
Conspiracies and mysteries abound in this science fiction thriller, which follows the story of Sarah, a streetwise hustler with a troubled past. Things start to get really weird around the time she witnesses the suicide of a woman who looks exactly like her.
10. The 100
This post-apocalyptic series is set 97 years after a nuclear war has pretty much fried the planet. Humanity’s only survivors, living on a spaceship, send 100 juvenile delinquents back to Earth to test the waters, so to speak, and try to repopulate the planet.
11. Doctor Who
It’d be plain wrong to not include the longest running sci-fi show in history in this list. 50 years is a long time to be on the air, but The Doctor don’t care! He traverses space and time in the TARDIS, and has a whole bunch of great actors along the way.
12. Stargate SG-1
Based on the 1994 film Stargate, this show picks up a year after the events of the film. It follows a secret military team, SG-1, formed to explore a network of Stargates that facilitate interstellar space travel.
13. Ascension
The American government begins secretly sending hundreds of people on a century-long journey aboard the Starship Ascension in 1963. When there’s a murder on board 50 years into the trip however, some begin to question the project.
14. Eureka
This show is set in the town of Eureka, populated by brilliant scientists and geniuses. They tend to dabble in the bizarre, and when things get a little too crazy, Sheriff Jack Carter has to step in to save the day.
15. Dark Matter
Based on the graphic novel of the same name, this show follows the stories of crew members who wake up on a spaceship with no memory of how they got there. The only thing they have to go on is the ship’s destination – a soon-to-be war zone.
Too many shows, too little time. Gotta get me one of them space-time continuum manipulators!