The Vampire Diaries

This one centres on a teenage girl whose life becomes tangled with two brothers who are not what they first seem. It began life as a book series before it came to the screen, and that shows in how much it wants you to care about who she trusts and why, rather than simply what is chasing her.

The fear here is a slow, romantic kind rather than a jump-scare one, built more on longing and danger sitting side by side than on shocks. I would not call it properly frightening, more the sort of unease that comes from liking someone you probably shouldn't.

It is one for anyone who likes their horror tangled up with romance and loyalty, best watched with something warm in hand and no plans to just watch one episode. Running across eight seasons gives it plenty of room to build its own mythology, so settle in properly before you start.