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5 of the best TV shows to watch this October
19th September, 2026 03:57 PM
From new adaptations of the beloved John Steinbeck and Stephen King novels to a Newfoundland-set monster horror with Josh Hartnett, these are the best series to watch and stream.
1. War
In this deliciously twisty legal melodrama, Dominic West plays a tech billionaire, Morgan Henderson, and Sienna Miller plays an actress, Carla Duval, who were in love when they married a decade ago but are now at odds in a vicious, big-money, headline-making divorce. Representing them are duelling firms of scheming lawyers, his one of the most prestigious in London and hers an upstart created by a married couple who once worked for that established firm.
There are betrayals, leaks to the press, dirty tricks and a lawyer going undercover at one firm to spy for the other, with events all taking place in luxurious settings around the city. George Kay, who created the Idris Elba thriller Hijack and the recent drama Gone, told EW that he got the idea for War when he overheard a woman “screaming from the rooftops” when her husband finally signed divorce papers after four years of wrangling.
2. East of Eden
In this new miniseries adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1952 family saga, Florence Pugh has the juiciest role and gives a dynamic performance as Cathy, the manipulative, lethal woman at the centre of the conflict between two brothers: Adam Trask (Christopher Abbott), who marries her, and Charles (Mike Faist), who warns him against her.
A few years after publication, the novel was famously made into a film starring James Dean, directed by Elia Kazan. His granddaughter, the actress and director Zoe Kazan, has created and written this series but with a different approach, bringing Cathy to the fore. And where the film is based on a slice of the book, the series covers its full timeline, ranging from the post-Civil War years in New England to California during World War One.
3. Kill Jackie
Catherine Zeta-Jones stars in this action-fuelled revenge thriller as Jackie Price, a one-time international drug dealer who, after 20 quiet but very affluent years selling fine art, becomes the target of assassins. S
he suspects hitmen from a group known as the Seven Demons, but there are plenty of vengeful people from her past who could be after her. As Jackie tries to outsmart her enemies, the action is infused with some mordant humour. “I think I have to kill them all,” she says, sounding very much as if she relishes a return to her exciting, dangerous old life.
4. Carrie
Based on the Stephen King novel, the classic 1976 horror film Carrie is best remembered for the iconic image of Sissy Spacek as a prom queen covered in pig’s blood. Since then there has been a sequel, two remakes and a stage musical – and now comes this series from Mike Flanagan, the mastermind behind popular horror shows including The Haunting of Hill House.
This updated version brings Carrie, the bullied high-school student, into the era of social media and cell phones, which makes bullying easier than ever. Summer H. Howell plays Carrie, and Samantha Sloyan is her overbearing mother, whose home-schooling left her daughter unprepared for both today’s high-tech world and the wilds of adolescence, much less her own telekinetic powers.
5. Small Prophets
Mackenzie Crook, creator and star of The Detectorists and forever known as Gareth from the original British version of The Office, created this imaginative show, which was a hit in the UK when it premiered on the BBC in February. Michael (Pearce Quigley) is a shambles of a man because his partner, Clea, disappeared seven years before, with no word from her then or since.
His father Brian (Michael Palin) has a journal with a recipe for creating homunculi, creatures able to reveal the truth. Despite having doubts – Brian is in a care home, and his memory is unreliable – Michael gives it a try. In the more down-to-Earth part of the story, he forms a friendship with Kacey (Lauren Patel), his co-worker at a DIY store, where they loathe their boss, played by Crook.
