The 25 best post-apocalyptic dramas to watch On Demand right now: Our critics ... trends now
A brutal rebellion on a train full of the last humans, a 'zomromcom' in which the dead start shuffling around London and a contemporary reimagining of an HG Wells classic... there's so much for fans of post-apocalyptic fiction and sci-fi to get stuck into right now.
We've selected the 25 dramas and films that it really would be the end of the world to miss - sifting through thousands of options so you don't have to.
Looking for a new series or film to stream On Demand?
Read on to find out the shows worth investing your precious last days on earth in...
FalloutExplosive video game adaptation from the creators of the Westworld TV series
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
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Video game adaptations used to have a bad name - does anyone remember Bob Hoskins playing the Italian plumber Mario in 1993's Super Mario Bros film? It's probably best that you don't.
Those days are now long though, especially after HBO's The Last Of Us upped the dramatic ante in 2023 and won eight Emmy Awards for its trouble. Fallout looks set to continue that trend, coming as it does from Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, a producing duo with great expertise in serving TV audiences big and complex worlds.
And Fallout is certainly that - the games are set in a sprawling, post-apocalyptic wasteland centuries after a nuclear war has devastated the planet's surface. Underneath that wasteland are The Vaults, in which cheery survivors have been living lives of order and relative luxury while those above scrabbled for scraps.
That culture clash is at the centre of the series, following Lucy (Yellowjackets' Ella Purnell) as she leaves the safety of The Vaults for the chaos above. 'Practically every person I've met up here has tried to kill me,' she despairs in her opening week. There's a lot of comedy in that clash and we meet a lot of eccentric characters as it unfolds, too, especially Justified's Walton Goggins as a roaming bounty hunter.
Fallout is primarily an epic action game though, and this ambitious and visually impressive series keeps that very much in mind. It should certainly please those in search of a little popcorn entertainment and, even if it doesn't quite reach the dramatic heights of The Last Of Us, it's also a rich evocation of an exciting world. (Eight episodes)
SnowpiercerJennifer Connelly is superb in this post-apocalyptic series set on a train
Year: 2020-2022
Certificate: 18
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The movie Snowpiercer follows a brutal rebellion on a train full of the last humans from a frozen Earth. This TV series version starts off looking like it's telling the same tale in slow motion, but then chooses a different track and throws in a murder mystery for good measure. Jennifer Connelly plays Melanie Cavill, the authoritative voice of the train, who serves the will of the even more mysterious Mr Wilford. She is our guide to the richly realised world of a very long locomotive that is strictly divided by class. It's worth watching if you like a strong female star.
There's a lot to like in the world-building that Snowpiercer does, but it's Connelly's subtly shifting performance as the enigmatic Melanie that really holds your attention throughout season one. As the show progresses, the action moves off the train, dubbed Big Alice, to take in more of what is left of the freezing world outside. (Three series)
The Walking DeadZombie apocalypse horror that became a global hit
Year: 2010-2022
Certificate: 18
Launched in 2010 on the US cable channel AMC - the original home of Mad Men - this post-apocalyptic drama became a TV phenomenon, running for 11 series and spawning numerous spin-offs. The Walking Dead explores the stories of survivors in the wake of a zombie apocalypse, and evokes that same sense of wonder at a world in suspension that you see in movies such as 28 Days Later and I Am Legend. The writer and director is Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), and the story is derived from a series of comic books. This Life's Andrew Lincoln the main star, playing a heroic cop - and with an American accent that doesn't make you cringe - who awakes from a coma to find the world overrun by zombies; fellow Brit Lennie James plays one of the survivors he finds.
Be warned though, it's strong stuff and very scary at times, although more for the tension it creates than the gore - although there is that too. The zombies are, of course, horrific - yet the series doesn't revel in that, and there's a heartbreaking poignancy to survivors coming face to face with hopelessly changed former friends and family. The Walking Dead has scale, depth and ambition, plus a great mystery at its heart - one to watch, if you have the stomach and nerves for it. (11 series)
The Last Of Us
HBO's epic, post-apocalyptic drama about a father-daughter bond
Year: 2022
Certificate: 15
It sounded like the last thing any of us needed - another post-apocalyptic drama about zombies, and one adapted from a video game, at that - but HBO's The Last Of Us was a stunning surprise. It was grisly, yes, and full of desperate characters; but, unlike the relentlessly depressing Walking Dead, proved to be a show about hope, with two very likeable characters at its centre.
Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) plays grieving father-figure Joel, who shepherds teenager Ellie, who is immune to the zombie-causing fungus, on a journey across the US. Ellie is played by rising Brit Bella Ramsey (Game Of Thrones), in a star-making performance that takes on real punch as the show evolves, venturing across a ruined world that's realised with scale and detail. If you're unsure if it's for you, give it until part three - that's when the tone really becomes clear. (Nine episodes)
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The RoadFather and son journey through a savage post-apocalyptic America
Year: 2009
Certificate: 15
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This adaptation of acclaimed American author Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel is a stark yet powerful story of survival set in the smoking embers of a post-apocalyptic Earth.
Viggo Mortensen is the man, Kodi Smit-McPhee is the boy. We never learn their names, and nor do we learn how the world came to be a wasteland yielding nothing but starvation and horror for its scattered survivors. The only warmth of tone and colour comes in flashback to memories of the boy's mother, who is no longer with them.
Constantly on the move, man and boy hide from nomadic bands of cannibals, distrustful of anyone they meet. Survival is fear and caution, but the boy yearns for more. This is a world where everything we currently hold dear, even our names, are of no meaning or use. What does matter, though, is a father's love for his son, and the boy's innocence and hope.
The Road doesn't flinch from showing the violence of a future where civilisation has completely broken down. But it does also show how humanity is a spark within us all, one that is easily extinguished, but also one that can be nurtured. (111 minutes)
FinchLife-affirming take on the post-apocalypse genre starring Tom Hanks
Year: 2021
Certificate: 12
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This post-apocalyptic movie stars Tom Hanks as one of the last surviving members of the human race. It takes a far lighter, more optimistic approach than most films of the genre with their obvious need for doom, gloom and the fight for survival.
Finch is worried about what will happen to his dog, Goodyear, when he dies, so builds an android to look after him. We know from Cast Away that Hanks can carry a film in which he's the only human. We now also know that a movie about a man, a mutt and a machine can reduce anyone to a blubbing mess. You have been warned. (115 mins)
Sweet ToothPost-apocalyptic adventures with human/animal hybrid children
Year: 2021-
Certificate: 12
This magical comic-book adaptation is set in a world where animal/human hybrids are born in the wake of an apocalypse, and are feared by those humans who remain. What follows is more of a coming-of-age story than a superhero tale, centered around Gus, a half-deer hybrid who lives in the wild with his father - until his dad dies, and Gus sets off on an adventure to find his mother. That was the core of series one, so read no further if you want to avoid spoilers.
At the start of series two, Gus has just been captured by the fanatical Last Men, a militaristic cult dedicated to human purity. Will he be able to escape with the other hybrids being held prisoner? Will his towering, Last Of Us-style protector Tommy Jepperd be able to find him? This show continues to marry the dark and the bittersweet with the unbearably hopeful and even borderline fairytale elements to great effect in its second, eight-strong batch of episodes. (Two series)
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A Quiet PlaceA family flee aliens who hunt by sound on a ravaged Earth with few survivors
Year: 2018
Certificate: 15
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A chilling mix of thoughtful sci-fi and stalker horror, this low-budget thriller was a fantastic surprise hit. When alien monsters who cannot see but have amazing hearing invade the earth, a young family battles to stay silent in order to survive.
Directed by and starring John Krasinski, alongside his real-life wife Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place milks its brilliant high-concept idea for nerve-tingling set pieces as the mum, dad and children (one of whom is deaf) creep around, gesturing in sign language, aware that the slightest sound could spell disaster. It also isn't afraid to inject real emotion into proceedings, elevating its characters far above bog-standard horror-flick cliches.
The 2020 sequel kept the nerves on edge and this post-apocalyptic world continues to build with a spin-off film A Quiet Place: Day One and a second sequel due for release in 2024 and 2025. (90 minutes)
12 MonkeysMind-bending sci-fi adventure following a man to the past to save the future
Year: 2015-2018
Certificate: 15
Terry Gilliam's cult classic is reimagined as a TV series, following a prisoner sent back in time to try to stop a plague from decimating the future population, with only the 12 Monkeys of the title as a cryptic clue.
Aaron Stanford (Pyro in the early X-Men movies) stars as the time-hopping prisoner Cole (the Bruce Willis character from the movie) in a show that over four series takes time to indulge the strangeness of the premise, while still delivering sci-fi action, thrills, and not forgetting a dash of romance - a big part of the original.
The whole thing fits together like a puzzle that rewards the patient viewer. It's strictly for sci-fi fans who can enter into the spirit of its frequently flabby logic, but enjoyably bonkers, especially its way out there and hugely satisfying finale. (Four series)
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Bird BoxSandra Bullock stars in a horror movie where seeing is dying
Year: 2018
Certificate: 15
Imagine a monster that doesn't need to kill you - just the sight of it is enough to drive you to suicide. That's the force that has invaded the earth and rendered it almost uninhabitable in this high-concept horror movie.
Just as A Quiet Place played games with sound and silence in order to generate scares, this film toys with sight and vision to unsettle as Sandra Bullock's battered and blindfolded survivor attempts to get herself and two small children across the post-apocalyptic country to a safe haven that the creatures can't reach. The result is a tense, sad and eerie watch full of jumpy moments. (124 minutes)
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SiloThe remains of humanity live deep underground in Apple's finely acted mystery
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Shows with fantastical mysteries at the centre can be frustrating things. The classic example is Lost, which went on for 121 episodes before coming to a conclusion that wholly satisfied no one. The problem comes when the characters and world are less interesting than the mystery of the show, but that's not the case with Silo.
Based on a series of books (unlike Lost, which the writers made up as they went along) Apple's show takes us into a silo-dwelling society deep under the planet's surface, where the remains of humanity cower from what they believe to be a ruined and toxic surface. Are they being told the truth, though? That mystery feels very important at the start, but the more you get to know the characters, especially gruff engineer Juliette (beautifully and precisely played by Rebecca Ferguson), the less you'll worry about what's going on up top. Silo becomes more of a murder mystery than a fantastical mystery, and one that'll grip you more with each passing episode. The wider and very fine cast includes David Oyelowo, Iain Glen, Harriet Walter and Tim Robbins and, once you reach the end, you'll be especially glad to know that Silo will be back for series two.
