9 amazing miniseries that you can binge in less than 8 hours

Starring Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson, and Eliza Scanlen (plus, spot a young Sydney Sweeney in one of her earlier roles), the story follows a troubled journalist who returns to her home town to report on the deaths of two preteen girls.

There, she is forced to spend time with her emotionally abusive mother and her estranged half-sister, Amma, opening up past traumas. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 92 percent and a total runtime of around seven hours, we guarantee you'll have a great (if not deeply disturbing) time with this dark novel adaptation from the same author as Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn.

Maid - Netflix

Margaret Qualley shines in Netflix's hit memoir adaptation with a 94 percent RT score. The story follows a young woman who turns to cleaning to provide for herself and her young daughter after escaping a domestic abuse situation. While highlighting the terrible ironies around custody laws, this is an inspirational tale about overcoming hardship, while also delivering excellent, well-rounded characters and a bit of humour too.

While the showrunner Mike Flanagan has come out with some excellent horror shows for Netflix since the release of this 2018 series, the drama about a haunted family dealing with heartbreaking grief is perhaps the best one out of the lot.

With excellent scares but a lot of heart behind it too, the story (with a 93% RT score) follows a group of siblings who reunite following the death of their young sister, and relive the terrifying time they spent as children living in Hill House – while facing how it connected to her untimely death.

With 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, It's a Sin was critically acclaimed when it was released back in 2021 – and left a huge impact on thousands of viewers thanks to its approach to how the AIDS epidemic affected a close group of friends in 1980s London. With beautiful, funny, and fully realised characters from Russell T Davies, the unbearable reality of the gut-wrenching losses from their mysterious illness will remain with you long after you finish the final episode.

The best superhero show ever made? With 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, it might well be! Adapted by Lost and The Leftovers' creator Damon Lindelof, this comic book adaptation follows Regina King as a police officer who becomes embroiled in investigating a white supremacist group, while also fighting criminals under the superhero moniker Sister Night. Jeremy Irons also stars.

Did anyone else become completely obsessed with chess for a spell while watching this smash-hit series? Anya Taylor-Joy stars as an orphan, Beth Harmon, who discovers that she has an incredible talent for chess, with the game becoming a lifelong obsession as she has one focus – besting the World Champion to become the greatest player of all time. With a 96% score, that should be good enough for anyone to watch – except perhaps Beth!

With a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, we have some questions for which 5% of critics dared to suggest that this crime drama was bad! Starring Kate Winslet and Jean Smart, the story follows a small-town detective investigating a murder - as well as a series of cases involving missing girls. The incredible dialogue and performances make this an utter must-watch - even if there are perhaps one too many similarities to BBC's Happy Valley.

With 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, viewers have often cited this miniseries as one of the greatest shows of all time.

 Starring Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, and Jessie Buckley, the show looks at the devastating impact that the 1986 nuclear disaster had in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, as well as on first responders, townspeople, and scientists who tried to help contain the horrific situation.