Uncanny is a BBC Radio series created by Danny Robins featuring explorations of the paranormal and supernatural phenomena, first broadcast in 2021. The series is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and as a podcast on BBC Sounds.[1] A television version for BBC Two was first broadcast on 13 October 2023.[2][3]
Each episode, Robins interviews a witness who has had an uncanny experience; topics include poltergeists and other ghosts, UFO sightings and cryptids. The story is punctuated by contributions from two experts who attempt to explain the experience; one expert is usually sceptical and will look to a rational psychological or natural explanation, the other will look for parallels with other similar cases.[4] Experts include Caroline Watt, Chris French, Ciarán O'Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow.[5] The theme tune "Don't Have Nightmares" is by indie band Lanterns on the Lake.[6]
Uncanny has run for three series on radio, plus a number of Uncanny Live specials recorded in front of a live audience.[7] Episodes have featured guests such as Mark Gatiss,[8]Laura Whitmore, Laurence Rickard[9] and David Baddiel.[10] A series of cases exclusively from the United States, Uncanny USA began broadcasting in April 2024.[11]
List of episodes
Series 1
No overall
No.
Title
First broadcast
Notes
1
1
The Evil in Room 611
23 October 2021
A professor recounts a haunting he experienced as a student at Alanbrooke Hall, a demolished Queen's University Belfast hall of residence in the 1970s. Alanbrooke Hall formed the subject of several subsequent episodes as further witnesses contacted the programme.[12][13]
2
2
The Hanging Room
30 October 2021
A teenager and her family move to an old farm house in the countryside in search of a new start.[14]
A ghostly girl spotted on family holiday to France appears again closer to home.[45]
Series 3
No overall
No.
Title
First broadcast
Notes
34
Special
Season 2 Case Update
20 September 2023
Looking back on some of the cases from the second series with further evidence.[46]
35
1
The Blue Man
30 September 2023
The apparition of a blue figure in a bedroom in Wales is witnessed by multiple people over many years.[47]
36
2
Uncle Jack
7 October 2023
A couple move into a dilapidated cottage - could the footsteps from the floor above be the ghost of a late relative?[48]
37
Special
Miss Howard, The Bearpark Poltergeist and The Oxford Exorcism - Case Update
31 October 2023
Updates on the three cases in the television adaptation.[49]
38
3
The Ghost Who Hated Parties
8 November 2023
Three students in Waterford, Ireland find their revelries disturbing a resident spirit.[50]
39
4
Elton’s Phone
15 November 2023
A child's toy telephone starts ringing in the night, heralding a sequence of increasingly disturbing incidents.[51]
40
5
Double Trouble
22 November 2023
Two doppelgänger cases are examined - a family from Newcastle witness themselves driving the other way in their classic car, and a disabled woman's suicidal thoughts are ended after seeing a vision of herself as an older woman.[52]
41
6
Good Evening
29 November 2023
A nurse moves into a regular suburban house with her husband and newborn baby, but keeps hearing the voice of a well-spoken man in her ear.[53]
42
Special
Christmas Special: The Haunting of Daisy May Cooper
25 December 2023
Danny Robins joins writer and actor Daisy May Cooper to investigate whether her house is haunted.[54][55]
Three repeated 'Classic Cases' with new introductions by Laurence Rickard, Daisy May Cooper and Reece Shearsmith were broadcast on 14, 21 and 28 October while the television adaptation was on air.[57]
Series 4: Uncanny USA
No overall
No.
Title
First broadcast
Notes
44
1
The Flood
30 April 2024
A man's Voodoo-practicing aunt dies in Hurricane Katrina. After inheriting her Ouija board, he soon regrets attempting to contact her.[58]
45
2
Dad's Phone
7 May 2024
A controlling former spy promises to contact his daughter after his death if he can find a way. After his death from cancer, his old phone starts ringing.[59]
46
3
The Platte County Poltergeist
14 May 2024
A family build their dream house in rural Missouri - but are soon troubled by poltergeist activity and visions of a man in an upstairs bedroom. Can a new house be haunted?[60]
47
4
The Hairy Man
21 May 2024
Three relatives prospecting for gold in the Alaskan wilderness encounter a tribe of humanoid creatures outside their cabin in the forest. Could it be the legendary Bigfoot?[61]
A man is troubled by visions of a charred figure he saw as a child while living in the Mojave Desert.[64]
51
8
What Lies Beyond
18 June 2024
Double bill. An 911 emergency responder in Maine receives a call warning about a fire that doesn't yet exist. A funeral home in Kansas is troubled by one of its occupants.[65]
After buying a cottage in the upmarket California town of Montecito a woman finds herself made less than welcome by the ghost of its previous owner.[67]
Halloween: Trilogy of Terror
No overall
No.
Title
First broadcast
Notes
54
Special
Halloween Special with Stewart Lee
29 October 2024
Danny is joined by comedian Stewart Lee to examine some spooky cases; a man tells the story of a child being physically moved by a ghost near Loch Ness, a man recalls sharing a dream with Rick Astley, a man's father is terrorised by Black Shuck in The Fens and a woman experiences a time slip back to a World War II pub.[68]
55
Special
Halloween Special: Meadow Cottage Part 1
5 November 2024
A family are terrorised in their 200 year-old house in the Lake District.[69]
A series of short cases from listeners' emails released daily on BBC Sounds in the run-up to Halloween 2024, beginning on 1 October 2024.[71]
Television version
A television series for BBC Two was broadcast from Friday 13 October 2023 for three episodes. Each episode is one hour long and features experts from the radio series.[2]
No overall
No.
Title
First broadcast
Notes
1
1
Miss Howard
13 October 2023
Two separate families are troubled by repeated appearances of an Edwardian spectre in a house in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire.[72]
Three students find their student house in Oxford plagued by an evil spirit.[74]
Stage show
The programme has been adapted into a touring stage show, Uncanny Live which toured the UK in 2024, hosted by Danny Robins with appearances from experts such as Ciarán O'Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow.[75]