The Best Vampire TV Shows of All Time, Ranked

Based on the novel by Joe Hill, NOS4A2 had so much potential. Unfortunately, this was never fully realised, and as such, the show was disappointingly dropped after only two seasons. 

Thankfully, NOS4A2 wasn’t left on a cliffhanger, but it would have been great to see more, especially as the longer it continued, the further it could drift from the source material. The basic hook of the show sees a young artist, Vic, discover a connection to an immortal serial killer who feeds on the souls of children, trapping them in the chilling Christmasland. As Vic begins trying to save these children, she finds herself falling under the killer’s sway. 

In 1998, Channel Four screened six episodes of a show called Ultraviolet. The premise of the show saw a detective recruited into a secret paramilitary unit that hunted vampires. Ultraviolet approached the concept of the vampire from a scientific and somewhat realistic angle, and chronicled the team trying to combat the vampiric pandemic. 

The most frustrating aspect of Ultraviolet is that there are only those six episodes. With such a small pool, the show was still finding its feet and, had it gotten a second series, it could have been something super special. Ultraviolet is also great viewing for fans of the now Sir Idris Elba, as the show was one of his early credits.  

The Strain was developed by Guillermo del Toro, based on the book that the director co-wrote with Chuck Hogan. In both the book and the show, CDC head Dr Ephraim Goodweather finds himself at the centre of a viral outbreak of vampirism. The first season of The Strain is marvellous and superbly champions certain vampiric aspects that audiences first saw in del Toro’s Blade II. By the midpoint in the show's four-season run, however, the series started to lose its shine and only the truly devoted made it to the end. 

The Strain does nonetheless have a fantastic ensemble cast and a standout turn from Kevin Durand as a rat catcher-turned-vampire hunter, and the wonderful David Bradley playing a Van Helsing type. 

In Being Human, a werewolf, a ghost, and a vampire find themselves housemates. During the show's five-season run, it chronicled the trio as they tried to live as human a life as possible. Far from as fantastical as it sounds, Being Human took a fairly grounded approach to all aspects and used the guises of ghost, werewolf, and vampire as conduits for isolation, controlling aggression, and drug addiction. 

This approach saw the show amass an army of fans, with the format being repurposed for the American audience in their own Being Human. 

‘80s cartoon Count Duckula provided an introduction to the world of vampires for an entire generation. Voiced by British institution Sir David Jason, Count Duckula was a vegetarian scaredy cat vampire duck. Each episode saw him try to avoid hunter Dr Von Goosewing, protected by his staff, Igor and Nanny, with silly escapades guaranteed. 

The jokes, all based around the classic Dracula text, still land to this day, and Duckula’s hijinks remain fascinating to watch. Count Duckula also boasts one of the best TV theme tunes in history.

The Vampire Diaries began life as a series of young adult novels by L. J. Smith. Then, after the success of Twilight, it was adapted into a television series. The first season is pretty twee and repetitive as it tells of Mystic Falls teenager Elena Gilbert, who finds herself caught in the middle of a love triangle with vampire brothers Damon and Stefan Salvatore. However, the last ten minutes of the final episode of season one proved to be a game-changer, and from thereon the show went from strength to strength, until a muted final season that unfolded without Elena. 

Perfect for fans of teen angst with a supernatural spin, The Vampire Diaries has far more than just vampires, with witches, werewolves, and more being regular features of the series.

A spin-off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (more on her later), Angel saw the vampire with a soul leaving Sunnydale and the monstrous Hellmouth behind to open a detective agency in Los Angeles. As Angel begins helping the helpless, he becomes embroiled with the demonic law firm Wolfram and Hart and encounters all types of problems. 

More grown-up than Buffy, Angel was far darker than its mother show, though far less popular. If you missed it the first time around, Angel is still worth committing to, as it has some very good episodes, such as the fifth season episode ‘Smile Time’, which finds Angel turned into a puppet. 

Whereas Angel falls short of matching the magnificence of Buffy, The Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals surpassed its maker. Starting midway through the run of The Vampire Diaries, the story followed the villainous original vampire Klaus as he returned to his old home of New Orleans. There, he is joined by the other members of his family, and a war between the witches, vampires, and werewolves begins. As with Angel, The Originals is dealing with slightly older characters, and so the teen angst is dropped in favour of brooding and bad behaviour.

Telling the story from the eyes of a villain also proves interesting as The Originals is careful to never make Klaus a hero, but oftentimes the lesser of two evils, something that is far more exciting a viewing prospect than a girl trying to decide which boy she likes best. 

When True Blood first arrived on HBO, it had viewers hot under the collar due to all its sexual content. Based on the Sookie Stackhouse book series by Charlaine Harris, True Blood follows a Southern waitress with a talent for mind-reading, Sookie Stackhouse, as she meets and later dates vampire Bill Compton. True Blood was set in a world in which vampires have outed themselves and have been met with hatred from most of the community, and so Sookie and Bill’s dating causes a stir. 

The first series is exceptional and extremely close to its source material, with each episode essentially covering a chapter of the book. From around the third season, True Blood began to deviate further from the source novels, but still had plenty of blood and bodies to keep everyone coming back for more. 

After the mockumentary film What We Do in the Shadows was such a hit, the creative team decided to continue the concept as a television show. The main group of characters was changed, introducing Laszlo, Nadja, Nandor, Colin Robinson, and their familiar, Guillermo, to the world. 

The sitcom was an instant hit, building on the humour from the film, and whereas some comedy shows have a handful of standout episodes, almost all of What We Do in the Shadows is gold. Not only does What We Do in the Shadows play on the fish-out-of-water humour conjured by these ancient creatures traversing modern society, but it is also packed with references to many other popular shows and films. The cameos in Season 1, Episode 7 alone are worth settling in with What We Do in the Shadows.