5 shows that'll keep you up at night

This is a dark, atmospheric tale of demonic possession based on the comics of Robert “The Walking Dead” Kirkman. (That’s not his actual middle name, he just created the smash-hit zombie show). Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) plays Kyle Barnes, a troubled loner, while Southern preacher Reverend Anderson is played by Life On Mars' Philip Glenister (yes, really). Together, the two form an unlikely team of demon slayers.

Scare factor: 4/5 bloody cockroaches

Watch Outcast on Tuesdays, 10pm, Fox/HD (CH 157/199)

E4’s ever-popular show follows the exploits of brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), who have spent the past ten series fighting all manner of demons, monsters, ghosts and other unwelcome visitors. Series 11 sees them tackle a murderous black fog, a demonic baby, a trip to hell to meet Lucifer, and an enemy so powerful it could destroy the world. It may not be entirely based on fact, then, but it is great fun.

Scare factor: 3/5 sighing fangirls

Watch series 11 on Wednesdays, 10pm, E4/HD (CH 144/145). Also available after broadcast in All 4 in Catch Up TV

The anthology horror series from the creator of Glee and Nip/Tuck sees each series tell a self-contained – and cushion-chewingly scary – story. None more so than this deeply sinister instalment, set in 1964 in a Massachusetts institution for the criminally insane. The place is run by the stern Sister Jude (Jessica Lange), founder Monsignor Timothy Howard (Joseph Fiennes), and the sadistic Dr Arthur Arden (Babe's James Cromwell). The patients, who are routinely subjected to supernatural influences, include Chloe Sevigny (Bloodline).

Scare factor: 5/5 creepy doctors

Watch it Thursdays, 10pm, 5Star (CH 151)

And so to a rather different style of show, in which former Blue Peter presenter Yvette Fielding runs around various old buildings, occasionally shrieking “it’s suddenly got very cold” or “something touched my leg!”. Accompanying her in her quest to investigate paranormal activity are a historian, a psychic and a parapsychologist. The show’s winning trick is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Scare factor: 1/5 knocked-over chairs

Series 4 starts 30 June but you can watch it a whole week early from Friday in UKTV Play in Catch Up TV

According to this programme’s intro, to catch a ghost you need to “combine modern scientific method... with some serious backwoods, Southern know-how.” Enter the Tennessee Wraith Chasers, a paranormal team who travel to some of the most notoriously haunted places in America in search of ghosts and ghouls. Mostly, these locations are abandoned, decaying asylums, which merely ramps up the chills – especially if you watch it straight after American Horror Story: Asylum!

Scare factor: 3/5 haunted battleships

Series 3 starts Monday, 11pm, Investigation Discovery (CH 253)