Things can get dire (or just crazy fun) when darkness descends. Dive into these series and films that venture into the night, from tense dramas to easy-watch comedy.
Blackout: Tomorrow is Too Late
When the European power grid collapses, German executive Frauke Michelsen (Marie Leuenberger) takes over the national crisis team – but that's not the only crisis on her hands. Her young twin daughters go missing from a train stranded between stations by the blackout. Meanwhile for former hacker Pierre Manzano (Moritz Bleibtreu), the past is about reach a hand into the present and jerk him out of his quiet life in Italy. When the lights go out, it sets off a chain reaction that quickly sees him becoming a suspect.
From the same production company who made crime series Pagan Peak (two seasons of that German thriller are ), this six-episode series weaves in parallel storylines around the pair, as Europe tries to avert total disaster.
One Night in…
What happens when you send two comedians to spend the night in a museum, a zoo and a theme park? All kinds of crazy, light-hearted fun, especially when there are animals and giant, driveable Legos involved. In this four-part series, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker explore the Natural History Museum, London Zoo, Alton Towers (the UK's biggest theme park) and Legoland. Each time, they bring along guests to join the fun, including Aisling Bea, Guz Khan and Roisin Conaty. Join them to build Lego masterpieces, enjoy a midnight feast, raid the museum gift shop and brave the scariest theme park rides.
(And if you want some more 'locked in for the night' antics, there's also the Christmas special, , which sees comedians Romesh Ranganathan, Rob Beckett and Tom Allen spend a night locked in Hamleys, an iconic toy shop, raiding the shelves and inventing silly games.)
One Night in… premieres at 8.30pm, Tuesday 18 April on SBS VICELAND. Episodes continue weekly. Episodes will be available after they air.
Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe at Legoland Source: Zeppotron
Surge
In this fast-paced short-form French series (each episode is only 15-20 minutes), we spend the night in Paris with Nora, a night driver for a ride sharing app. Drowning in debt and sleeping in her car to save money, she's already got enough to deal with, but doing a favour for her brother sees her caught up in a dangerous clandestine network.
Monsters of Many Worlds: Vampires
When it comes to things that stalk the night, vampires are up there with the best. This short film (just six minutes) puts a different spin on these creatures of the night, sharing stories of yara-ma-yha, who is said to have travelled along the east coast of Australia. Yara-ma-yha is known to be a vampire-like creature that jumps on you while you sleep. This is one of three episodes in the partly animated , which sees three women share their stories of monsters from their childhoods.
The Monsters of Many Worlds series is streaming now . Or go straight to the 'vampires' episode:
The Late Night Ride
In this 2020 Vietnamese film, when motorbike taxi driver Thu (Hoang Yen Chibi) is called to collect Sy (Quoc Ngoc Tuyen), a young man working for a crime mob to pay off a family debt, a relationship develops. But is everything what it seems? Was their meeting really a coincidence?
The Late Night Ride is streaming now at SBS On Demand:
Night
There's more to the night than we often realise. If you've ever wondered how others experience the night hours, this Australian documentary takes a look. An exploration of the universal experience of night time, because when darkness falls it affects people all over the world.
Night is streaming at SBS On Demand, but only for another 7 days.
More to watch
SBS thriller ‘Safe Home’ coming May 11