Not too scary

Here are two new series that are not as scary to keep you happy during Halloween

A Discovery of Witches A British eight-part drama based on the Deborah Harkness All Souls series of novels. Starring Teresa Palmer (Hacksaw Ridge) as Dr Diane Bishop and Matthew Goode (The Crown) as the love of her life, the vampire Matthew Clairmont.

Bishop finds a bewitched manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library and is then drawn into a war between demons, witches and vampires. Even though there are bits that are a bit too Twilight-y, especially with Australian Palmer looking and sounding like a blonde version of Kristen Stewart, it does try to be faithful to Harkness’s vision.

Charmed

Don’t write off this reboot even if it was not endorsed by the original cast and the poster is a bit naff. It’s entertaining, with an oh-soslightly different storyline. The cast is welcomingly more diverse. The three sisters are not Prue, Piper and Phoebe. They are Macy (Madeleine Mantock, Into the Badlands), Mel (Melonie Diaz, Be Kind Rewind) and Maggie (Sarah Jeffery, Shades of Blue). They still have to use the power of three to protect the innocent, kill the demons, and find out who or what murdered their mother. It does not have the, uh, charm of the original but has some magical moments.