11 cosy autumnal shows to watch while snuggled under a blanket

How could we begin a list of cosy shows to watch snuggled under a blanket and not include Gilmore Girls? 

Lorelei and her daughter Rory appear to live in a town permanently adorned with pumpkins and scarves as they go through the peaks and pitfalls of family, love, and life.

Just hearing the theme song makes us want to pull out our winter coats! Mabel, Charles, and Oliver are the crime-solving podcast team who live in a building where people just keep getting murdered. 

The New York City show always seems to be on the edge of a bright, frosty day, and we aspire to some of Mabel's gorgeous cosy looks.

For connoisseurs of all things spooky, it would be remiss not to put a Stranger Things re-watch at the top of your list for a chilly day viewing. The story follows a group of pals in Hawkins, Indiana, after the mysterious disappearance of their friend and the arrival of a young girl with special powers. The show is a phenomenon that has sparked a stage adaptation and made worldwide stars of its cast – and we promise it will be time well spent.

Football is life! Ted Lasso follows a US coach hired to manage a British football team – only to bring the team, the owner, and everyone around him to his kind-hearted way of thinking. The ultimate comfort show, Ted Lasso will warm your heart like a mug of hot chocolate!

It can't all be hearts and rainbows over autumn, as it is also, famously, spooky season – and what better way to mark it than by checking out horror king Mike Flanagan's Haunting of Hill House for some seriously terrifying jump scares, with a heartfelt story behind it all? 

The story follows a group of siblings who struggle after reuniting following the death of their sister – without realising that it all ties to the very haunted house they lived in as children.

This binge-worthy show – so much so that you could do it all in one duvet day – follows a group of sisters who, worried about the emotional abuse their sister is suffering in an unhappy marriage, resolve to murder her villainous husband. 

While every episode shows each sister have a go at killing Jean Paul, the show also reveals the personal grudge each one has against him – so much so that you find yourself rooting for them to succeed more and more as each minute passes.

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Tartan! The Scottish Highlands! Romance! Drama! Outlander absolutely has it all for a binge-watch under a big knitted blanket – even if it'll leave you wishing you had a dram of whisky to hand! 

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The story follows a WWII nurse named Claire, who, while visiting Scotland with her husband, falls through time – and into the arms of a rugged 18th-century Highlander named Jamie.

The ultimate comfort show, Last Tango in Halifax is by the brilliant creator of Happy Valley, Sally Wainwright – and has many similarities to the show, but without quite so much murder! The story follows two pensioners who reunite after 60 years – having had a crush on one another as teenagers – and decide to get married, much to the surprise of their respective daughters, Gillian and Caroline. As the two families get to know one another, trouble is never too far away. A total gem of a show.

For fantasy buffs, Rings of Power is our top autumnal pick. Not only is season two being released in weekly instalments as we speak, but the atmosphere of Middle-earth, from the nature-loving Harfoots to the dwarves mining in the glowing caves to the autumnal homestead of the elves in Rivendell, makes it a very seasonal viewing indeed!

With the second instalment of the series, Moonflower Murders, hopefully landing on our screens very soon, catch up with the first series of this Anthony Horowitz murder mystery instead. 

With all the coziness of a classic whodunnit, the story follows a book publisher tasked with finding the missing chapter of a late author's novel, while the story also follows the fictional detective within the author's story. If you like a book adaptation of a book within a book, this is for you!

Sometimes, when the weather outside is moody and grey, you need something to match the tempo – and The Leftovers does just that. By the same creator as Lost, the dystopian story follows the aftermath of 1 per cent of the population suddenly disappearing into thin air. Why did they go? Where are they? How are the survivors to pick up the pieces, living with the fear that it could happen again at any moment? A brilliant, compelling watch.

Starring Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook, this gem of a series follows a pair of metal detector enthusiasts as they go searching for gold in the British countryside. It is a wonderful, quintessentially British show that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Succession will make you realise what it would be like to enjoy autumn if you had more money than you could ever spend. In fact, the show's costume designer previously revealed that the characters rarely wear coats, as they are always going from a warm car to a warm helicopter to a warm home – but still. This brilliant show follows a group of siblings vying for the top spot to inherit their father's media conglomerate, and the location filming from Sweden to New York City to the Hamptons will give you autumnal wanderlust!