All of Stephen King's TV shows, ranked – which ones scared the hell out of us and which were just a fright?

Written for TV from an old book idea, and described by King as "Twin Peaks without the delirium", Golden Years is the miniseries story of a man caught in a lab accident, which causes him to age backwards. Despite ending on a cliffhanger, network CBS decided not to take the show to series, meaning any potential was immediately lost. 

As a TV movie, the story of an monstrous sheriff locking up innocent people is passable. It's entertaining enough, weird and scary. But as an adaptation of King's original 700 page novel, it's bad, with key elements left out, making our leads difficult to connect with or care about. King himself wrote the script, so there really is no excuse. 

This three-hour mini-series starts strong but majorly fizzles out towards the end. Still, there's plenty to enjoy in the tale of a town possessed by a buried UFO – not least Traci Lords' bonkers performance.

A prequel to another Stephen King mini-series (Rose Red, coming later in this list), Diary has its origins in a novel written by Ridley Pearson to promote the latter. So, it's an adaptation of an advert for an original miniseries, surely the only example of its kind. Stylishly shot and creepy but ultimately empty, as we find out how the haunted house was built. 

A Lifetime movie adaptation of King's short story about a writer named Tess Thorne who's brutally attacked after her car breaks down, Big Driver has a strong central performance from Maria Bello, but loses its way in the second half of the narrative, as Tess seeks her revenge. 

Based on the short story of the same name, this TV movie was originally intended to be segment of the portmanteau feature film, Cat's Eye, but was extended for telly instead. It's got a creepy concept – greaser ghosts try to reenact an old crime to escape from hell – but it all feels a bit flabby. 

An author suffers from writers' block following his wife's sudden death, and finds himself haunted when he goes to an isolated cabin to recover. Not as scary as it thinks it is, with too many jump scares. Still, Pierce Brosnan is an engaging lead. 

Essentially a four-hour mini-series that could have comfortably been a 20-minute episode of The Twilight Zone, The Langoliers follows a group of people who wake up in an abandoned airport and have to fight aliens that look like giant meatballs with teeth. Director Tom Holland has blockbuster fun on a home-video budget, which means The Langoliers might be terrible, but it's also ridiculously entertaining.

No, not the iconic '70s series, but the '00s remake – which doesn't touch the original adaptation, but has its own charm. Fun performances including Rutger Hauer hamming it up as vampire Barlow make this an intriguing watch, but it's not as scary as the book, or the previous iteration. 

It might have lasted longer than most Stephen King series, but Under The Dome, a show about a town trapped inside a mysterious forcefield, outstayed its welcome long before it finished. Despite receiving initial positive reviews, critics quickly fell out of love with the show, as did viewers, leading to the series' cancellation two seasons before the planned end. 

At nearly five hours, King's adaptation of his own book is almost twice the length of Stanley Kubrick's take on the material. The extra time gives the mini-series room to stick more closely to the original novel, but it sacrifices iconic moments in the process (King is open about how much he hated Kubrick's film). Book fans swear by this mini-series, even if it doesn't contain anything that compares with Kubrick's masterpiece. 

This American adaptation of Lars Von Trier's The Kingdom was described by King as ER meets The Shining, and the author wrote the show like a book, with episodes flowing together seamlessly. Sadly, most viewers gave up after a few chapters, and the series was quietly cancelled. Underrated, and ahead of its time (American Horror Story: Asylum found a way to make the horror hospital premise work) it's worth revisiting.

A brilliant high concept – psychics spend a night in a haunted house – is well delivered in this scary mini-series that'll stay with you long after you've watched it. 

James Franco stars in this brilliant adaptation of King's tale of a high-school teacher who travels back in time to prevent JFK's assassination. It's only on season one, but if season two maintains the high standard, it will climb higher in our rankings. 

An eight-episode anthology series based on King's short stories (mostly taken from the collection of the same name), Nightmares & Dreamscapes is probably the most loyal adaptation of King's work, with great scripts elevated by an excellent cast, including William H Macy, William Hurt and Tom Berenger. 

One of the scariest TV films ever made, from possibly the scariest King novel, about an author and a young horror fan trying to save a town from vampires. It's brilliantly adapted, with several unforgettable moments ripped directly from the book. 

The Stand is considered by many Stephen King fans to be his best work, and this six-hour epic adaptation somehow manages to do the original novel justice. It follows the survivors of an epidemic which has killed most of the population, but with a supernatural, apocalyptic twist. Fans of The Walking Dead will find much to enjoy. 

Featuring one of the greatest King villains ever, Storm of the Century is hugely underrated, and is easily King's best original screenplay (it's not based on a book, or a short story). Running at over four hours, it never feels too long, as we follow the inhabitants of a village visited by both a huge snow storm and an evil monster – one who knows all of their secrets.