Siblings Theodora and Luke Crain both get the chance to shine in respective episodes which go some way in explaining why the family is so dysfunctional.

It would be wrong to describe this show as formulaic – it’s just too well made to level that accusation at it – but already there’s a running theme that each episode covers one of the main characters. It’s not a criticism, as it helps provide an anchor in a show that might drown with its large cast list. There’s also a good use of scenes fleetingly revisiting moments that we’ve already seen, but now observed with a different perspective.

There’s also an ongoing trope of the kids being in bed and waking up to bangs, levitating ghosts, a cold hand or a crick-necked phantom. These poor children – no wonder they are in such a state in later life, and certainly explains why Luke is a drug user (we watch him going in and out of rehab). In one flashback he and Theo play in a dumb waiter and he’s lowered to the basement and something starts slithering across the floor!

In an interesting twist, child psychologist Theodora (Kate Siegel – Gerald’s Game, Ouija: Origin of Evil) is revealed to be sensitive to paranormal activity (as her mother was) but discovers that there are some things more evil in the real world than her phantasmagoric past. She too has to confront her sister’s dead body and is terrified by what she picks up.

In episode 4 an imaginary friend is added to the carnival of monsters that the kids are exposed to… except she’s not imaginary! Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Jonathan Harker in the 2013 Dracula series) is a credible wreck, using drugs to protect himself from his memories. In what is the most nerve-shredding moment so far he’s terrorised by a floating figure in a bowler hat, tap-tapping its way across the floor with a cane as the youngster hides under the bed. But unlike many childhood fears, this slender man has followed him into adulthood.

Verdict: A brace of episodes that sucker punches you with emotional resonance and genuine scares, The Haunting of Hill House is compelling drama and just the thing to take you up to Halloween 8/10

Nick Joy