Katie Dippold, creator and showrunner of Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay, discusses shaping the series as a horror-comedy that takes both genres seriously. She says the show’s success depends on maintaining genuine stakes and scares while drawing humour from its characters, rather than allowing jokes to undermine the danger.

Dippold says the original concept was more comedy-led, but she reworked it because, as a horror fan, she wanted the frightening elements to feel credible and tense. Matthew Rhys stars as island mayor Tom Loftis alongside Stephen Root and Kate O’Flynn; the series received 19 Emmy nominations, the most of any new show when nominations were announced on 8 July. She describes the writing as unusually demanding, requiring tightly controlled scripts and dramatic actors capable of making absurd situations believable.