‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most nerve-wracking television episodes ever
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
The episode begins with the MI5 agents confined during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.
Threads from 1984
The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements that were transmitted. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show quite literally on the edge of my seat, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while yelling at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.
Industry – White Mischief from 2024
The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it does. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!
The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday
The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it will make you rise for the full show, permeated with worry. The tension escalates as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and following tries to eliminate it. You then spend the rest of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can be!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001
No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Excellent TV. Never bettered.
The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode
The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and knows something is off. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to a nearly intolerable level, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)
Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this mystical program. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)
The concluding moment of the last installment of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Keep going. It halts. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)
I remained awake to view this installment in the early morning. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (finished with an unresolved situation). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muted audio – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
