‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most gripping TV episodes you’ve seen
Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003
This installment starts with the MI5 agents restricted while undergoing a drill relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and intensifies as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.
The 1984 production Threads
Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield featured in the show that highlighted the truth and the offhand factual official statements that were transmitted. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.
The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are
The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season ranks highly among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
The fifth episode of Industry’s third season had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times due to the immense extent of the reckless self-harm I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit in his job and domestic life – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is severely assaulted. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There’s hope of redemption as the installment closes but he misses the opening, with horrifying consequences in the season finale. Absolutely had to relax following that!
Peep Show – Holiday (2007)
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it can cause you to stand for the full show, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and following tries to eliminate it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it is possible!
The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals
Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense than the first time I watched the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and escalates to a高潮 with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to run for another term. Excellent TV. Never bettered.
The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode
The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train with his young son, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to remove her explosive vest. Tension escalates to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001
Buffy comes into her home to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this mystical program. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a gloomy atmosphere, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America
The concluding moment of the last installment of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It ceases. My heart dropped from my mouth roughly 20 minutes after.
The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth
I remained awake to view this installment in the early morning. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The victim’s POV shot and the subdued noises – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
