‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most intense TV episodes of all time
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
The episode begins with the MI5 agents confined while undergoing a drill about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates when the leader seems contaminated, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or letting them go and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.
Threads (1984)
The production was inexpensive yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Watched it about a month ago after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode actually sitting tensely, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion.
The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief
Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks because of his compulsive gambling, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and experiences wins and losses, is severely assaulted. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!
Peep Show – Holiday from 2007
The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it can cause you to stand for the full show, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and following tries to eliminate it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can be!
The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals
No other viewing has been as gripping compared to my initial viewing the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The episode starts with the aftermath of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s private assistant and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to run for another term. Superb programming. Unsurpassed.
Bodyguard – episode one from 2018
The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female entering the restroom and knows something is off. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)
Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased from natural reasons, which is the least common kind of passing in this paranormal series. 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 for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all vanquished. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016
I remained awake to view this installment at 2am. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain 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
