‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most nerve-wracking episodes of TV you’ve seen
Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003
This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and escalates as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or letting them go and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.
Threads from 1984
Threads had minimal funding but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Watched it about a month ago having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series that highlighted the truth and the offhand factual official statements that were transmitted. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.
Severance – The We We Are (2022)
The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that allowed the Innies to remain active, while yelling at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.
The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief
The fifth episode of Industry’s third season caused my heart to pound. I was compelled to halt and rise and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty at work and home – overwhelmed by debt from unscrupulous lenders owing to his uncontrollable gaming, engaging in dangerous ventures with a bet on sterling that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it does. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!
Peep Show – Holiday (2007)
The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, permeated with worry. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding the dog they by chance collide with and later efforts to get rid of it. You then spend the rest of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it turns out to be!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)
Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense compared to my initial viewing the season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and escalates to a高潮 with a crisis in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Unequaled.
The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode
The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He observes a woman in Islamic attire heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and try to persuade the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001
Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America
The final scene of the final episode 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 foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It ceases. 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 at 2am. It was extremely gripping after the establishment of antagonist Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey then not knowing who he killed (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the subdued noises – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season