‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most gripping television episodes 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 events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The tension ratchets up as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.
Threads from 1984
Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen because of the stark reality and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series 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 (2022)
The season one finale of Severance ranks highly as a tense chapter. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – resembled a outburst.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
Episode five of the third series of Industry caused my heart to pound. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly due to the immense extent of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. There’s hope of redemption as the installment closes but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Absolutely had to relax following that!
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’ll have you standing up the whole episode, filled with nervousness. The tension escalates as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding the dog they unintentionally hit 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
Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s personal secretary and escalates to a高潮 with a situation in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Unequaled.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train accompanied by his small son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to a nearly intolerable level, 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 of natural causes, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a gloomy atmosphere, 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 program was incredibly anxious. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow parks. Tony sadly tells Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It ceases. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.
The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth
I remained awake to view this installment at 2am. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan finding the group, savagely teasing his prey and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
