‘I definitely needed a lie-down after that!’ The most nerve-wracking television episodes ever
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
The show kicks off with the MI5 agents confined during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds 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 opt for either shooting them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, the outcome is expected.
Threads from 1984
Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Still absolutely terrifying decades on.
Severance – The We We Are (2022)
The season one finale of Severance has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, straining every sinew with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The concluding高潮 – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
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 saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it worsens. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!
The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it turns out to be!
The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals
Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense compared to my initial viewing 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 private assistant and builds to a peak involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Unsurpassed.
Bodyguard – episode one from 2018
The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train accompanied by his small son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He notices a Muslim female heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to a nearly intolerable level, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)
Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the most unusual type of death in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a somber mood, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007
The concluding moment of the last installment of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It stops. My heart sank about 20 minutes later.
The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth
I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan finding the group, mercilessly mocking his targets then not knowing who he killed (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
