‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most gripping episodes of TV of all time
Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003
The episode begins with the Spooks team locked down as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.
The 1984 production Threads
Threads had minimal funding but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield shown in the series that highlighted the truth and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Still absolutely terrifying decades on.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.
The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief
Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and leave the room several times because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks with a bet on sterling that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, does tons of drugs and drink and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it worsens. There’s hope of redemption by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!
The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, permeated with worry. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize needing to deceive regarding the dog they by chance collide with and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it turns out to be!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001
Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched 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 reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Excellent TV. Unequaled.
Bodyguard – episode one from 2018
The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He notices a Muslim female going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)
Buffy comes into her home to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the least common kind of passing in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007
The final scene of the final episode of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Keep going. It ceases. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.
The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth
I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The victim’s POV shot and the muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season