‘I definitely needed a lie-down after that!’ The most gripping television episodes of all time
Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003
The show kicks off with the MI5 agents restricted during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, monitored by two government representatives. As things progress, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, 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 allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.
Threads from 1984
Threads was low budget yet among the scariest shows I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Remaining completely frightening decades on.
Severance – The We We Are (2022)
The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season ranks highly as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.
Industry – White Mischief from 2024
The fifth episode of Industry’s third season had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly due to the immense extent of the wanton self-destruction I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations from unscrupulous lenders because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a bet on sterling that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, resulting in dreadful effects in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!
Peep Show – Holiday (2007)
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it is possible!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001
Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense as when I first saw 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 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, with confirmation of his intention to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Unsurpassed.
The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode
The opening of the British series 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 going into the loo and knows something is off. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001
Buffy arrives at her residence to realize her mom has deceased from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this paranormal series. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a sullen tone, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007
The concluding moment of the last installment of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony sadly tells Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It stops. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016
I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was so intense following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (finished with an unresolved situation). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
