‘I definitely needed a lie-down after that!’ Your most intense episodes of TV ever
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
The episode begins with the intelligence unit confined while undergoing a drill about a potential terror incident, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and intensifies when the leader seems contaminated, 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 potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.
The 1984 production Threads
Threads had minimal funding but one of the most frightening programmes I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub shown in the series which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details that were transmitted. Remaining completely frightening 35 years later.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that allowed the Innies to remain active, while shouting to the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – resembled a outburst.
The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief
Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations from unscrupulous lenders due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Each instance you believe it can’t get any worse, it worsens. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!
Peep Show – Holiday (2007)
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise for the full show, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies when Jeremy and Mark realize having to lie about the dog they unintentionally hit 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 from 2001
No other viewing has been as gripping than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s personal secretary and reaches a crescendo 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 seek re-election. Excellent TV. Never bettered.
Bodyguard – episode one from 2018
The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He notices a Muslim female entering the restroom and knows something is off. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)
Buffy arrives at her residence to realize her mom has deceased of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this paranormal series. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.
The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America
The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela there’s trouble afoot with an additional associate cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It halts. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)
I remained awake to view this installment at 2am. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
