‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most nerve-wracking TV episodes of all time
Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)
The show kicks off with the Spooks team locked down during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as reports reveal a catastrophe taking place outside, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the government agents endeavor to depart, 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, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.
The 1984 production Threads
Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub shown in the series that highlighted the truth and the offhand factual official statements that were transmitted. Still absolutely terrifying decades on.
The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are
The first season finale of Severance ranks highly among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion.
The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief
The fifth episode of Industry’s third season caused my heart to pound. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit in his job and domestic life – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There’s hope of redemption as the installment closes yet he wastes the chance, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!
Peep Show – Holiday from 2007
Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up for the full show, permeated with worry. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and later efforts to get rid of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it turns out to be!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)
No other viewing has been as gripping compared to my initial viewing the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The show opens with the fallout of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s private assistant and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Never bettered.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train accompanied by his small son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)
Buffy comes into her home to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, 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 shock of discovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)
The final scene of the final episode of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Recall the minor details.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony sadly tells Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony looks up. Continue. It stops. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after.
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 following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then leaving the victim unknown (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
