‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most gripping television episodes ever
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
The episode begins with the Spooks team confined as part of a simulation relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, monitored by two government representatives. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.
Threads (1984)
Threads was low budget 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 frequently went to the Sheffield pub shown in the series that highlighted the truth and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The first season finale of Severance ranks highly among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while shouting to the Innies to get their truths out there. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.
The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief
Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is brutally attacked. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it does. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Absolutely had to relax following that!
Peep Show – Holiday from 2007
The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise for the full show, permeated with worry. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it can be!
The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals
Nothing I have seen has been as tense compared to my initial viewing the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The episode starts with the aftermath of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to seek re-election. Superb programming. Unsurpassed.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to a nearly intolerable level, until yes, the vest is diffused.
The 2001 Buffy episode The Body
Buffy enters her house to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.
The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America
The concluding moment of the last installment of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare 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 cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.
The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth
I remained awake to view this installment in the early morning. It was extremely gripping after the buildup of bad guy Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
