‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most intense TV episodes ever
Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)
The show kicks off with the intelligence unit locked down during a training exercise relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as messages indicate a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, the outcome is expected.
The 1984 production Threads
The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I have ever watched because of the stark reality and bleak government data. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield featured in the show which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.
Severance – The We We Are (2022)
The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that allowed the Innies to remain active, while yelling at the Innies to get their truths out there. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
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 wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt from unscrupulous lenders owing to his uncontrollable gaming, engaging in dangerous ventures with a bet on sterling which could lose his company millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it worsens. There is a chance for salvation by the episode’s conclusion yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!
The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday
Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can be!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001
Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s personal secretary and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to pursue re-election. Excellent TV. Unsurpassed.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train with his young son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001
Buffy comes into her home to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this paranormal series. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding 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 foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela there’s trouble afoot with an additional associate collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Keep going. It ceases. My heart sank about 20 minutes later.
The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth
I remained awake to view this installment during the night. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season