‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ The most gripping television episodes ever
Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)
The episode begins with the MI5 agents restricted during a training exercise relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and escalates when the leader seems contaminated, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.
Threads (1984)
The production was inexpensive yet among the scariest shows I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.
Severance – The We We Are (2022)
The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season 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 allowed the Innies to remain active, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.
Industry – White Mischief from 2024
Installment five in Industry’s third series made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty at work and home – buried in financial obligations to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, does tons of drugs and drink and wins, loses, wins, is brutally attacked. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There’s hope of redemption as the installment closes but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following that!
Peep Show – Holiday from 2007
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it’ll have you standing up the whole episode, permeated with worry. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and following tries to eliminate it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, 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 second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the repercussions of the secrecy of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Superb programming. Unsurpassed.
The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode
The opening of the British series Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He spots a Muslim woman going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to a nearly intolerable level, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)
Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the least common kind of passing in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America
The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with an additional associate cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Continue. It halts. My spirit fell about 20 minutes later.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016
I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
