‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most nerve-wracking television episodes you’ve seen
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
The show kicks off with the Spooks team restricted while undergoing a drill about a potential terror incident, monitored by two government representatives. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, his decision is predictable.
Threads from 1984
The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Watched it about a month ago after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub from the programme which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that were transmitted. Continuing to be utterly horrifying 35 years later.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that allowed the Innies to remain active, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – resembled a outburst.
Industry – White Mischief from 2024
Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, taking such risks with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, does tons of drugs and drink and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!
Peep Show – Holiday (2007)
Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode features such degrees of awkwardness that it will make you rise the whole episode, permeated with worry. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they unintentionally hit and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, 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 confidential aide and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to seek re-election. Superb programming. Never bettered.
Bodyguard – episode one from 2018
The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is personally a top tense installment. He spots a Muslim woman entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until yes, the vest is diffused.
The 2001 Buffy episode The Body
Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)
The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew collaborating with the authorities. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The door chimes, a person comes in. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)
I stayed up to watch this episode in the early morning. It was extremely gripping after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
