‘I definitely needed a lie-down after that!’ Your most nerve-wracking television episodes of all time
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, the outcome is expected.
The 1984 production Threads
Threads was low budget 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 featured in the show which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening 35 years later.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The first season finale of Severance ranks highly as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The concluding高潮 – “she’s alive!” – resembled a outburst.
The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief
Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I was compelled to halt and rise and leave the room several times because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – overwhelmed by debt to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling which could lose his company millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it worsens. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes yet he wastes the chance, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!
Peep Show – Holiday from 2007
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. However, the Holiday episode features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up for the full show, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize having to lie about the dog they by chance collide with 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 turns out to be!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001
Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense than the first time I watched the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information of the president’s MS diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Wonderful television. Unequaled.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until yes, the vest is diffused.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001
Buffy enters her house to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007
The concluding moment of the last installment of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you watched it when it originally aired, 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? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow parks. Tony sadly tells Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The door chimes, a person comes in. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)
I remained awake to view this installment during the night. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season