‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most nerve-wracking television episodes ever
Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)
This installment starts with the MI5 agents confined while undergoing a drill about a potential terror incident, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, his decision is predictable.
Threads from 1984
Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I have viewed because of the stark reality and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago after seeing the first airing; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield shown in the series which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Still absolutely terrifying decades on.
Severance – The We We Are (2022)
The season one finale of Severance ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I needed to stop and stand and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the wanton self-destruction I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – buried in financial obligations from unscrupulous lenders because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is brutally attacked. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!
The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise for the full show, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over and following tries to eliminate it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it turns out to be!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)
Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense compared to my initial viewing 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 private assistant and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the fallout from the non-disclosure regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Superb programming. Unequaled.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)
Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the least common kind of passing in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007
The final scene of the final episode of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all vanquished. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It ceases. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)
I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
