‘I definitely needed a lie-down after that!’ Your most gripping episodes of TV you’ve seen
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, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The tension ratchets up as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.
Threads (1984)
Threads was low budget yet among the scariest shows I have viewed because of the stark reality and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.
The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are
The season one finale of Severance has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, straining every sinew 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 concluding高潮 – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
Installment five in Industry’s third series made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks because of his compulsive gambling, engaging in dangerous ventures with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is severely assaulted. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode but he misses the opening, resulting in dreadful effects in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!
Peep Show – Holiday (2007)
The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand for the full show, permeated with worry. The situation intensifies as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it is possible!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001
Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s personal secretary and escalates to a高潮 with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Excellent TV. Never bettered.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He notices a Muslim female going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, get on the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to remove her explosive vest. Tension escalates to an almost unbearable degree, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.
The 2001 Buffy episode The Body
Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007
The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the program was incredibly anxious. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all overcome. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony sadly tells Carmela there’s trouble afoot with yet another of his crew cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell sounds, an individual enters. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after.
The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth
I stayed up to watch this episode at 2am. It was extremely gripping after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
