🔗 Share this article ‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ The most intense TV episodes of all time Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003 This installment starts with the Spooks team restricted as part of a simulation relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or letting them go and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable. The 1984 production Threads Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Watched it about a month ago following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme which underscored the actuality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later. Severance – The We We Are (2022) The season one finale of Severance ranks highly as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – resembled a outburst. Industry – White Mischief (2024) The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt from unscrupulous lenders because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. There’s hope of redemption by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following that! Peep Show – Holiday (2007) Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. However, the Holiday episode includes such amounts of embarrassment that it can cause you to stand for the full show, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover having to lie about the dog they accidentally run over and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then spend the rest of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can 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 episode starts with the aftermath of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s private assistant and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Never bettered. Bodyguard – episode one from 2018 The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train accompanied by his small son, is personally a top tense installment. He spots a Muslim woman going into the loo and knows something is off. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to a nearly intolerable level, until, finally, the vest is neutralized. The 2001 Buffy episode The Body Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the least common kind of passing in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, 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 concluding moment of the last installment of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all vanquished. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The door chimes, a person comes in. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It halts. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently. 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 establishment of antagonist Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (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