‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most intense TV episodes ever
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
The show kicks off with the Spooks team locked down as part of a simulation relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and escalates 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 permitting their exit and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.
The 1984 production Threads
Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed because of the stark reality and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.
The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are
The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season has to be right up there among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that allowed the Innies to remain active, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.
Industry – White Mischief from 2024
Episode five of the third series of Industry caused my heart to pound. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and alternates between success and failure, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There is a chance for salvation by the episode’s conclusion yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences in the season finale. Absolutely had to relax following that!
Peep Show – Holiday from 2007
The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise for the full show, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover having to lie about the dog they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it turns out to 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 show opens with the fallout of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s personal secretary and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The opening of the British series Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female going into the loo and knows something is off. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused.
The 2001 Buffy episode The Body
Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007
The ultimate sequence of the series finale 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, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks the vehicle. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony looks up. Continue. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)
I remained awake to view this installment at 2am. It was incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (finished with an unresolved situation). 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
