‘I definitely needed a lie-down after that!’ Your most intense television episodes ever
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
The show kicks off with the MI5 agents locked down as part of a simulation relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, supervised by two Home Office agents. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and intensifies as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, his decision is predictable.
The 1984 production Threads
Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Saw it not long ago following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield featured in the show that highlighted the truth and the glib matter-of-fact official information which was broadcast. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.
Severance – The We We Are (2022)
The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to get their truths out there. The concluding高潮 – “she’s alive!” – was like an eruption.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I needed to stop and stand and depart the area multiple times due to the immense extent of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit in his job and domestic life – buried in financial obligations to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Each instance you believe it can’t get any worse, it does. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!
Peep Show – Holiday from 2007
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves having to lie about the dog they by chance collide with and later efforts to get rid of it. You then spend the rest of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it can be!
The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals
No other viewing has been as gripping compared to my initial viewing the second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Unequaled.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and knows something is off. The bomb squad is alerted, get on the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001
Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this mystical program. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007
The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth roughly 20 minutes after.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)
I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan finding the group, savagely teasing his prey and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
