‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ The most intense TV episodes you’ve seen
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
The show kicks off with the Spooks team locked down while undergoing a drill about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or letting them go and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, his decision is predictable.
Threads from 1984
Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Watched it about a month ago after seeing the first airing; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield featured in the show which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details that were transmitted. Still absolutely terrifying decades on.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is severely assaulted. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following that!
Peep Show – Holiday (2007)
The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it is possible!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)
Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.
Bodyguard – episode one from 2018
The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train alongside his juvenile boy, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He observes a woman in Islamic attire heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused.
The 2001 Buffy episode The Body
Buffy arrives at her residence to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this paranormal series. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)
The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It ceases. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016
I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was so intense following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, 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 muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
