‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most intense episodes of TV ever
Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003
The show kicks off with the intelligence unit restricted as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As things progress, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as messages indicate a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave 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 due to its harsh realism and bleak government data. Watched it about a month ago following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield shown in the series that highlighted the truth and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
Episode five of the third series of Industry caused my heart to pound. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble in his job and domestic life – buried in financial obligations to loan sharks because of his compulsive gambling, engaging in dangerous ventures on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it does. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following that!
Peep Show – Holiday from 2007
Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. However, the Holiday episode includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up 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 subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it can be!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)
Nothing I have seen has been as tense as when I first saw the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Unequaled.
The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode
The opening of the British series Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)
Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the least common kind of passing in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007
The final scene of the final episode of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony selects a song 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 ceases. My heart sank about 20 minutes later.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016
I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
