‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most nerve-wracking TV episodes 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, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as messages indicate a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates as the superior shows signs of exposure, 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 endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.
The 1984 production Threads
The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.
Severance – The We We Are (2022)
The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.
Industry – White Mischief from 2024
Installment five in Industry’s third series made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the wanton self-destruction I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt from unscrupulous lenders owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Absolutely had to relax following that!
Peep Show – Holiday from 2007
Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode includes such amounts of embarrassment that it’ll have you standing up the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates as Jeremy and Mark discover having to lie about the dog they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can be!
The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals
Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense as when I first saw the season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s personal secretary and builds to a peak involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information of the president’s MS diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Excellent TV. Unequaled.
Bodyguard – episode one from 2018
The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)
Buffy enters her house to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.
The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America
The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the program was incredibly anxious. 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? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew collaborating with the authorities. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Continue. It ceases. My heart sank about 20 minutes later.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)
I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
