‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ The most nerve-wracking episodes of TV of all time
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
The episode begins with the Spooks team locked down during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, 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, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.
Threads (1984)
The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub from the programme which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show quite literally on the edge of my seat, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while shouting to the Innies to get their truths out there. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty at work and home – overwhelmed by debt from unscrupulous lenders due to his addictive betting, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it worsens. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!
Peep Show – Holiday from 2007
Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it is possible!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)
Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense as when I first saw the second season finale of The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s personal secretary and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Excellent TV. Unsurpassed.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The opening of the British series Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He notices a Muslim female heading to the toilet and knows something is off. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused.
The 2001 Buffy episode The Body
Buffy comes into her home to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 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 foes, genuine and fictional, were all vanquished. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks the vehicle. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Look at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks her car. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It ceases. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)
I remained awake to view this installment during the night. It was incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the subdued noises – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
