‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ Your most nerve-wracking TV episodes ever
The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
This installment starts with the MI5 agents confined during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The tension ratchets up as messages indicate a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. As this is Spooks, the outcome is expected.
Threads from 1984
The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I have ever watched due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Remaining completely frightening decades on.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The first season finale of Severance ranks highly as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode actually sitting tensely, straining every sinew with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.
The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief
Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks because of his compulsive gambling, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is brutally attacked. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it does. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!
Peep Show – Holiday (2007)
The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand for the full show, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding the dog they unintentionally hit and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment 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 have seen has been as tense compared to my initial viewing the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The episode starts with the aftermath of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Excellent TV. Never bettered.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The start of the British program 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 heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, get on the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.
The 2001 Buffy episode The Body
Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the least common kind of passing in this paranormal series. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.
The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America
The concluding moment of the last installment of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew cooperating with the officials. Meadow secures a parking space. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It ceases. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.
The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth
I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was extremely gripping after the establishment of antagonist Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muted audio – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
