‘I definitely needed a lie-down after that!’ Your most gripping TV episodes ever

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the Spooks team restricted while undergoing a drill relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, 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 messages indicate a catastrophe taking place outside, and escalates as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, 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.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield featured in the show which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that allowed the Innies to remain active, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly due to the immense extent of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is brutally attacked. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it deteriorates. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday (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, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

No other viewing has been as gripping compared to my initial viewing 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 private assistant and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train with his young son, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to a nearly intolerable level, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the least common kind of passing in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, 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 series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks the vehicle. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record 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 stops. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I stayed up to watch this episode in the early morning. It was incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The victim’s POV shot and the subdued noises – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season