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

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the intelligence unit confined as part of a simulation concerning a fictional terrorist event, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place with a chemical weapon released. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show 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 letting them go and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

The 1984 production Threads

The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The first season finale of Severance ranks highly as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is brutally attacked. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it deteriorates. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it can cause you to stand for the full show, permeated with worry. The tension escalates 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 then spend the rest of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The show opens with the fallout of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and escalates to a高潮 with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Excellent TV. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train with his young son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. 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 try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a somber mood, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. 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 an additional associate working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It stops. 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 extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season