🔗 Share this article ‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ The most intense TV episodes ever Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003 This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, supervised by two Home Office agents. As the situation develops, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The suspense builds as reports reveal a catastrophe taking place outside, and intensifies when the leader seems contaminated, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses. Threads from 1984 Threads had minimal funding but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Still absolutely terrifying decades on. Severance – The We We Are (2022) The first season finale of Severance ranks highly among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion. Industry – White Mischief (2024) The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is brutally attacked. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. There’s hope of redemption by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Absolutely had to relax following that! The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding the dog they by chance collide with and subsequent attempts to dispose 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 compared to my initial viewing the second season finale of The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak involving a Haitian emergency, 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. The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female heading to the toilet and senses something is wrong. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, enter 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. Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001 Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this paranormal series. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we view the installment through the lens 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 show was pants-wettingly tense. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all vanquished. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze 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 looks up. Continue. It stops. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after. The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016) I stayed up to watch this episode at 2am. It was so intense after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season