🔗 Share this article ‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ The most nerve-wracking television episodes ever The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse This installment starts with the MI5 agents confined while undergoing a drill about a potential terror incident, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as reports reveal a disaster happening externally, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected. Threads from 1984 The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield featured in the show which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later. The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst. Industry – White Mischief from 2024 Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling which could lose his company millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is severely assaulted. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There’s hope of redemption by the episode’s conclusion yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that! Peep Show – Holiday from 2007 The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up once Jeremy and Mark find themselves having to lie about the dog they accidentally run over 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 West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001 Nothing I have seen has been as tense as when I first saw the season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to seek re-election. Superb programming. Never bettered. The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused. Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001) Buffy comes into her home to discover her mother has died from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this mystical program. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a somber mood, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother. The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America The final scene of the final episode 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.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony gloomily informs Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after. The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016 I stayed up to watch this episode at 2am. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, savagely teasing his prey and then leaving the victim unknown (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season