‘I truly required a break after that!’ Your most gripping television episodes of all time
Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003
This installment starts with the Spooks team restricted as part of a simulation concerning a fictional terrorist event, supervised by two Home Office agents. As things progress, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to decide between shooting them or letting them go and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, the outcome is expected.
The 1984 production Threads
The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed due to its harsh realism and bleak government data. Watched it about a month ago after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub from the programme which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening decades on.
Severance – The We We Are from 2022
The season one finale of Severance has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.
The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief
The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, engaging in dangerous ventures with a bet on 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 it can’t get any worse, it worsens. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following that!
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 throughout the entire episode, permeated with worry. The situation intensifies when Jeremy and Mark realize having to lie about the dog they by chance collide with and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it turns out to be!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001
Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s private assistant and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Superb programming. Never bettered.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Tension escalates to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.
The 2001 Buffy episode The Body
Buffy comes into her home to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a somber mood, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering 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. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “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 yet another of his crew cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks the vehicle. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The door chimes, a person comes in. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It halts. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016
I stayed up to watch this episode in the early morning. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season
