‘I truly required a break after that!’ Your most nerve-wracking TV episodes of all time

The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The show kicks off with the MI5 agents restricted while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, overseen by two Home Office officials. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and escalates as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the government agents endeavor to depart, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads (1984)

The production was inexpensive yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Watched it about a month ago after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield featured in the show that highlighted the truth and the glib matter-of-fact official information which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is brutally attacked. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize having to lie about the dog they unintentionally hit and following tries to eliminate it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it is possible!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

Nothing I have seen has been as tense as when I first saw the second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard 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 realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this paranormal series. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The final scene of the final episode of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all vanquished. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It stops. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I remained awake to view this installment at 2am. It was extremely gripping after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, mercilessly mocking his targets then not knowing who he killed (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