🔗 Share this article ‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ The most gripping television episodes of all time Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003 The episode begins with the Spooks team locked down as part of a simulation relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected. Threads from 1984 The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen because of the stark reality and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield featured in the show that highlighted the truth 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 has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I spent the entire episode literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that allowed the Innies to remain active, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The concluding高潮 – “she survives!” – resembled a outburst. Industry – White Mischief from 2024 Episode five of the third series of Industry caused my heart to pound. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly due to the immense extent of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, 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 experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it does. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Absolutely had to relax following that! Peep Show – Holiday from 2007 Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, permeated with worry. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over 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 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 season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s personal secretary and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Wonderful television. Unequaled. Bodyguard – episode one from 2018 The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is personally a top tense installment. He notices a Muslim female going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused. The 2001 Buffy episode The Body Buffy arrives at her residence to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this paranormal series. The episode has no background music, a somber mood, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother. The Sopranos – Made in America (2007) The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with yet another of his crew collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare 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 raises his gaze. Keep going. It stops. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently. The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016 I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, savagely teasing his prey and then keeping the death a mystery (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the muffled sounds – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season