‘I truly required a break after that!’ Your most gripping episodes of TV you’ve seen

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The show kicks off with the Spooks team confined as part of a simulation relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, supervised by two Home Office agents. As the situation develops, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and escalates when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads (1984)

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I have ever watched due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series that highlighted the truth and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The first season finale of Severance ranks highly 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 final climactic moment – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. There is a chance for salvation as the installment closes but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding 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 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the second season finale of The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the fallout from the non-disclosure regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to run for another term. Superb programming. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and knows something is off. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until yes, the vest is diffused.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy comes into her home to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the rarest form of demise in this paranormal series. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we witness the episode via the perspective 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 watched it when it originally aired, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)

I remained awake to view this installment at 2am. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (finished with an unresolved situation). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season