‘I absolutely had to rest after that!’ The most nerve-wracking episodes of TV ever

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The show kicks off with the MI5 agents restricted during a training exercise relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, monitored by two government representatives. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and intensifies 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 risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Watched it about a month ago following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements that were transmitted. Still absolutely terrifying decades on.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The season one finale of Severance ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly because of the sheer scale of the wanton self-destruction I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – overwhelmed by debt from unscrupulous lenders because of his compulsive gambling, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it worsens. There’s hope of redemption by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves having to lie about the dog they by chance collide with and following tries to eliminate it. You then spend the rest of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the second season finale of The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train alongside his juvenile boy, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female going into the loo and knows something is off. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the least common kind of passing in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, and we view the installment through the lens 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 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? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony gloomily informs Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony looks up. 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 incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (finished with an unresolved situation). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season