🔗 Share this article ‘I definitely needed a lie-down after that!’ Your most gripping television episodes you’ve seen The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse The episode begins with the MI5 agents confined as part of a simulation relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses. Threads from 1984 The production was inexpensive yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Still absolutely terrifying decades on. The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there in terms of gripping installments. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew 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 concluding高潮 – “she survives!” – resembled a outburst. 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 leave the room several times because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble in his job and domestic life – buried in financial obligations from unscrupulous lenders due to his addictive betting, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it does. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward! The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and later efforts to get rid of it. You then spend the rest of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it can be! The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001 No other viewing has been as gripping compared to my initial viewing the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The installment begins with the consequences of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s private assistant and escalates to a高潮 involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Wonderful television. Never bettered. Bodyguard – episode one from 2018 The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized. Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001) Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a somber mood, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother. The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007 The final scene of the final episode of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all vanquished. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. 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 an additional associate collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Keep going. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently. The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was extremely gripping after the establishment of antagonist Negan locating the survivors, mercilessly mocking his targets and then leaving the victim unknown (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the subdued noises – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season