Television is supposed to be relaxing. Flop on the sofa, lose yourself in your favourite show and feel your shoulders unknot themselves. Yet sometimes the best episodes are the most stress-inducing. Nerves jangle. Anxiety levels spike. Before you know it, you\u2019re perched on the edge of your seat, quietly whimpering and clutching a cushion for comfort.<\/p>\n
We select the dozen most intense TV episodes of all time \u2013 two of which aired in the past fortnight. Well, it\u2019s been a turbulent time. Press play and feel those knuckles whiten \u2026<\/p>\n
Homeland: \u2018Marine One\u2019 (2011)<\/p>\n
It ran for nearly a decade to diminishing returns, but the debut season of the Showtime espionage thriller was downright electrifying. Bipolar CIA analyst Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) and \u201cturned\u201d war hero Sgt Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) played cat-and-mouse to taut effect. Tension reached its nerve-shredding peak with its first series finale. Al-Qaida double agent Brody attempted to detonate his suicide vest in a VIP bunker, blowing up high-value targets including the US vice-president. He was foiled by a loose wire and a phone call from his otherwise quite annoying daughter, Dana. For a while back there, viewers were sweating like Brody in that bathroom stall.<\/p>\n
Chernobyl: \u2018The Happiness of All Mankind\u2019 (2019)<\/p>\n
Sky and HBO\u2019s forensically detailed dramatisation of the 1986 nuclear disaster became IMDb\u2019s top-rated TV series of all time. The unflinching realism was especially vivid in the fourth episode. As a team were dispatched to shoot the town\u2019s contaminated pets (sob), \u201cliquidators\u201d were sent up to the still-burning reactor\u2019s rooftop to clear radioactive debris by hand. Each worked frantically for a 90-second burst, supposedly before exposure became fatal. Immersively shot on Steadicam and soundtracked by a crackling dosimeter, it included a watch-through-your-fingers moment where one poor conscript got his foot stuck. Terrifying, not least because we know that one in 10 of the real-life liquidators died.<\/p>\n
Happy Valley: series 3, episode 6 (2023)<\/p>\n
The blood feud between Sgt Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) and local psycho Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) played out for three superlative series across nine years. It was all building towards a climactic confrontation in the last ever episode. Having dramatically escaped prison, Tommy was wounded, desperate and dangerous. Catherine was on the verge of retirement \u2013 rarely a good omen for a screen cop. As a rapt audience of more than 11m watched and winced, the \u201cPeeping Tommy\u201d scene saw him pop up at Catherine\u2019s window while she dozed in an armchair. When he broke in, understated greetings (\u201cHello?\u201d \u201cHiya\u201d) began a slow-burning 15-minute showdown across the kitchen table.<\/p>\n
Game of Thrones: \u2018The Rains of Castamere\u2019 (2013)<\/p>\n
Anyone who had read George RR Martin\u2019s novels knew what was coming and watched with queasy dread. When the Starks arrived at Walder Frey\u2019s castle to shore up the two clans\u2019 alliance, things seemed to be passing peacefully \u2013 until Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) noticed that the musicians had changed their tune and the banqueting hall doors were locked. Right on cue, the slaughter began. Welcome to the Red Wedding. It was this harrowing massacre in the books that convinced showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss to buy the TV rights. \u201cThe Lannisters send their regards\u201d indeed.<\/p>\n
The Bear: \u2018Fishes\u2019 (2023)<\/p>\n