The best bit of gripping TV/film you’ve ever seen.

[Jobhelpplease]

Thought I’d lighten the mood a little and with an almost free weekend to watch whatever I want due to husband working away wondered if I could ask the most gripping bit of TV or film you’ve ever seen...

I’ve a couple to start us off, The Fall and in particular a scene between Jamie Dorman and Gillian Anderson.

Happy Valley

May I destroy you (I was still processing this for weeks after)

Normal people (just absolutely beautiful)

Give me yours.

Just watched first episode of Dopesick

Really good, great actors too

The first fifteen minutes of Inglorious Basterds and the last fifteen of Jagged Edge!

The last 8 minutes of North and South (Gaskell - BBC 2004). Probably the most beautiful ending to any tv series I've ever seen, just perfect, and we had waited so long for it...

(any Richard Armitage/Guy of Gisburne fans who have not seen this series, you are in for a treat.)

Already mentioned but It’s a Sin was heartbreaking, joyful and just amazing in equal measure. That last scene…..
Must rewatch.
And Mare of Easttown also had a scene where I gasped out loud before crying my eyes out. Kate Winslet was awesome.

Gangs of London the episode where the special forces descend on the safe house. i could barely breath the whole episode. I got the same feeling when watching Straw Dogs.

Agree with The Red Wedding GOT - i had forgotten about it- that was unbelievable.

Afterlife. The entire 3 series. Could not have looked away if my feet had been on fire.
Outlander esp the first 3 series.
Life on Mars final episode. I was almost on my knees in front of the tv.
Its a Sin. Incredible.
Yellowjackets. Everytime you thought you had it figured out, it would just totally pull tge rug out from under you.

Definitely Homeland, Prison Break and Dexter already mentioned.

Also, A Place to Call Home... I couldn't stop watching it.

The Battle of the Bastards

@BadHairDayExpert

Original series of Utopia Original series of State of play Original series of Prime Suspect

Yes Utopia. Any scene where Arby turns up with his machine is super tense.

I have re-watched It’s a Sin countless times.

The Mission is the film that devastated me the most. I started sobbing at the bit where Father Gabriel is translating for the Guarani, trying to persuade the cardinal not to disband the mission houses, then totally crumbled at the bit where the Guarani women are forced to pile up their naked babies in the rain. I was still in bits the next morning and literally had to take myself out shopping to stop crying.

I also cry every time at the bit in Dr Zhivago where Lara rides off in the sled without him, even though I've seen it dozens of times.

The Responder made me feel like I needed Valium, in a good way.

Omar from The Wire

BBC's Bodyguard with Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes. 4 hours of sublime edge of the seat drama.

@MyNameIsAlexDrake

BBC's Bodyguard with Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes. 4 hours of sublime edge of the seat drama.

Oops should say 6 hours!

@DCINightingale

I seem to recall watching Captain Phillips was incredibly stressful and gripping

I watched Captain Phillips in a almost empty cinema. I don't think I breathed for the last 30 mins!

Agree with a lot of these, It’s A Sin, Chernobyl, Fleabag, The Accused, I May Destroy You - all superbly acted and intensely absorbing.

I’d like to add Promising Young Woman. Carey Mulligan in that movie was absolutely outstanding and the final scenes literally had me holding my breath.

@GreenFlipFlop

Massively underrated series from the same writer as Its A Sin, Russell T Davies - it was on BBC 1 and it was called 'Years and Years'. The scene where Russell Tovey's character and his boyfriend get their passports stolen and have to take a dinghy boat overloaded with other migrants to and get back to the UK and Russell Tovey's character drowns when the boat sinks. Did not see it coming at all, I was devastated!

I still think of this episode often. The hopelessness when they were boarding the dingy. Loved this series- not a fan of the end though. For me the most powerful TV scene is in Mad Men series 4. The episode when Peggy finds out Trudy is pregnant. The look between Peggy and Pete as she leaves for lunch with her friends from LIFE magazine. It just conveys so much: an acknowledgement of their past, a bittersweet "what if?" and a smile of forgiveness. A subtle but superbly acted moment.

One more: When Stella is silent (because she has no choice) when Blanche is taken away. Stella having to live with the knowledge of what Stanley did to her sister. A proper sucker punch of a scene.

@RoyKent

One more: When Stella is silent (because she has no choice) when Blanche is taken away. Stella having to live with the knowledge of what Stanley did to her sister. A proper sucker punch of a scene.

Sorry forgot to say this is "A Streetcar called desire"

First series of handmaids tale. I didn't breathe when I was on! DH not allowed to enter room to interrupt.
Elizabeth Moss might be the best actress that ever lived. The bit where serena joy drives her to see Hannah at the school and June is going nuts in the back of the car. Pure emotion and race

@amicissimma

Don't Look Now. But I don't know if it would look aged nowadays - I don't think I want to watch it again in case it does.

I listened to Endurance as an audiobook and it was so gripping I stayed up all night listening by mistake. The outcome is history but I just couldn't see how it could happen. And it's true. Also Alive, but not for the queasy.

Yes, Don't Look Now is tremendous, so sinister, with the tension building throughout the film to the end. When I saw it at the cinema decades ago at uni I didn't know how I was going to walk home in the dark I felt so terrified.

The sky Chernobyl show. The episode which ended with the guys going to drain the water and their torches failed.

I thought The Affair was amazing - some mesmerising scenes. That final scene with him dancing to The Whole of The Moon was beautiful.

The end of Promising Young Woman. I just sat there in stunned silence for 15 minutes.

Philadelphia with Tom Hanks, the whole film but mainly the closing scene and credits with the haunting music and old cinefilm.

Silence of the Lambs, the scene where Clarice enters the prison and slowly walks down the dark passageway where she knows Dr Lecter is waiting, when the camera pans towards him with that smile on his face, it's terrifying. "Hello Clarice."

Scandal with Kerry Washington, one of the most underrated series ever. There's one scene when she is kidnapped in the Middle East and the part where she finally escapes and runs out - to find she is not where she thought she was - I gasped out loud.

Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren in the 1990s. Every series but mainly Series 1 as it was so gripping and tense. There was a break for the news and my friend phoned me (landline) to scream "I can't wait for the news to be over it's sooo good!"

Call the Midwife - Barbara married the Vicar and they had a wedding in the snow while riding on a carousel outside Nonnatus House, it was all so beautiful, like a fairytale and I just sobbed.

Then a few weeks later, when Barbara died...

Another one for Chernobyl here! Amazing acting throughout, and agree that Paul Ritter was a true loss.

A few years back now but I couldn't take my eyes off The Night Manager with Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie. Unbelievable programme, I must rewatch.