From Peep Show to Half Man, some of the best television can be the hardest to watch. Get ready to look through your fingers at these supremely squirm-inducing moments.
It’s not exactly how anyone imagines their first time. Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer follow-up, bruising BBC drama Half Man, is full of disturbing scenes but none more so than in the opening episode, when teen delinquent Ruben orchestrates his younger step-sibling Niall losing his virginity. As a twisted thank you for helping him pass his prelim exam, Ruben brings home girlfriend Mona. When they catch underage Niall “perving” at them in their shared bedroom, Ruben encourages Mona to switch beds and pop Niall’s cherry, while Ruben looms over him, offering words of encouragement and at one point, a steadying hand. And behold – a lifelong toxic bond is formed.
“Oink, piggies!” A standout season two episode saw the Roy family’s inner circle on a hunting retreat in Hungary. Patriarch Logan was furious that someone was leaking company intel, so subjected Greg, Tom and Karl to a humiliating hazing ritual as punishment for “collective disloyalty”. The bullying leader debased his underlings by making them get down on all-fours, play-act as pigs and fight over a sausage. Never had Logan’s vicious sadism been more manifest.
It was like sitting in an excruciating HR meeting. He was too busy being a chilled-out entertainer to do any actual work, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when Wernham Hogg decided to dismiss Slough branch manager David Brent. The sacking took a heartbreaking turn when he tearfully pleaded with them. The poignancy was punctured by Brent emerging from behind the desk to reveal that he was riding an ostrich (well, it was Red Nose Day).
What a #snoutrage. When David Cameron became embroiled in the 2015 “Piggate” controversy, Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker was widely hailed as clairvoyant, having got there four years earlier. His dystopian anthology’s first ever episode, The National Anthem, saw the blackmailed prime minister faced with a swine of a choice: allow a kidnapped young royal to be tortured and killed, or have sex with a sow on live TV. When attempts to rescue the princess or fabricate the footage failed, the PM reluctantly did the porky deed.
