Exactly. With the episode I picked, we'd already seen the normally-infallible Dr Green's life gradually disintegrating so that a relatively routine case went wrong because he made a couple of mistakes. I could have picked the episode with the burned firemen in Season 2(brought tears to my eyes) or the double episode where Dr Carter and Lucy undergo a horrific ordeal at the hands of a deranged patient. Absolute bone-chilling horror.

This. The section on the way to the funeral when they have Brothers in Arms on the background gets the hair up on the back of my neck, and almost nothing does that. (Yes, I'm a callous old bastard).

I saw a lot of ER but the only thing I can remember is the arrogant and obnoxious doctor getting his arm chopped of by a helicopter in one episode, and getting crushed by another helicopter later in the show.

Romano's interaction with the helicopter blade would be a very strong candidate for the most surprising event in a TV show.

I cant think of one right now but that has to be a contender

So many memories coming back reading this thread. The ER episode someone mentioned was cracking as were a few others. The West Wing again produced some memorable TV moments for me.

More recently Grey's Anatomy at the end of the last series when a gunman goes on a rampage - that was pretty compelling viewing for me. It was done really well IMO. There were some OMG moments I wont mention in case someone was still intending on watching it.

I would plump for any pilot episode of a Supermarionation series, in particular Thunderbirds 1x01 'Trapped in the Sky' and Captain Scarlet ep1 'The Mysterons'.

The Captain Scarlet pilot is particularly well paced and throws a n00b right into the action.

This took me back and made me think! I enjoyed this ep, but I'm afraid my faux yank patriotism wins out:



Agreed. A stunning piece of television.

It's really hard for me to pick out a single ep over the past 12 years. "Broken", the feature length opener to season 6 of House is breathtaking in it's scope and brought a tear to my eye. Taking Greg out of the hospital and putting him in a mental institute (especially after the way season 5 ended) was a stroke of genius and Andre Braugher is a genius bit of casting as a counter point to our favourite medical Sherlock.

Aside from that, The West Wing is peppered with standout moments. Alan Alda, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Joshua Molina, Rob Lowe, Allison Janney all bring an intelligence, wit and charisma to your lounge that is largely unparalleled, but Martin Sheen - damn that guy owns the TV when he's on it and you could easily pick apart that show for the most proud, heartwarming, funny, deeply emotional moments of television probably ever.

The other ep jumping out at me is Day of Days from Band of Brothers. I think that speaks for itself.

The last 3 minutes of Trapped In The Sky still stress me out even now!

It made me think too. I thought:

1. The day Buffy comes out on BD is the day I buy a player and do upgrade whatever I need to watch it.
2. The fact I loaned my entire Buffy collection to a friend, who doesn't remember ever having them.

I think something from Buffy might clinch it for me, but it's all so long ago it's hard to pull a particular episode from my mind. I was very taken with the episode "Restless", but I'd need to rewatch the entire series to pick one.

If not Buffy, then B5. Again, I've not watched it for years so it's all a bit of a blur.

I always enjoyed the Polymorph episode of Red Dwarf in my teens.

Babylon 5 - Severed Dreams sticks in my mind but then I do like an epic space battle.
I also liked Interludes and Examinations when you finally get to see how much damage Vorlon warships can do.

The very first episode of Black Books, where Manny absorbs the little book of calm, has me in stitches every time but not quite as much as the one with the wine making in a hurry.

The final episode of Quantum Leap - but you have to have followed Sam on his journeys striving to put right what once went wrong.

Mark

Who Monitors the Birds? - Space : Above and Beyond.
A truly brilliant episode of a TV show that was three years before Buffy and Hush.

Mark

I remember that show. It was always on at stupidly late-o'clock.

Quite enjoyed it though.