Yahoo News 13 most scary TV documentary moments ever
With each passing year, documentary filmmakers are able to use much more sophisticated equipment and get closer to the action than ever, whether it's for nature programmes or cops-with-cameras films.
But with that comes an escalating grittiness and fear factor, which means some of these films are more tense than any Hitchcock movie.
Here are some of the hairiest moments to occur in TV documentaries over the years:
1. Ross Kemp takes on a gang who easily could have killed him
Former EastEnders star Ross deserves far more credit than he gets for his films, especially the Extreme World series, which has seen him visit some of the scariest places on the planet.
In an episode taking place in Papua New Guinea, Ross comes face-to-face with an intimidating gang covered in guns, including an actual warrior. With just him and a couple of his crew meeting the armed group, Ross must have been thinking, "What the hell am I doing here?"
And then, after the guns get pointy, Ross grows some big-boy bollocks and squares off with the gang members, shouting back, "You gonna kill me? No-one's gonna f**king kill me!"
The gang were probably more bark than bite, but Ross certainly didn't know that. Certainly the opposite of Dead Ringers' spoof of him.
2. Louis Theroux refuses to tell a Nazi if he's Jewish
Louis has had many tense interviews over the years, including white separatist Eugène Terre'Blanche and the Westboro Baptist Church, but perhaps the most tense of all was his trip to a skinhead household for his film Louis Theroux and the Nazis.
As Louis describes in the film above, Louis is repeatedly asked by a man named Skip if he is Jewish. Although he isn't Jewish, he explains that he would rather not tell him either way.
After repeatedly asking if he was "a f**king Jew", Skip asks for the cameras to be turned off, and when Louis's crew don't comply, they swiftly ask him to leave. How Louis stays so stoic is beyond us.
3. Jeremy Clarkson drives past a VERY steep and tiny cliff in Top Gear
There's a chance that all scenes in Top Gear are staged in some way or another, and that this moment isn't as real as it appears. But let's just say that it was.
In the Bolivia special, former hosts Clarkson, Hammond and May drive along the so-called "Death Road", and once they arrive, it's clear just why it got its terrifying name.
At one stage, Jeremy has to somehow drive his car right next to a huge drop, as a white Toyota thinks it's a good time to casually try and pass him. Is it faked? Who knows, but it certainly was tense, and Jeremy was sweating buckets.
4. John Sweeney loses it with Scientologists on Panorama
This is what happens when you push an investigative journalist to breaking point. Well, John Sweeney at least.
When making his film Scientology and Me, John totally lost his temper after he allegedly endured days of harassment by the religion's rep Tommy Davis and his cohorts.
The highly-charged moment was filmed both by Sweeney and Davis's crew, as the former screamed a tirade right in the rep's face. Sweeney had been visited at his hotel by Davis, despite not sharing his address with the Church, and had been followed on other occasions.
So, if you're wanting to make a film about Scientology, take note, and order some throat sweets.
5. David Attenborough hangs out with a gorilla
We can now look at this clip and enjoy it for the warm and cuddly mug of tea that it is, but surely there was a moment where the thought, "Yeah, this is pretty scary shit," crossed Attenborough's mind.
For his iconic 1979 series Life on Earth, Sir David came right up close with a group of mountain gorillas in Rwanda. They had become used to humans over the years, but still.
Attenborough had only intended on getting close enough to narrate a piece about the opposable thumb, but he suddenly found himself on all fours and right up close with a female gorilla. The next day, he casually returned and got groomed by the mother and her babies. What a guy.
6. Robert Durst appears to admit to multiple killings in The Jinx
You could just put the whole of The Jinx in this list, as every single moment feels tense and creepy thanks to the troubling history of Robert Durst, and the question of whether or not he murdered his wife, his neighbour and his friend.
After one final grilling by director Andrew Jarecki, a sweating Durst retreats to the bathroom. However, neither he nor the filmmakers knew he still had his microphone on.
While washing his face and talking to himself, Durst makes a number of worrying statements, including "I killed them all, of course". The day before the finale aired, Durst was arrested on first-degree murder charges, and his case continues to this day.
7. Pretty much all of 60 Days In
If you've caught even a second of A&E's docuseries, you'll know that it's a constant rush of adrenaline that makes Prison Break seem quite nice, really.
The series sees volunteers enter a prison undercover for 60 days, where not even the guards or officials know why they're in there. Their goal is to get evidence of illegal activities within the jail that might be missed by correctional officers and surveillance systems.
As you can imagine, most scenes get pretty hairy, including the moment above where one of the "contestants" is facing a potential night in solitary after illegal hooch is found in his cell.
8. Two women try to kill themselves on Motorway Cops
This incident was so genuinely terrifying that it ended up spawning its own documentary Madness on the Fast Lane.
A camera crew just happened to be filming an episode of the BBC cop show when Swedish twins Ursula and Sabina Eriksson attempted to cross the M6 motorway. While filming the programme, the twins were seen attacking the officers restraining them, then in harrowing scenes, breaking free and getting hit by an oncoming vehicle. Both survived with minor injuries.
What made this incident even more terrifying is that Sabina was soon released by police, but on the same day ended up killing Glenn Hollinshead, a man who was helping her locate her sister.
She was eventually sentenced to five years in prison and was released on parole in 2008. As neither of the twins had exhibited such behaviour before, experts deemed the incidents as an apparent episode of folie à deux (or "shared psychosis"), a rare psychiatric disorder in which delusional beliefs are transmitted from one individual to another.
9. A rabbi loses it on To Catch a Predator
This feature on NBC's Dateline isn't exactly a pleasant watch, as host Chris Hansen exposes a series of would-be paedophiles after they arrive looking for sex with minors in a sting operation.
So yeah, as you'd expect, as each creepy dude rocks up and finds Hansen hilariously hamming it up when reading out their transcripts, it all gets rather tense.
But one of the most memorable instances was when Rabbi David Kaye appeared at the house, looking for sex with a 13-year-old boy. Kaye was one of the (surprisingly) few men to attempt to lunge at Hansen. He ended up being sentenced to six and a half years in jail.
10. Danny Dyer gets (sort of) punched
For this diamond geezer's Deadliest Men series, the now-EastEnders star Danny Dyer came face-to-face with some of Britain's toughest 'ard nuts.
One of his most gripping scenes was also one of the funniest, but we wouldn't to piss this guy off. Meeting up with self-defence "guru" Mo Teague, Danny got closer to the action than he perhaps would have liked.
Although Mo is only showing an example of the kind of force he would use in a fight, it's still enough to knock Danny off his feet. "F**king hell," a shell-shocked Danny says after leaving the boozer. We don't blame him.
11. The slow clap on Catfish
If you're meeting up with someone who's clearly been catfishing you for years, chances are it's going to be a nervy encounter, but no-one expected this one.
Artis thought he was dating a girl named Jess and was prepared to dump his current real-world girlfriend (and the mother of his THREE kids) for her. However, Jess was actually an odd fellow named Justin who was out on a mission to expose those cheating with strangers online as a "relationship vigilante".
Even Nev and Max were pretty scared of him as he emerged from his car slow-clapping and spoiling for a fight. But that slow clap felt like it was the start of a horror movie.
12. Gordon Ramsay has enough and walks out of Kitchen Nightmares
For the first and only time in Kitchen Nightmares history, the owners of a restaurant were SO bad that Gordon realised he couldn't help them and buggered off. And when you watch it, you don't blame him.
Amy's Baking Company husband and wife owners Amy and Samy Bouzaglo were constantly rude to their staff, refused to follow Gordon's advice, and in the most tense scene of all, shouted abuse at and threw out diners who didn't like their food.
After the show aired, the pair initially got some business from curious viewers, but the restaurant ended up closing for good in late 2015.
13. Werner Herzog gets shot when speaking to Mark Kermode
That's right, the legendary filmmaker actually got shot with an air rifle while out filming an interview for The Culture Show in LA.
Not exactly tense, as Werner simply laughs it off while casually showing his wound by lifting up his flamboyant boxers. But still, that could have been a lot worse. Whether the shooter was aiming at Kermode's massive quiff or not is still unknown.
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