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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The episode begins with the intelligence unit confined while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Watched it about a month ago following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is brutally attacked. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it worsens. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and following tries to eliminate it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it can be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the second season finale of The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He notices a Muslim female heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the least common kind of passing in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a somber mood, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew cooperating with the officials. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Continue. It stops. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was extremely gripping after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season