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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the MI5 agents locked down while undergoing a drill relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The tension ratchets up as reports reveal a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads (1984)

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Saw it not long ago after seeing the first airing; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements that were transmitted. Remaining completely frightening decades on.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season ranks highly among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation as the installment closes but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences in the season finale. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense compared to my initial viewing the season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and builds to a peak involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information of the president’s MS diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Unequaled.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He notices a Muslim female going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy comes into her home to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the least common kind of passing in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The final scene of the final episode of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony gloomily informs Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow secures a parking space. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Continue. It halts. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was so intense after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season