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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the MI5 agents locked down while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads (1984)

Threads was low budget yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Saw it not long ago having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while yelling at the Innies to get their truths out there. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly due to the immense extent of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation by the episode’s conclusion yet he wastes the chance, resulting in dreadful effects during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following that!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode includes such amounts of embarrassment that it’ll have you standing up for the full show, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they unintentionally hit and following tries to eliminate it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

Nothing I have seen has been as tense compared to my initial viewing the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and escalates to a高潮 with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and knows something is off. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony gloomily informs Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It halts. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)

I stayed up to watch this episode in the early morning. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season