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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

This installment starts with the MI5 agents confined during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical agent deployed. The tension ratchets up as reports reveal a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or permitting their exit and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads (1984)

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen because of the stark reality and dismal official figures. Watched it about a month ago following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season caused my heart to pound. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – buried in financial obligations from unscrupulous lenders due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling which could lose his company millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is severely assaulted. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. However, the Holiday episode features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand for the full show, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it turns out to be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He notices a Muslim female entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, board 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 realize her mom has deceased from natural reasons, which is the most unusual type of death in this paranormal series. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow stops the car. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Keep going. It ceases. My heart dropped from my mouth roughly 20 minutes after.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season