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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

This installment starts with the intelligence unit locked down during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as reports reveal a disaster happening externally, and intensifies as the boss appears to be infected, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, does tons of drugs and drink and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation as the installment closes yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover having to lie about the dog they by chance collide with and following tries to eliminate it. You then spend the rest of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

Nothing I have seen has been as tense as when I first saw the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The episode starts with the aftermath of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Excellent TV. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the least common kind of passing in this paranormal series. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The concluding moment of the last installment of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, 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 gloomily informs Carmela problems are brewing with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after.

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

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was extremely gripping after the establishment of antagonist Negan finding the group, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muted audio – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season