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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the MI5 agents confined while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, supervised by two Home Office agents. As the situation develops, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and gets worse 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. This being Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads from 1984

Threads had minimal funding but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub from the programme that highlighted the truth and the glib matter-of-fact official information that were transmitted. Remaining completely frightening decades on.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The first season finale of Severance ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, straining every sinew with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and exit the space repeatedly due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs 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 by the episode’s conclusion yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise the whole episode, permeated with worry. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it turns out to be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and escalates to a高潮 with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train accompanied by his small son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He observes a woman in Islamic attire heading to the toilet and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises 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 of natural causes, which is the rarest form of demise in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The final scene of the final episode of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony sadly tells Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It ceases. My spirit fell about 20 minutes later.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was so intense following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season