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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The show kicks off with the intelligence unit confined while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads (1984)

The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that were transmitted. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show quite literally on the edge of my seat, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and leave the room several times because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – 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. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it does. There is a chance for salvation by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, resulting in dreadful effects during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise the whole episode, permeated with worry. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize having to lie about the dog they by chance collide with and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it is possible!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The beginning of the UK show 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 senses something is wrong. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, enter the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to remove her explosive vest. Suspense rises to a nearly intolerable level, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy enters her house to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The final scene of the final episode of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks the vehicle. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It ceases. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I stayed up to watch this episode in the early morning. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season