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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down while undergoing a drill relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials. As things progress, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. As this is Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads (1984)

Threads had minimal funding but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed because of the stark reality and bleak government data. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series that highlighted the truth and the casual, straightforward government details that were transmitted. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to get their truths out there. The concluding高潮 – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling which could lose his company millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation as the installment closes yet he wastes the chance, resulting in dreadful effects in the concluding part of the season. Absolutely had to relax following that!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise the whole episode, permeated with worry. The situation intensifies as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode 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 than the first time I watched the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to seek re-election. Superb programming. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist 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 diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Anxiety builds to a nearly intolerable level, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The final scene of the final episode of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all vanquished. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “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 gloomily informs Carmela there’s trouble afoot with yet another of his crew collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The door chimes, a person comes in. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony looks up. Continue. It ceases. My heart sank 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 extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, savagely teasing his prey then not knowing who he killed (ended on a cliffhanger). 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