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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The show kicks off with the intelligence unit confined as part of a simulation 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 tension ratchets up as messages indicate 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 letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

The 1984 production Threads

The production was inexpensive yet among the scariest shows I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Saw it not long ago after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying 35 years later.

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, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, does tons of drugs and drink and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation as the installment closes but he misses the opening, resulting in dreadful effects in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up for the full show, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The episode starts with the aftermath of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Superb programming. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is personally a top tense installment. He spots a Muslim woman going into the loo and knows something is off. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, get on the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a sullen tone, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The final scene of the final episode of the program was incredibly anxious. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. 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. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was so intense after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season