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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the Spooks team confined while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and intensifies when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads (1984)

The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening decades on.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it does. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise for the full show, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and following tries to eliminate it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The start of the British program 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 explosive disposal specialists are summoned, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a gloomy atmosphere, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The final scene of the final episode of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Keep going. It stops. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was so intense following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey then not knowing who he killed (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season