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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The episode begins with the intelligence unit confined as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as reports reveal a catastrophe taking place outside, and intensifies as the boss appears to be infected, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads (1984)

Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The season one finale of Severance ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, 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

Installment five in Industry’s third series made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – buried in financial obligations to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, does tons of drugs and drink and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it does. There’s hope of redemption as the installment closes but he misses the opening, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Absolutely had to relax following that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 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 throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit 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 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

No other viewing has been as gripping than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s personal secretary and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train accompanied by his small son, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the least common kind of passing in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, 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 ultimate sequence of the series finale of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Continue. It stops. My heart sank about 20 minutes later.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)

I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was so intense after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (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