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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The episode begins with the MI5 agents restricted while undergoing a drill relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or letting them go and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads from 1984

Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Watched it about a month ago following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The season one finale of Severance has to be right up there among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to get their truths out there. The ultimate peak – “she’s alive!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it does. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves having to lie about the dog they accidentally run over and following tries to eliminate it. You then spend the rest of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Excellent TV. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He notices a Muslim female entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, 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 watched it when it originally aired, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The door chimes, a person comes in. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Continue. It halts. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, mercilessly mocking his targets then not knowing who he killed (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season