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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads from 1984

Threads had minimal funding but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and bleak government data. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that were transmitted. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, exerting with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The ultimate peak – “she’s alive!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and exit the space repeatedly because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – buried in financial obligations from unscrupulous lenders because of his compulsive gambling, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it deteriorates. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, with horrifying consequences in the season finale. Absolutely had to relax following that!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand for the full show, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense compared to my initial viewing the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The show opens with the fallout of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s personal secretary and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to seek re-election. Superb programming. Unequaled.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Anxiety builds to a nearly intolerable level, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy arrives at her residence to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience 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 program was incredibly anxious. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Continue. It ceases. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). 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