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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the Spooks team restricted while undergoing a drill about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As things progress, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical agent deployed. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates 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 endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads (1984)

Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen because of the stark reality and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Episode five of the third series of Industry caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and depart the area multiple times due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks because of his compulsive gambling, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound 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, is brutally attacked. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand throughout the entire episode, permeated with worry. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over 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 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

No other viewing has been as gripping compared to my initial viewing the second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy of the president’s MS diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Excellent TV. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female entering the restroom and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and endeavor to coax 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 from natural reasons, which is the most unusual type of death in this paranormal series. The show features no musical score, 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 show was pants-wettingly tense. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow secures a parking space. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony looks up. Continue. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (finished with an unresolved situation). 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