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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The show kicks off with the MI5 agents confined during a training exercise concerning a fictional terrorist event, monitored by two government representatives. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the government agents endeavor to depart, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. This being Spooks, his decision is predictable.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads was low budget yet among the scariest shows I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and depart the area multiple times due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations from unscrupulous lenders due to his addictive betting, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe it can’t get any worse, it does. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Absolutely had to relax following that!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode features such degrees of awkwardness that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, permeated with worry. The tension escalates as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it is possible!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

Nothing I have seen has been as tense as when I first saw the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s private assistant and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Wonderful television. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy comes into her home to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the least common kind of passing in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a somber mood, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The final scene of the final episode of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all vanquished. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow stops the car. Tony gloomily informs Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth roughly 20 minutes after.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I remained awake to view this installment during the night. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets 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