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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down as part of a simulation 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 tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and gets worse 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 letting them go and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads (1984)

The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed because of the stark reality and dismal official figures. Watched it about a month ago having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show quite literally on the edge of my seat, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The concluding高潮 – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. There’s hope of redemption by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, filled with nervousness. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they by chance collide with and following tries to eliminate it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

No other viewing has been as gripping than the first time I watched the second season finale of The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s private assistant and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to pursue re-election. Excellent TV. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow parks. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with an additional associate collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later.

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

I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan locating the survivors, mercilessly mocking his targets then not knowing who he killed (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season