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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the MI5 agents confined as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a disaster happening externally, and intensifies when the leader seems contaminated, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or letting them go and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. Given it’s Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads (1984)

Threads had minimal funding but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub from the programme that highlighted the truth and the casual, straightforward government details that were transmitted. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The first season finale of Severance ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling which could lose his company millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is brutally attacked. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and following tries to eliminate it. You then spend the rest of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense as when I first saw 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 situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Excellent TV. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is personally a top tense installment. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the least common kind of passing in this paranormal series. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 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 foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Recall the minor details.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela there’s trouble afoot with yet another of his crew collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was extremely gripping after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season