🔗 Share this article

The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The episode begins with the Spooks team confined as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, monitored by two government representatives. As things progress, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The tension ratchets up as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads from 1984

Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Saw it not long ago after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The season one finale of Severance has to be right up there among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, straining every sinew with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling which could lose his company millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it does. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies when Jeremy and Mark realize needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one (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 realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to remove her explosive vest. Tension escalates to a practically unendurable point, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The concluding moment of the last installment of the program was incredibly anxious. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart dropped from my mouth roughly 20 minutes after.

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

I stayed up to watch this episode at 2am. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, savagely teasing his prey then not knowing who he killed (finished with an unresolved situation). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muted audio – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season