🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The show kicks off with the Spooks team confined while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, monitored by two government representatives. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads from 1984

Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme that highlighted the truth and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Remaining completely frightening 35 years later.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I was throughout the episode actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – buried in financial obligations to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. There’s hope of redemption as the installment closes but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand for the full show, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s private assistant and reaches a crescendo with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Excellent TV. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He notices a Muslim female heading to the toilet and knows something is off. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (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 mystical program. The show features no musical score, a sullen tone, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The final scene of the final episode of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow parks. Tony sadly tells Carmela there’s trouble afoot with an additional associate collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The door chimes, a person comes in. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth roughly 20 minutes after.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I stayed up to watch this episode at 2am. It was incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (finished with an unresolved situation). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the subdued noises – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season