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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the MI5 agents restricted as part of a simulation concerning a fictional terrorist event, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a disaster happening externally, and intensifies as the boss appears to be infected, with the two officials trying to exit, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget yet among the scariest shows I have ever watched due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield shown in the series which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The concluding高潮 – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty at work and home – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, does tons of drugs and drink and experiences wins and losses, is brutally attacked. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand for the full show, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense compared to my initial viewing the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s personal secretary and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to seek re-election. Excellent TV. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He spots a Muslim woman going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, 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 most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the program was incredibly anxious. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It ceases. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, savagely teasing his prey and then leaving the victim unknown (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season