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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The show kicks off with the Spooks team restricted during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as messages indicate a catastrophe taking place outside, and intensifies when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or permitting their exit and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, the outcome is expected.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Saw it not long ago after seeing the first airing; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield shown in the series which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot among intense episodes. I was throughout the episode 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 reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the reckless self-harm I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

No other viewing has been as gripping 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 builds to a peak involving a Haitian emergency, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train with his young son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. 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 attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the least common kind of passing in this paranormal series. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It stops. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets then not knowing who he killed (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season