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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The episode begins with the MI5 agents restricted during a training exercise concerning a fictional terrorist event, overseen by two Home Office officials. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the government agents endeavor to depart, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen because of the stark reality and bleak government data. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which underscored the actuality and the glib matter-of-fact official information which was broadcast. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, exerting with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it does. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

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 throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. 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 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)

Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the second season finale of The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to pursue re-election. Excellent TV. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train accompanied by his small son, is personally a top tense installment. He notices a Muslim female entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, get on the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

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 first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow secures a parking space. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony looks up. Continue. It stops. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.

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

I stayed up to watch this episode in the early morning. It was incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan locating the survivors, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season