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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the MI5 agents locked down during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, monitored by two government representatives. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a disaster happening externally, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the government agents endeavor to depart, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads (1984)

The production was inexpensive yet among the scariest shows I have viewed due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The season one finale of Severance has to be right up there in terms of gripping installments. I was throughout the episode literally perched nervously, straining every sinew with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it worsens. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. However, the Holiday episode features such degrees of awkwardness that it will make you rise for the full show, permeated with worry. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves having to lie about the dog they accidentally run over and following tries to eliminate it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and builds to a peak involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to pursue re-election. Excellent TV. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased from natural reasons, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a somber mood, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering 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 first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony sadly tells Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell sounds, an individual enters. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Keep going. It ceases. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.

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

I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was extremely gripping after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, savagely teasing his prey and then leaving the victim unknown (finished with an unresolved situation). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season