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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the intelligence unit restricted while undergoing a drill 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 weapon has been unleashed. The suspense builds as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. This being Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads (1984)

The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Watched it about a month ago following the initial broadcast; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements that were transmitted. Remaining completely frightening 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I spent the entire episode literally perched nervously, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while yelling 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 had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks because of his compulsive gambling, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, does tons of drugs and drink and experiences wins and losses, is severely assaulted. Each instance you believe it can’t get any worse, it deteriorates. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following 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 the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense as when I first saw the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. 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 effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Superb programming. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He observes a woman in Islamic attire heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a practically unendurable point, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy enters her house to realize her mom has deceased of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this paranormal series. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The final scene of the final episode of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. 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. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks her car. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It halts. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 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, savagely teasing his prey then not knowing who he killed (concluded with a suspenseful moment). 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