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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

This installment starts with the MI5 agents confined during a training exercise relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and intensifies as the boss appears to be infected, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, the outcome is expected.

The 1984 production Threads

The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Still absolutely terrifying decades on.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The season one finale of Severance ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that allowed the Innies to remain active, while screaming at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times because of the sheer scale of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, engaging in dangerous ventures on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Absolutely had to relax following that!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand for the full show, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and following tries to eliminate it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The episode starts with the aftermath of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s private assistant and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to run for another term. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He spots a Muslim woman entering the restroom and knows something is off. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy comes into her home to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the least common kind of passing in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a somber mood, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The final scene of the final episode of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all vanquished. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Recall the minor details.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It stops. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

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

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season