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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The show kicks off with the intelligence unit restricted as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, monitored by two government representatives. As things progress, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, with the two officials trying to exit, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that were transmitted. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling which could lose his company millions. 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 the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There’s hope of redemption by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies as Jeremy and Mark discover having to lie about the dog 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 from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense compared to my initial viewing the second season finale of The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

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 heading to the toilet and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to remove her explosive vest. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we witness the episode via the perspective 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. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. 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 raises his gaze. Continue. It stops. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was so intense 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 first-person perspective of the victim and the muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season