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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The show kicks off with the Spooks team restricted as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, monitored by two government representatives. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, the outcome is expected.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that allowed the Innies to remain active, while shouting to the Innies to get their truths out there. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – buried in financial obligations from unscrupulous lenders due to his addictive betting, 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 wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it worsens. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects 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. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up the whole episode, permeated with worry. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and following tries to eliminate it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, 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 season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s personal secretary and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to run for another term. Excellent TV. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy arrives at her residence to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a somber mood, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The concluding moment of the last installment of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all vanquished. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It halts. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I remained awake to view this installment during the night. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey and then keeping the death a mystery (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muted audio – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season