🔗 Share this article

The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The show kicks off with the Spooks team restricted while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, monitored by two government representatives. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

The 1984 production Threads

The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening decades on.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there 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 screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – overwhelmed by debt from unscrupulous lenders because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences 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, permeated with worry. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s private assistant and escalates to a高潮 involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to run for another term. Wonderful television. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, board the train, and try to persuade 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 arrives at her residence to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a sullen tone, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It stops. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

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

I remained awake to view this installment during the night. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, mercilessly mocking his targets and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season