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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The show kicks off with the Spooks team locked down during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and intensifies as the boss appears to be infected, and the government agents endeavor to depart, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to decide between shooting them or allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen because of the stark reality and bleak government data. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The season one finale of Severance ranks highly as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The concluding高潮 – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – overwhelmed by debt to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is brutally attacked. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation as the installment closes but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and following tries to eliminate it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

No other viewing has been as gripping compared to my initial viewing the season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information of the president’s MS diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train with his young son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the least common kind of passing in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

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 enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was extremely gripping after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, 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 muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season