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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The show kicks off with the Spooks team restricted during a training exercise concerning a fictional terrorist event, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads from 1984

The production was inexpensive yet among the scariest shows I have viewed because of the stark reality and grim official statistics. Saw it not long ago having watched the original; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme that highlighted the truth and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Installment five in Industry’s third series made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Absolutely had to relax following that!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode includes such amounts of embarrassment that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves having to lie about the dog they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (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 death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Excellent TV. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train accompanied by his small son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female heading to the toilet and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this mystical program. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a somber mood, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

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 the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all vanquished. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow secures a parking space. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks her car. The door chimes, a person comes in. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It ceases. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after.

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

I stayed up to watch this episode in the early morning. It was extremely gripping after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (finished with an unresolved situation). 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