🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the intelligence unit restricted as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As the situation develops, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as messages indicate a catastrophe taking place outside, 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 choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads (1984)

Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show that highlighted the truth and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks with a bet on sterling that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it does. There is a chance for salvation by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise for the full show, permeated with worry. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding the dog they unintentionally hit and following tries to eliminate it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense than the first time I watched 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 private assistant and reaches a crescendo with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Wonderful television. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The final scene of the final episode 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 enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks her car. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Keep going. It stops. My heart sank about 20 minutes later.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was extremely gripping after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the subdued noises – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season