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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the intelligence unit locked down as part of a simulation concerning a fictional terrorist event, monitored by two government representatives. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and escalates when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or letting them go and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Saw it not long ago having watched the original; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season has to be right up there in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – buried in financial obligations to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it deteriorates. There’s hope of redemption as the installment closes yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences in the season finale. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. 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 then occupy the remainder of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to run for another term. Superb programming. Unequaled.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train accompanied by his small son, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death 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 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The concluding moment of the last installment of the program was incredibly anxious. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It ceases. My spirit fell about 20 minutes later.

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

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (ended on a cliffhanger). 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