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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the MI5 agents restricted during a training exercise concerning a fictional terrorist event, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, 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, with the two officials trying to exit, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads (1984)

Threads had minimal funding but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed because of the stark reality and bleak government data. Watched it about a month ago following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, straining every sinew with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble in his job and domestic life – buried in financial obligations to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, engaging in dangerous ventures with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is brutally attacked. 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, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!

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’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize needing to deceive regarding the dog they by chance collide with and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense as when I first saw the second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s personal secretary and escalates to a高潮 with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to run for another term. Superb programming. Unsurpassed.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

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 notices a Muslim female going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy comes into her home to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this paranormal series. 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 from 2007

The concluding moment of the last installment of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony sadly tells Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow secures a parking space. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It ceases. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was so intense after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, savagely teasing his prey and then leaving the victim unknown (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season