🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The episode begins with the Spooks team restricted during a training exercise relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials. As things progress, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and escalates as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or letting them go and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads was low budget yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen because of the stark reality and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The season one finale of Severance has to be right up there among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode literally perched nervously, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that allowed the Innies to remain active, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, does tons of drugs and drink and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up for the full show, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies when Jeremy and Mark realize having to lie about the dog they unintentionally hit and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

No other viewing has been as gripping than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s personal secretary and escalates to a高潮 with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to seek re-election. Superb programming. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and senses something is wrong. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a sullen tone, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all vanquished. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart sank 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 finding the group, savagely teasing his prey and then leaving the victim unknown (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season