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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The episode begins with the Spooks team confined 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 with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as reports reveal a disaster happening externally, and escalates as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

The 1984 production Threads

The production was inexpensive yet among the scariest shows I have ever watched because of the stark reality and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Remaining completely frightening decades on.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season ranks highly among intense episodes. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it deteriorates. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Absolutely had to relax following 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 can cause you to stand for the full show, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

Nothing I have seen has been as tense compared to my initial viewing the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s personal secretary and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Wonderful television. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train accompanied by his small son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and knows something is off. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy arrives at her residence to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The final scene of the final episode 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 adversaries, actual and perceived, were all overcome. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew collaborating with the authorities. Meadow secures a parking space. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Keep going. It halts. My spirit fell about 20 minutes later.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, mercilessly mocking his targets and then leaving the victim unknown (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season