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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the MI5 agents restricted while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, 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 reports reveal a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or letting them go and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads had minimal funding but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme that highlighted the truth and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot among intense episodes. I was throughout the episode literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt to loan sharks because of his compulsive gambling, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand for the full show, permeated with worry. The situation intensifies as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over and following tries to eliminate it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s personal secretary and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Excellent TV. Unsurpassed.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 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 supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a somber mood, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

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 enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow stops the car. Tony sadly tells Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. 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 raises his gaze. Keep going. It stops. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, mercilessly mocking his targets then not knowing who he killed (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The victim’s POV shot and the muffled sounds – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season