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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down during a training exercise relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads (1984)

Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield featured in the show that highlighted the truth and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Remaining completely frightening decades on.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that allowed the Innies to remain active, while shouting to the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt from unscrupulous lenders due to his addictive betting, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound 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 wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up for the full show, permeated with worry. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves having to lie about the dog 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 is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense as when I first saw the second season finale of The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s personal secretary and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Unsurpassed.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train alongside his juvenile boy, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He observes a woman in Islamic attire heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to remove her explosive vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy enters her house to realize her mom has deceased of natural causes, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The concluding moment of the last installment of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Continue. It ceases. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.

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

I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was so intense after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (finished with an unresolved situation). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season