🔗 Share this article

The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The show kicks off with the MI5 agents confined while undergoing a drill relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads from 1984

The production was inexpensive yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Remaining completely frightening 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that allowed the Innies to remain active, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it worsens. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode but he misses the opening, with horrifying consequences in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit 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 can be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

No other viewing has been as gripping than the first time I watched the season two finale to 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 involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Wonderful television. Unequaled.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train accompanied by his small son, 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, enter the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to remove her explosive vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, 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 from natural reasons, which is the least common kind of passing in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a somber mood, and we view the installment through the lens 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 for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. 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. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It stops. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I stayed up to watch this episode at 2am. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, savagely teasing his prey then not knowing who he killed (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