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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

This installment starts with the intelligence unit locked down during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or permitting their exit 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 because of the stark reality and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which underscored the actuality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to get their truths out there. The concluding高潮 – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and depart the area multiple times due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – overwhelmed by debt to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures with a bet on sterling that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and experiences wins and losses, is brutally attacked. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. Redemption seems possible at the end of the episode but he misses the opening, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand for the full show, permeated with worry. It all ramps up once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it turns out to be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Wonderful television. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman entering the restroom and knows something is off. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s shock of discovering 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 watched it when it originally aired, 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? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela there’s trouble afoot with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I remained awake to view this installment in the early morning. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, mercilessly mocking his targets then not knowing who he killed (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season