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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The episode begins with the Spooks team restricted as part of a simulation concerning a fictional terrorist event, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as messages indicate a catastrophe taking place outside, and escalates 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 potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series that highlighted the truth and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show quite literally on the edge of my seat, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Episode five of the third series of Industry caused my heart to pound. I was compelled to halt and rise and leave the room several times because of the sheer scale of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, engaging in dangerous ventures with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode but he misses the opening, resulting in dreadful effects in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it’ll have you standing up the whole episode, permeated with worry. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and following tries to eliminate it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, 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 show opens with the fallout of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s private assistant and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Excellent TV. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The opening of the British series 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 entering the restroom and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, get on the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy arrives at her residence to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the least common kind of passing in this paranormal series. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding 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 vanquished. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart dropped from my mouth roughly 20 minutes after.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I remained awake to view this installment at 2am. It was incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (finished with an unresolved situation). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season