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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The episode begins with the MI5 agents confined as part of a simulation relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, supervised by two Home Office agents. As things progress, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and escalates as the boss appears to be infected, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to decide between shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads from 1984

The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I have ever watched due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Saw it not long ago following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements that were transmitted. Continuing to be utterly horrifying 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The season one finale of Severance ranks highly among intense episodes. 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 sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The concluding高潮 – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

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 deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt from unscrupulous lenders owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, 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. Absolutely had to relax following that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. The tension escalates as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then spend the rest of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to run for another term. Superb programming. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train with his young son, is personally a top tense installment. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide 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 due to natural factors, which is the least common kind of passing in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding 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 viewed it when it first premiered, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Continue. It ceases. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was so intense following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season