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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the Spooks team restricted as part of a simulation relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The suspense builds as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and intensifies when the leader seems contaminated, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, the outcome is expected.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series that highlighted the truth and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Remaining completely frightening decades on.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I spent the entire episode literally perched nervously, straining every sinew with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season caused my heart to pound. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the wanton self-destruction I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit in his job and domestic life – buried in financial obligations to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode features such degrees of awkwardness that it will make you rise the whole episode, permeated with worry. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and later efforts to get rid of it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense 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 personal secretary and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the fallout from the non-disclosure regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Excellent TV. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and knows something is off. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy comes into her home to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the rarest form of demise in this paranormal series. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a somber mood, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The final scene of the final episode of the program was incredibly anxious. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (finished with an unresolved situation). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season