🔗 Share this article

The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The episode begins with the Spooks team locked down during a training exercise relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The suspense builds as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to decide between shooting them or letting them go and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. This being Spooks, his decision is predictable.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times due to the immense extent of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling that might cost his firm millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe it can’t get any worse, it worsens. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, permeated with worry. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize needing to deceive regarding the dog they unintentionally hit and following tries to eliminate it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

No other viewing has been as gripping than the first time I watched the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The episode starts with the aftermath of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and escalates to a高潮 with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy of the president’s MS diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to seek re-election. Superb programming. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He notices a Muslim female going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy enters her house to realize her mom has deceased from natural reasons, which is the most unusual type of death in this mystical program. 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 concluding moment of the last installment of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all vanquished. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. 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 parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It stops. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I stayed up to watch this episode at 2am. It was so intense following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season