🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The episode begins with the Spooks team restricted during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The first season finale of Severance ranks highly among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode literally perched nervously, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The concluding高潮 – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – overwhelmed by debt from unscrupulous lenders because of his compulsive gambling, engaging in dangerous ventures on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it worsens. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes but he misses the opening, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then occupy the remainder 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’ve watched has been more intense compared to my initial viewing 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 private assistant and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Excellent TV. Unsurpassed.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

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 heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, enter the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy comes into her home to discover her mother has died from natural reasons, which is the least common kind of passing in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a sullen tone, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the program was incredibly anxious. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all vanquished. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony looks up. Keep going. It stops. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)

I remained awake to view this installment 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 point-of-view shot from the victim and the subdued noises – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season