🔗 Share this article

The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The show kicks off with the intelligence unit restricted 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 agent deployed. The suspense builds as messages indicate a catastrophe taking place outside, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. Given it’s Spooks, his decision is predictable.

The 1984 production Threads

The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme that highlighted the truth and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening decades on.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The season one finale of Severance ranks highly among intense episodes. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to reveal their realities. The concluding高潮 – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I needed to stop and stand and exit the space repeatedly because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it does. 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!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit 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 can be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout 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 about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to seek re-election. Excellent TV. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female heading to the toilet and knows something is off. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, get on the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the least common kind of passing in this paranormal series. The show features no musical score, a sullen tone, 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 – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all vanquished. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Think about the small elements.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony looks up. Keep going. It halts. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

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

I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was so intense following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season