🔗 Share this article

The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The episode begins with the intelligence unit confined during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The tension ratchets up as messages indicate a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and intensifies as the boss appears to be infected, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or letting them go and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads (1984)

Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Watched it about a month ago having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show that highlighted the truth and the glib matter-of-fact official information that were transmitted. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The concluding高潮 – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I needed to stop and stand and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound that might cost his firm millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is severely assaulted. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes 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. However, the Holiday episode features such degrees of awkwardness that it will make you rise the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize needing to deceive regarding the dog 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 turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the second season finale of The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and escalates to a高潮 involving a Haitian emergency, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Superb programming. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, get on the train, and attempt to convince 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 (2001)

Buffy comes into her home to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the rarest form of demise in this paranormal series. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a sullen tone, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The final scene of the final episode of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all overcome. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow secures a parking space. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was so intense following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season