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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The show kicks off with the intelligence unit restricted while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads from 1984

Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that were transmitted. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Episode five of the third series of Industry caused my heart to pound. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble professionally and personally – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound which may result in huge losses for his employer. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is brutally attacked. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it worsens. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. However, the Holiday episode includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves having to lie about the dog they unintentionally hit 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 can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense compared to my initial viewing the second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Excellent TV. Unequaled.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire heading to the toilet and knows something is off. The bomb squad is alerted, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the most unusual type of death in this mystical program. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a gloomy atmosphere, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all vanquished. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow stops the car. Tony sadly tells Carmela there’s trouble afoot with yet another of his crew collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It ceases. My heart sank 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 incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season