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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the Spooks team restricted during a training exercise concerning a fictional terrorist event, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The suspense builds as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and escalates when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, 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, the outcome is expected.

Threads (1984)

The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that were transmitted. Remaining completely frightening decades on.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The season one finale of Severance ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There’s hope of redemption as the installment closes but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. However, the Holiday episode features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding the dog they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of 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

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense than the first time I watched the second season finale of The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s personal secretary and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to seek re-election. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train with his young son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He spots a Muslim woman entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy enters her house to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this paranormal series. The show features no musical score, a sullen tone, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The final scene of the final episode 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, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela there’s trouble afoot with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Keep going. It halts. My spirit fell about 20 minutes later.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was so intense after the establishment of antagonist Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season