🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the MI5 agents confined during a training exercise concerning a fictional terrorist event, monitored by two government representatives. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place with a chemical weapon released. The tension ratchets up as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads from 1984

The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I have ever watched due to its harsh realism and bleak government data. Watched it about a month ago after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub shown in the series which underscored the actuality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that were transmitted. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, straining every sinew with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that allowed the Innies to remain active, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Episode five of the third series of Industry caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, engaging in dangerous ventures with a bet on sterling which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe it can’t get any worse, it does. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it can cause you to stand for the full show, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense as when I first saw 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 escalates to a高潮 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.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train accompanied by his small son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The concluding moment of the last installment of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow stops the car. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with an additional associate cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Continue. It halts. My heart dropped from my mouth roughly 20 minutes after.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, mercilessly mocking his targets then not knowing who he killed (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season