🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The show kicks off with the Spooks team confined during a training exercise relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, monitored by two government representatives. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as messages indicate a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and intensifies when the leader seems contaminated, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to decide between shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Saw it not long ago following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that were transmitted. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.

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, straining every sinew with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to get their truths out there. The concluding高潮 – “she’s alive!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the wanton self-destruction I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations to illegal creditors due to his addictive betting, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling which could lose his company millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is brutally attacked. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe 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 unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it is possible!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

Nothing I have seen has been as tense 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 confidential aide and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Excellent TV. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He notices a Muslim female entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, board 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 arrives at her residence to realize her mom has deceased from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony looks up. Keep going. It ceases. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I stayed up to watch this episode 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 point-of-view shot from the victim and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season