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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the MI5 agents confined while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, supervised by two Home Office agents. As the situation develops, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and escalates when the leader seems contaminated, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to decide between shooting them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, his decision is predictable.

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 after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series that highlighted the truth and the offhand factual official statements that were transmitted. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season has to be right up there in terms of gripping installments. I was throughout the episode literally perched nervously, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Installment five in Industry’s third series made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations from unscrupulous lenders owing to his uncontrollable gaming, engaging in dangerous ventures on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe it can’t get any worse, it does. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following that!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. However, the Holiday episode includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, permeated with worry. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize needing to deceive regarding the dog they by chance collide with and later efforts to get rid of it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, 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 show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s personal secretary and builds to a peak with a situation in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Superb programming. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The start of the British program Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Suspense rises to a nearly intolerable level, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased from natural reasons, which is the least common kind of passing in this paranormal series. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 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 – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela there’s trouble afoot with an additional associate cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)

I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (finished with an unresolved situation). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season