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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the Spooks team confined as part of a simulation concerning a fictional terrorist event, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed because of the stark reality and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which underscored the actuality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that were transmitted. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to get their truths out there. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season made my pulse quicken. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly because of the sheer scale of the wanton self-destruction I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a bet on sterling which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Absolutely had to relax following that!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, permeated with worry. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize having to lie about 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 turns out to be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the second season finale of The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s personal secretary and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The opening of the British series 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 going into the loo and knows something is off. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, enter the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The final scene of the final episode of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow parks. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow finds a spot. The bell sounds, an individual enters. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It ceases. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (finished with an unresolved situation). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muted audio – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season