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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, supervised by two Home Office agents. As things progress, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, 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 potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. Given it’s Spooks, his decision is predictable.

The 1984 production Threads

The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Still absolutely terrifying decades on.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt from unscrupulous lenders owing to his uncontrollable gaming, assuming hazardous chances with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it does. There is a chance for salvation as the installment closes yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences in the season finale. Absolutely had to relax following that!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise the whole episode, filled with nervousness. The situation intensifies as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You then spend the rest of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can 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 show opens with the fallout of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s personal secretary and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the repercussions of the secrecy regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Superb programming. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train accompanied by his small 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 squad is alerted, enter the train, and try to persuade the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to a nearly intolerable level, until yes, the vest is diffused.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, 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 viewed it when it first premiered, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team working with the government. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It ceases. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show during the night. It was so intense after the establishment of antagonist Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season