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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

This installment starts with the MI5 agents locked down during a training exercise relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials. As things progress, it seems an actual attack has occurred with a chemical weapon released. The tension ratchets up as messages indicate a disaster happening externally, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads (1984)

Threads was low budget yet among the scariest shows I have ever watched due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Watched it about a month ago after seeing the first airing; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub featured in the show that highlighted the truth and the glib matter-of-fact official information which was broadcast. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.

The 2022 Severance episode The We We Are

The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The concluding高潮 – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times due to the immense extent of the wanton self-destruction I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – buried in financial obligations from unscrupulous lenders due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it does. There’s hope of redemption by the episode’s conclusion yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies when Jeremy and Mark realize needing to deceive regarding the dog they by chance collide with 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’ve watched has been more intense as when I first saw the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The installment begins with the consequences of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s personal secretary and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to pursue re-election. Superb programming. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, 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, get on the train, and try to persuade the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy arrives at her residence to realize her mom has deceased of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a gloomy atmosphere, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The concluding moment of the last installment of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate collaborating with the authorities. Meadow secures a parking space. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. 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 stops. My heart sank around 20 minutes subsequently.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I remained awake to view this installment at 2am. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan locating the survivors, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muted audio – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season