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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

This installment starts with the Spooks team restricted during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, 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 allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. Given it’s Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads (1984)

Threads had minimal funding yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Saw it not long ago having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub from the programme which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there in terms of gripping installments. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, exerting with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season caused my heart to pound. I was compelled to halt and rise and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit in his job and domestic life – overwhelmed by debt to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and alternates between success and failure, is brutally attacked. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it does. There’s hope of redemption as the installment closes yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, permeated with worry. The tension escalates once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then spend the rest of the episode 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 installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and escalates to a高潮 with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information of the president’s MS diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to seek re-election. Excellent TV. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train with his young son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He spots a Muslim woman going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Tension escalates to a nearly intolerable level, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the most unusual type of death in this mystical program. The show features no musical score, a somber mood, 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 program was incredibly anxious. 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. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks the vehicle. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Continue. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I remained awake to view this installment in the early morning. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, mercilessly mocking his targets and then keeping the death a mystery (finished with an unresolved situation). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season