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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

The show kicks off with the Spooks team confined while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The suspense builds as messages indicate a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and potentially infecting the secure MI5 headquarters. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I have viewed due to its harsh realism and bleak government data. 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 casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, does tons of drugs and drink and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think the situation cannot deteriorate further, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation by the episode’s conclusion yet he wastes the chance, leading to terrible outcomes 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’ll have you standing up the whole episode, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I have seen has been as tense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the demise (in a car crash) of the president’s confidential aide and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Excellent TV. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one (2018)

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is personally a top tense installment. He spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, 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 final scene of the final episode of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow stops the car. Tony gloomily informs Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The door chimes, a person comes in. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It stops. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

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

I remained awake to view this installment at 2am. It was incredibly tense after the buildup of bad guy Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season