🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The show kicks off with the Spooks team locked down as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place with a chemical weapon released. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a catastrophe taking place outside, and escalates when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being 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 having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that were transmitted. Continuing to be utterly horrifying 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The concluding高潮 – “she is living!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief from 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 due to the immense extent of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – overwhelmed by debt to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it worsens. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects in the season finale. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it will make you rise for the full show, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and following tries to eliminate 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

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense compared to my initial viewing 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 regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to seek re-election. Excellent TV. Unequaled.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train accompanied by his small son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He notices a Muslim female going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, enter the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, 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 rarest form of demise in this paranormal series. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience 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 if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Look at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow finds a spot. The door chimes, a person comes in. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I stayed up to watch this episode at 2am. It was extremely gripping following the introduction of villain Negan discovering the characters, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). 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