🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the intelligence unit confined while undergoing a drill relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the government agents endeavor to depart, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to decide between shooting them or allowing them to leave and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

The 1984 production Threads

The production was inexpensive but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed due to its harsh realism and bleak government data. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield shown in the series which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The first season finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she survives!” – was like an eruption.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season caused my heart to pound. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit in his job and domestic life – up to his eyeballs in debt from unscrupulous lenders due to his addictive betting, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling which could lose his company millions. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, does tons of drugs and drink and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it worsens. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up 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 wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it turns out to be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

No other viewing has been as gripping compared to my initial viewing the season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Wonderful television. Never bettered.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire heading to the toilet and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and try to persuade the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Tension escalates to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

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 installment lacks any soundtrack, a gloomy atmosphere, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America (2007)

The ultimate sequence of the series finale of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, had all been defeated. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sadly tells Carmela there’s trouble afoot with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Continue. It ceases. My heart dropped from my mouth roughly 20 minutes after.

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 after the buildup of bad guy Negan discovering the characters, savagely teasing his prey then not knowing who he killed (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the subdued noises – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season