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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The episode begins with the Spooks team confined as part of a simulation about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads (1984)

Threads had minimal funding but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed because of the stark reality and bleak government data. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub from the programme that highlighted the truth and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The season one finale of Severance has to be right up there as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, exerting with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she’s alive!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Installment five in Industry’s third series made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the reckless self-harm I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures on a wager involving sterling which could lose his company millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation by the episode’s conclusion yet he wastes the chance, with horrifying consequences in the concluding part of the season. Absolutely had to relax following that!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You subsequently use the rest of the installment questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s private assistant and builds to a peak with a crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information of the president’s MS diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to pursue re-election. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and senses something is wrong. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, board the train, and endeavor to coax the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the least common kind of passing in this paranormal series. 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 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

The final scene of the final episode of the program was incredibly anxious. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, had all been defeated. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow stops the car. Tony sadly tells Carmela difficulties are arising with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks her car. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It halts. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I remained awake to view this installment in the early morning. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season