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The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down while undergoing a drill 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 agent deployed. The suspense builds as messages indicate a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or permitting their exit and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads (1984)

Threads was low budget yet among the scariest shows I’ve ever seen owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Watched it about a month ago after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield featured in the show that highlighted the truth and the glib matter-of-fact official information 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 among intense episodes. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while screaming at the Innies to reveal their realities. The concluding高潮 – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and leave the room several times owing to the vast degree 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 to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and experiences wins and losses, is severely assaulted. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand 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 subsequently use the rest of the installment wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and reaches a crescendo with a situation in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to seek re-election. Superb programming. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, featuring the main character on a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He notices a Muslim female entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, get on the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Tension escalates to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy arrives at her residence to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this paranormal series. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a sullen tone, and we view the installment through the lens 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 series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all overcome. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Recall the minor details.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony selects a song on the jukebox. Meadow parks her car. The bell sounds, an individual enters. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It stops. My spirit fell around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan locating the survivors, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (finished with an unresolved situation). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season