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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The episode begins with the Spooks team restricted while undergoing a drill about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As things progress, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the government agents endeavor to depart, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, the outcome is expected.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I have viewed due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently having watched the original; I often attended the bar in Sheffield featured in the show that highlighted the truth and the offhand factual official statements that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying decades on.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The season one finale of Severance deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I was throughout the episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while shouting to the Innies to get their truths out there. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Installment five in Industry’s third series caused my heart to pound. I needed to stop and stand and leave the room several times due to the immense extent of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit professionally and personally – overwhelmed by debt from unscrupulous lenders due to his addictive betting, engaging in dangerous ventures with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Each instance you believe things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences during the season’s final episode. Definitely needed a lie-down after that!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it can cause you to stand the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they unintentionally hit and following tries to eliminate it. You then spend the rest of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it can be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

Nothing I have seen has been as tense 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 confidential aide and escalates to a高潮 involving a Haitian emergency, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Excellent TV. Unequaled.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train with his young son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He observes a woman in Islamic attire going into the loo and senses something is wrong. The bomb diffuser experts are called, get on the train, and try to persuade the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Anxiety builds to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy enters her house to realize her mom has deceased due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a somber mood, and we see the episode through the experience 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 show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all overcome. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family gathers in a diner. Meadow stops the car. Tony gloomily informs Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Stare 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. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It ceases. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan locating the survivors, savagely teasing his prey and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season