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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down during a training exercise about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The suspense builds as messages indicate a catastrophe taking place outside, and intensifies as the boss appears to be infected, with the two officials trying to exit, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. Given it’s Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads from 1984

Threads had minimal funding but arguably the most terrifying series I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and dismal official figures. Viewed it recently after seeing the first airing; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme that highlighted the truth and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Continuing to be utterly horrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The first season finale of Severance ranks highly in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion.

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 depart the area multiple times owing to the vast degree of the wanton self-destruction I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble 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. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it does. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday features such degrees of awkwardness that it’ll have you standing up throughout the entire episode, permeated with worry. The tension escalates when Jeremy and Mark realize having to lie about the dog they accidentally run over and later efforts to get rid of it. You then spend the rest of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it turns out to be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 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 demise (in a car crash) of the president’s confidential aide and escalates to a高潮 with a situation in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure about the president’s MS condition, 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 accompanied by his small son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female heading to the toilet and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Suspense rises to a nearly intolerable level, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this mystical program. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a sullen tone, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The 2007 The Sopranos finale Made in America

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 – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all vanquished. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow stops the car. Tony gloomily informs Carmela there’s trouble afoot with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. 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 looks up. Continue. It halts. My heart sank roughly 20 minutes after.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was extremely gripping after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then leaving the victim unknown (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season