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Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The show kicks off with the Spooks team restricted while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, supervised by two Home Office agents. As things progress, it becomes clear a real incident has taken place and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a disaster happening externally, and intensifies as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, his decision is predictable.

Threads from 1984

Threads was low budget yet among the scariest shows I have viewed 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 from the programme which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information that aired. Remaining completely frightening 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot as a tense chapter. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, pushing alongside Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that allowed the Innies to remain active, while screaming at the Innies to disclose their facts. The ultimate peak – “she is living!” – felt like an explosion.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Installment five in Industry’s third series had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I saw. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – buried in financial obligations to loan sharks owing to his uncontrollable gaming, engaging in dangerous ventures on a wager involving sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it worsens. There is a chance for salvation at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, resulting in dreadful effects in the concluding part of the season. Certainly required a rest afterward!

The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday

Peep Show is not inherently a tense series. Yet the installment Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it’ll have you standing up the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies once Jeremy and Mark find themselves needing to deceive regarding the dog they by chance collide with and later efforts to get rid of it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it is possible!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

No other viewing has been as gripping compared to my initial viewing the concluding episode of The West Wing’s second season. The episode starts with the aftermath of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, with confirmation of his intention to run for another term. Superb programming. 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 spots a Muslim woman heading to the toilet and senses something is wrong. The bomb squad is alerted, board the train, and try to persuade the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until, finally, the vest is neutralized.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy arrives at her residence to discover her mother has died from natural reasons, which is the rarest form of demise in this paranormal series. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a gloomy atmosphere, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The concluding moment of the last installment of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – initially – were uncertain of the reason. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, had all been defeated. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “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 sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew collaborating with the authorities. Meadow secures a parking space. 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 rings, someone enters the restaurant. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Keep going. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth around 20 minutes subsequently.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I remained awake to view this installment in the early morning. It was incredibly tense after the establishment of antagonist Negan finding the group, mercilessly mocking his targets then not knowing who he killed (concluded with a suspenseful moment). The first-person perspective of the victim and the subdued noises – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season