🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

The show kicks off with the intelligence unit locked down while undergoing a drill about a potential terror incident, supervised by two Home Office agents. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the government agents endeavor to depart, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, the outcome is expected.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads had minimal funding but one of the most frightening programmes I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield shown in the series 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 from 2022

The season one finale of Severance ranks highly among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, exerting with Dylan to hold the switches that allowed the Innies to remain active, while shouting to the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief from 2024

The fifth episode of Industry’s third season caused my heart to pound. I was compelled to halt and rise and exit the space repeatedly due to the immense extent of the reckless self-harm I observed. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a bet on sterling which may result in huge losses for his employer. Naturally, he embarks on a betting frenzy, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume it can’t get any worse, it worsens. There’s hope of redemption by the episode’s conclusion but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes in the season finale. 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 the whole episode, permeated with worry. It all ramps up when Jeremy and Mark realize being compelled to falsify about the canine they accidentally run over and following tries to eliminate it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it can be!

The 2001 The West Wing episode The Two Cathedrals

Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense compared to my initial viewing the second season finale of The West Wing. The show opens with the fallout of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s personal secretary and escalates to a高潮 with a situation in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information of the president’s MS diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim 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 accompanied by his small son, ranks among the most gripping episodes I’ve seen. He notices a Muslim female entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died due to natural factors, which is the rarest form of demise in this supernatural show. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a somber mood, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The final scene of the final episode of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow secures a parking space. Strange people enter the restaurant. Look at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. It cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony raises his gaze. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart sank about 20 minutes later.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I remained awake to view this installment at 2am. It was so intense following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, mercilessly mocking his targets then not knowing who he killed (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the muted audio – ugh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season