🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse (2003)

This installment starts with the Spooks team locked down while undergoing a drill concerning a fictional terrorist event, overseen by two Home Office officials. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack with a chemical weapon released. The suspense builds as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates as the boss appears to be infected, with the two officials trying to exit, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or permitting their exit and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. As this is Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads from 1984

The production was inexpensive but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen because of the stark reality and grim official statistics. Saw it not long ago after seeing the first airing; I often attended the bar in Sheffield from the programme which underscored the actuality and the offhand factual official statements that were transmitted. Still absolutely terrifying after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are (2022)

The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there in terms of gripping installments. I remained for the whole show actually sitting tensely, straining every sinew with Dylan to hold the switches that sustained the Innies’ extended time, while screaming at the Innies to get their truths out there. The concluding高潮 – “she’s alive!” – resembled a outburst.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the reckless self-harm I observed. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, assuming hazardous chances on a wager involving sterling which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, does tons of drugs and drink and experiences wins and losses, is brutally attacked. Every time you think things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. There is a chance for salvation by the episode’s conclusion yet he wastes the chance, resulting in dreadful effects during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!

Peep Show – Holiday from 2007

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday includes such amounts of embarrassment that it will make you rise the whole episode, permeated with worry. The situation intensifies as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding the dog they by chance collide with and following tries to eliminate it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw 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 private assistant and escalates to a高潮 with a situation in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to seek re-election. Superb programming. Unsurpassed.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train alongside his juvenile boy, is personally a top tense installment. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and realizes something is amiss. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and try to persuade the woman to remove her explosive vest. Anxiety builds to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body (2001)

Buffy enters her house to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the least common kind of passing in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding 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 if you viewed it when it first premiered, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s foes, genuine and fictional, were all overcome. Doesn’t this resemble the season one conclusion? “Remember the little things.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with an additional associate working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Strange people enter the restaurant. 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 cannot be Meadow, she is still parking. Tony looks up. Continue. It ceases. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016

I stayed up to watch this episode during the night. It was extremely gripping after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, savagely teasing his prey and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The first-person perspective of the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season