🔗 Share this article

Spooks – I Spy Apocalypse from 2003

The show kicks off with the MI5 agents restricted while undergoing a drill relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The anxiety increases as reports reveal a crisis unfolding beyond their walls, and escalates as the superior shows signs of exposure, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, pushing the protagonist portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, the outcome is expected.

The 1984 production Threads

Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I have ever watched due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Viewed it recently following the initial broadcast; I frequently went to the Sheffield pub from the programme which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details that aired. Remaining completely frightening after three and a half decades.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The first season finale of Severance has to be right up there in terms of gripping installments. I was throughout the episode literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that kept the Innies on overtime, while shouting to the Innies to reveal their realities. The ultimate peak – “she’s alive!” – resembled a outburst.

The 2024 Industry episode White Mischief

Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I needed to stop and stand and depart the area multiple times because of the sheer scale of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – overwhelmed by debt to illegal creditors because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound that might cost his firm millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and alternates between success and failure, gets beaten to a pulp. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it deteriorates. Redemption seems possible as the installment closes but he misses the opening, leading to terrible outcomes during the season’s final episode. Absolutely had to relax following that!

Peep Show – Holiday (2007)

The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it’ll have you standing up the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. The situation intensifies when Jeremy and Mark realize having to lie about the dog they unintentionally hit and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then spend the rest of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals (2001)

No other viewing has been as gripping as when I first saw the season two finale to The West Wing. The installment begins with the consequences of the passing (in a road incident) of the president’s private assistant and builds to a peak involving a Haitian emergency, and the effects of the withheld information regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Wonderful television. Unsurpassed.

Bodyguard – episode one from 2018

The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train accompanied by his small son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He notices a Muslim female entering the restroom and senses something is wrong. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Suspense rises to a practically unendurable point, until yes, the vest is diffused.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Body from 2001

Buffy comes into her home to find her mum has passed away due to natural factors, which is the least common kind of passing in this mystical program. The episode has no background music, a somber mood, and we witness the episode via the perspective of Buffy’s astonishment upon finding her mother.

The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007

The concluding moment of the last installment of the program was incredibly anxious. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s adversaries, actual and perceived, were all vanquished. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Recall the minor details.” However, the vibe is oddly threatening. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The clan sits in an eatery. Meadow finds a parking spot. Tony gloomily informs Carmela problems are brewing with yet another of his crew collaborating with the authorities. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Gaze 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 raises his gaze. Keep going. It ceases. My heart dropped from my mouth roughly 20 minutes after.

The 2016 The Walking Dead episode The Last Day on Earth

I kept late hours to see this show at 2am. It was incredibly tense following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (finished with an unresolved situation). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the subdued noises – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season