The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse
This installment starts with the intelligence unit confined during a training exercise concerning a fictional terrorist event, monitored by two government representatives. As events unfold, it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical agent deployed. The anxiety increases as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and escalates when the leader seems contaminated, and the government agents endeavor to depart, compelling the character played by Matthew Macfadyen to choose between firing at them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, his decision is predictable.
The 1984 production Threads
Threads had minimal funding but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen due to its harsh realism and grim official statistics. Saw it not long ago having watched the original; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield shown in the series which emphasised the reality and the casual, straightforward government details which was broadcast. Continuing to be utterly horrifying 35 years later.
Severance – The We We Are (2022)
The first season finale of Severance ranks highly among intense episodes. I remained for the whole show literally perched nervously, exerting with Dylan to maintain his grip on the controls that allowed the Innies to remain active, while screaming at the Innies to get their truths out there. The ultimate peak – “she survives!” – felt like an explosion.
Industry – White Mischief (2024)
Episode five of the third series of Industry made my pulse quicken. I was compelled to halt and rise and depart the area multiple times due to the immense extent of the wanton self-destruction I saw. Rishi Ramdani is in major difficulty at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to illegal creditors owing to his uncontrollable gaming, taking such risks with a gamble on the pound which could lose his company millions. Inevitably, he starts a gaming binge, uses copious drugs and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is severely assaulted. Whenever you assume the situation cannot deteriorate further, it does. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode yet he wastes the chance, resulting in dreadful effects during the season’s final episode. Certainly required a rest afterward!
The 2007 Peep Show episode Holiday
The series Peep Show isn’t typically anxiety-inducing. However, the Holiday episode contains such levels of cringe that it will make you rise throughout the entire episode, riddled with anxiety. The tension escalates as Jeremy and Mark discover needing to deceive regarding the dog they accidentally run over and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then occupy the remainder of the episode doubting if it can actually be more terrible than burning, and it is possible!
The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 2001
Nothing I have seen has been as tense as when I first saw the season two finale to 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 crisis in Haiti, and the effects of the withheld information about the president’s MS condition, along with affirmation of his plan to run for another term. Excellent TV. Unequaled.
Bodyguard – episode one (2018)
The start of the British program Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train accompanied by his small son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He observes a woman in Islamic attire entering the restroom and knows something is off. The explosive disposal specialists are summoned, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to discard her bomb jacket. Tension escalates to a practically unendurable point, until, indeed, the vest is disarmed.
The 2001 Buffy episode The Body
Buffy arrives at her residence to discover her mother has died of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The show features no musical score, a gloomy atmosphere, and we view the installment through the lens of Buffy’s dismay upon uncovering her mother.
The Sopranos – Made in America from 2007
The final scene of the final episode of the series was extremely nerve-wracking. And for those who saw it during its initial broadcast, you – at the start – didn’t understand the cause. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all overcome. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Think about the small elements.” Yet the atmosphere is strangely foreboding. Nearly Twin Peaks-like fear. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela problems are brewing with another member of his team cooperating with the officials. Meadow parks the vehicle. Unfamiliar individuals come into the diner. Gaze at Tony(?) Meadow continues to park. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The door chimes, a person comes in. It isn’t Meadow, she remains parking. Tony raises his gaze. Keep going. It halts. My spirit fell about 20 minutes later.
The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth from 2016
I stayed up to watch this episode in the early morning. It was so intense following the introduction of villain Negan finding the group, savagely teasing his prey and then keeping the death a mystery (ended on a cliffhanger). The point-of-view shot from the victim and the muffled sounds – argh! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season