🔗 Share this article

The 2003 Spooks episode I Spy Apocalypse

This installment starts with the intelligence unit confined while undergoing a drill about a potential terror incident, overseen by two Home Office officials. As the situation develops, it seems an actual attack has occurred and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as messages indicate a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse when the leader seems contaminated, with the two officials trying to exit, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to opt for either shooting them or allowing them to leave and endangering the sterile MI5 environment. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses.

Threads (1984)

Threads was low budget but arguably the most terrifying series I have ever watched owing to its grim authenticity and bleak government data. Watched it about a month ago following the initial broadcast; I often attended the bar in Sheffield featured in the show which emphasised the reality and the offhand factual official statements which was broadcast. Remaining completely frightening 35 years later.

Severance – The We We Are from 2022

The concluding episode of Severance’s debut season deserves a top spot among intense episodes. I was throughout the episode literally perched nervously, pushing alongside Dylan to hold the switches that kept the Innies on overtime, while yelling at the Innies to reveal their realities. The final climactic moment – “she is living!” – resembled a outburst.

Industry – White Mischief (2024)

Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and exit the space repeatedly owing to the vast degree of the deliberate ruin I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani faces serious trouble at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks due to his addictive betting, taking such risks on a wager involving sterling that might cost his firm millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, consumes excessive substances and alcohol and wins, loses, wins, is brutally attacked. Whenever you assume things cannot decline more, it worsens. Redemption seems possible by the episode’s conclusion but he squanders the opportunity, 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 can cause you to stand the whole episode, filled with nervousness. It all ramps up as Jeremy and Mark discover being compelled to falsify about the canine they by chance collide with and later efforts to get rid of it. You then spend the rest of the episode wondering if it might be more awful than cremation, and it can be!

The West Wing – The Two Cathedrals from 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 passing (in a road incident) of the president’s confidential aide and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the repercussions of the secrecy regarding the president’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis, coupled with verification of his aim to run for another term. Superb programming. Never bettered.

The 2018 Bodyguard premiere episode

The beginning of the UK show Bodyguard, with the hero aboard a train accompanied by his small son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman going into the loo and realizes something is amiss. The bomb squad is alerted, get on the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Anxiety builds to a nearly intolerable level, until yes, the vest is diffused.

The 2001 Buffy episode The Body

Buffy comes into her home to realize her mom has deceased of natural causes, which is the least common kind of passing in this paranormal series. The installment lacks any soundtrack, a sullen tone, and we view the installment through the lens 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. This seems similar to the first season’s finale, right? “Think about the small elements.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Approaching Twin Peaks-esque horror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow stops the car. Tony sorrowfully notifies Carmela difficulties are arising with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks the vehicle. Odd persons arrive at the eatery. Look at Tony(?) Meadow is parking. Tony plays a track on the music machine. Meadow parks her car. The door chimes, a person comes in. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony glances upward. Don’t stop. It ceases. My spirit fell roughly 20 minutes after.

The Walking Dead – The Last Day on Earth (2016)

I kept late hours to see this show in the early morning. It was extremely gripping after the establishment of antagonist Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims and then keeping the death a mystery (finished with an unresolved situation). The victim’s POV shot and the muffled sounds – oh no! {We then had to wait for season seven|We then needed to await season