panic stations

British  

plural noun

1. informal a state of alarm; panicky reaction

   when he realized he'd lost the keys it was panic stations

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Example Sentences

"When you look at the way they're playing right now they're not the same team as last year. You can see the chemistry is not right at this present moment in this time - but they have plenty of time to get it right. It's not panic stations."

From BBC

"Everybody else was panic stations, but we still needed to win this game whether we beat France or not and we knew that," said Walsh.

From BBC

England was at panic stations and fortunate that Samoa’s next two tries were ruled out by the barest of margins.

From Washington Times

All of a sudden, it was panic stations.

From BBC

“It was panic stations . . . Steve was kicking doors down,” Scott laughed of his early-morning search for his clubs.

From Seattle Times