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What's your most upsetting tv death?

999 replies

MrsSteveMcDonald · 23/04/2021 18:38

Just watching Bones for the first time and absolutely gutted about Sweets which made me wonder which other tv deaths have upset MNers.

Lots of potential for spoilers here so apologies in advance.

OP posts:
ThorFull · 23/04/2021 20:39

Someone mentioned Oberyn in GOT. Yes, that was truly gruesome.
And Glenn in TWD.
Something about not having their bodies to tend to and bury. For their loved ones- they were gone, but also destroyed.

Oh Daniel in Years and years broke my heart. That was filmed so well.

I’m watching OITNB but might stop, I don’t think I can bear to watch Poussay die.

In ER when Dr Carter was stabbed and he fell to the floor and saw Lucy (?) across the other side of the bed, had already been stabbed and was dying. That stayed with me. She was terrified.

ByTheStarryNight · 23/04/2021 20:40

Sally Fletcher's husband in Home and Away, mid 1990s. I was a hormonal teenager. He died of melanoma. Put me off sunbathing, so the storyline was effective. My DH had a melanoma years later and thankfully is still here to tell the tale.

CityCommuter · 23/04/2021 20:40

@ThreeLadsPointingAtAStar yes you're right it was Oxford - have no idea why I typed Cambridge!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

TV
Youhavetoquitwhileyoureahead · 23/04/2021 20:41

Came on to the thread to see if anyone had mentioned Sybil in Downton Abbey - I see there have been a few references to that. Found it so shocking that I was almost expecting an 'if you have been affected by anything in this programme' phone number at the end of the episode.

Also Tracy (the mother) in How I Met Your Mother. Disagreed vehemently with that, for a number of reasons!

Stroopwaffle5000 · 23/04/2021 20:41

George, Grey's Anatomy

Arrowheart · 23/04/2021 20:41

Lane Pryce in Mad Men
Cassie in Unforgotten
And

Pierre Clemment in Spiral (that one really got to me)

Pushingnic · 23/04/2021 20:42

Seen it mentioned a few times but definitely George in greys anatomy! So unexpected came from nowhere! Also Denny from greys anatomy! All the deaths from greys anatomy lol but George was deffo the most schocking!

Icantreachthepretzels · 23/04/2021 20:42

Amazing how many have said Joyce's death in 'The Body' when Buffy is largely forgotten these days. Its a powerful piece of TV and still makes me feel choked/sick thinking about it 'Mom! MOM!.... Mommy?...'

Judging by the sheer number of Buffy reactors on Youtube, and the amount of fanfic being published and the busyness of the forums still dedicated to it ... it's safe to say Buffy is not forgotten.

Saddest death I've ever seen is Wesley's on Angel. I don't even like him as a character, but he got the best death scene in the whole Buffyverse. I can't even think of the words 'do you want me to lie to you now?' without bawling.

Scout2016 · 23/04/2021 20:42

@CityCommuter have you read Sheila Hancock's book, The Two Of Us? I'm not one for celebrity memoirs normally but that one's good if you have an affection for them. I remember reading in the paper John Thaw was ill, really clearly who I was with and where and how unexpectedly sad I felt.

Frokkolini · 23/04/2021 20:42

The most poignant for me was Snoop in Series 5 of The Wire. I still think about that death and all my Wire fan friends put it as the most significant too- next to Wallace of course.

Glen in TWD I stopped watching after that tbh

Adriana in The Sopranos

Arrowheart · 23/04/2021 20:43

Henry Blake in Mash. Blimey, I cried and cried.

BigBadBoom · 23/04/2021 20:43

Lori in the Walking Dead - she was SO annoying, but what an awful, awful traumatic death ☹️ Grey's Anatomy is a bloodbath, but I think Mark Sloan got me the worst as I didn't see it coming. Colin in It's a Sin, and Russell Tovey in Years and Years. And Hooper's daughter in Stranger Things - it was a flashback but I bawled and bawled.

MorganSeventh · 23/04/2021 20:43

I remember, I watched the first episode of Spooks, missed the second one: 2002, so back when you used to have to remember to set the video. Went into work to hear everyone talking about a woman being killed in a deep fat fryer, and decided not to watch it again in case something else like that happened. So that was 10 series I noped out of. I realise they were going for the deliberately shocking 'anyone can die' vibe, and it obviously worked, in that almost 20 yrs on people still talk about it, but it's just not what I consider as entertainment.

BagORats · 23/04/2021 20:45

My worst was Missy in Ackley Bridge. So unexpected, I was bawling for hours.

My cousin was making me watch an Australian TV show called Dance Academy with her - one of the group dies, and watching his friends finding out and struggling come to terms with it is really bloody harrowing considering the age its aimed at (teens). My cousin got over it pretty fast but I wouldn't be able to watch it again!

kwiksavenofrillsusername · 23/04/2021 20:45

@Arrowheart

Lane Pryce in Mad Men Cassie in Unforgotten And

Pierre Clemment in Spiral (that one really got to me)

Lane was such an upsetting death. I hated when he broke his glasses.

Will from the Good Wife. Came out of nowhere. I think they handled showing Alicia’s grief very well.

time4areboot · 23/04/2021 20:46

Poussey - Orange is the New Black

Icantreachthepretzels · 23/04/2021 20:46

Adding my yes to Josh's ENTIRE family in Casualty in the late 90s. I never watched it again!

Oh god that was sad - I remember the doctor (maybe the one Charlie was married to) saying she didn't know what to say to Josh - she couldn't tell him they wouldn't have suffered because he would know that wasn't true.

I'm welling up just thinking about it.

WinterIsGone · 23/04/2021 20:46

The otter in Ring of Bright Water... I was totally traumatised as a child.

BlowDryRat · 23/04/2021 20:47

Sybil in Downton Abbey.

Going back a bit, Helen in Spooks Shock

mumsiedarlingrevolta · 23/04/2021 20:47

@ChequerBoard

Rachel in the original series of Cold Feet.

Much imitation by other programmes since, but at the time it was a truly shocking, sudden and unexpected death of a main character in a very successful series.

I was just going to post the same.

Agree re imitation- for example Matthew in DA-which I would also include but Rachel def the first absolutely shocking one

ScrambledEggForBrains · 23/04/2021 20:47

Glen in The Walking Dead

Pebbledashery · 23/04/2021 20:48

Hayley from Corrie had my eyes absolutely streaming. Shaki in eastenders.. His funeral had me sobbing.

WinterIsGone · 23/04/2021 20:48

I remember, I watched the first episode of Spooks, missed the second one: 2002, so back when you used to have to remember to set the video. Went into work to hear everyone talking about a woman being killed in a deep fat fryer, and decided not to watch it again in case something else like that happened.
Actually, I was totally traumatised after that as well. Smile

PuppyMonkey · 23/04/2021 20:49

I think for the shock value, Will in The Good Wife is hard to beat as it was so unexpected and out of the ordinary - he wasn’t a drug dealer or ill or in an alternative time zone or a policeman etc. He was just doing his thing in court and then suddenly - Sad

tobee · 23/04/2021 20:49

Sonia in neighbours springs to mind.