The 10 most shocking deaths of a television character of all time
WHEN a popular television character dies, it can either give new life to the show — or deliver it a killer blow. Do you agree with our 10 most shocking TV character deaths? Have your say.
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WHEN a popular television character dies, it can either give new life to the show — or deliver it a killer blow.
Fans of The Walking Dead are divided over just this subject with news that the lead actor Andrew Lincoln will leave, thus triggering the death of the beloved Rick Grimes.
Contrast this with last season’s Game Of Thrones, which had fans rejoicing when treacherous schemer Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish met his end last season. Then again, GoT fans haven’t had much to celebrate over seeing their favourites killed off.
Character deaths can make us cry or make us cheer but the right death, delivered at the right moment, can etch a show forever in our minds. It is something that can even unite us in its emotion.
So, here are the 10 most dramatic TV deaths.
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10. JON SNOW
Game of Thrones
The second half of 2015 and the first few months of 2016 were devoted to one question — was Jon Snow really dead? We saw his character stabbed to death at the end of season five and it was a long, long wait until May 2016 when he opened his eyes and sat up, having been brought back to life. For the first time the TV series had moved beyond George RR Martin’s books, so fans truly did not know.
Actor Kit Harington had his haircut analysed — if Jon really was dead, surely Kit would have cut his hair? Furious debates raged back and forth across the internet between those sure he was dead and those trying to find a way he could survive. Nothing was too ridiculous to be theorised about. Even Apple’s Suri function had to be given an answer to the question: Is Jon Snow dead? If he had stayed dead, this would surely be number one on our list. But he came back to life, so it wasn’t a true death, more just a bit of a nap.
9. MARISSA COOPER
The OC
The death of Marissa at the end of season three polarised the show’s fans. Everyone was shocked, because she wasn’t a minor character; she was one of the four main actors. And this was a show about rich teenagers — and everyone knows nothing really bad happens to them.
She also died in the arms of Ryan, the boy she loved. Some fans rejoiced because they didn’t like her. Others bombarded the show’s creators with angry emails, as well as artwork. It also sent the show spiralling in a completely different direction for its fourth and final season, where Marissa returned as a ghost and characters entered alternate universes. Many fans felt something similar had happened to them.
8. Shane Parish
Home and Away
Neighbours had Scott and Charlene in the 1980s; Home And Away had Shane and Angel in the 1990s. Dieter Brummer and Melissa George were the most-loved young couple on television during that time and still rate as Home And Away’s most popular pair.
George apparently doesn’t like to be reminded of how big she was on this show but most of Australia was in tears when Shane (Dieter Brummer) died in her arms. Admittedly dying from blood poisoning caused by a rusty nail from the house they were renovating doesn’t have quite the impact of a car crash but picnics on a clifftop will never be the same. Sadly, his death song, Throw Your Arms Around Me by Hunters And Collectors, has recently been ruined by that bizarre TV advertisement for NRMA.
7. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd
Grey’s Anatomy
Patrick Dempsey spent 11 seasons smouldering away furiously on this medical drama.
He and main character Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) enjoy a drama-filled marriage (is there any other type on these shows?) and nearly break up several times before realising that their love is more powerful than any desire to save lives or improve the world. That’s something we can only aspire to. Sadly, while she is pregnant with their third child, he is killed in a car crash. Many fans only just survived the floods of tears that followed.
6. Glen Rhee
The Walking Dead
The great season six cliffhanger left us all asking which of our favourite characters had been killed. Fans were afraid for Glenn, who was one of the show’s few originals left alive, as the comics that form the basis for the TV show killed him off at this point.
Sadly, that proved to be true — despite Abraham actually dying first. Not only was Glenn dead but the way he died was truly horrible and graphic. Instantly fans were plunged into depression and the show also took a tumble. That season six cliffhanger was a high point but ratings have been falling ever since. In many ways, people feel the end of Glenn dealt the show a mortal blow, one from which it can never recover.
5. Maggie Doyle
Blue Heelers
Through the second half of the 1990s, anyone wanting to win a Gold Logie had to wait behind Lisa McCune as she won four years in a row, from 1997-2000. Blue Heelers was compulsory viewing and she was its star, also taking home Silver Logies for Best Actress from 1995 to 1999.
Then she died in a hail of bullets, lingering just long enough to gasp out her last breath in the arms of her balding love interest PJ (Martin Sacks), a man punching massively above his weight. Not only did Blue Heelers die without her but her TV career also gasped out its last. Instead she has switched to musical theatre. She’s brilliant on the stage but it’s different to those years when she was the biggest thing on Australian TV.
4. Patrick Reid
Offspring
What is it about hunky television doctors and car crashes? It must be like their Kryptonite. Poor Dr Reid carked it so actor Matt Le Nevez could have a crack at Hollywood. Don’t they ever think of the fictional children they leave behind?
Nina Proudman (Asher Keddie) was left to soldier on alone. Well, until a new love interest or two was cast. Twitter went berserk over his death, with NSW Police even tweeting that, reluctantly, they couldn’t arrest anyone at Channel 10 over Patrick’s death. Websites went ballistic and tissue sales were through the roof. It was that big.
3. Colonel Henry Blake
MASH
Back in 1975, this comedy-drama shocked its audience by killing off the beloved commanding officer. What was thought to be a safe, happy trip home for Henry Blake turned tragic when his plane was shot down.
This was such a big event it even inspired an urban myth that the cast did not know Blake was to be killed and their reaction was genuine shock and grief. That was false and I’m not sure what it says about the acting skills of Alan Alda, Loretta Swit and the others. War is full of senseless death and MASH made this point beautifully in this way.
2. Molly Jones
A Country Practice
This is still rated as the saddest scene in Australian television history and was watched by an astonishing 2.2 million people in 1984. In a population of just 15 million, that is incredible. Molly (played by Anne Tenney) battled leukaemia for 10 weeks before slipping away.
The scene itself was brilliant, being filmed from her point of view as she watched her husband and daughter play with a kite. As the camera slowly faded, the last thing we saw was them running towards her. Still the yardstick by which all Aussie soap deaths are judged.
1. Eddard “Ned” Stark
Game of Thrones
When it began, Game Of Thrones was supposed to be a cult hit, at best. Between the swords, armour and bags of boobs being waved around in every episode, it was obviously aimed at nerds, right? Still, it had Sean Bean as the star and he was worth watching.
Until he had his head cut off in episode nine. Instantly, everything changed. We all knew where this show was going up until this point. Then Ned Stark dies and we are in a very different place. What was mere escapist fare became compulsory viewing. Many of the other shows never hit the same heights they enjoyed before their pivotal death. Game Of Thrones came to life after Ned Stark was beheaded. Now it is the biggest TV show in the world and the final season will set viewing records. Not bad for one swing of a sword.
The outpouring of grief at the death of a fictional character can seem extraordinary to people who do not watch the show. But why does it affect us so much?
Macquarie University’s senior lecturer in media studies Dr Anthony Lambert said that we willingly invest time and emotional attachment in fictional characters and there is a definite sense of loss when and if they die.
“The grief is palpable,” Dr Lambert said.
“Firstly we have invested in them. Secondly they also teach us something about death — a moral lesson, if you will.
“We are reminded through big people on the television that death is a part of life.”
Characters who almost made the list
1. Maude Flanders from The Simpsons
2. John Locke from Lost
3. Dan Conner from Roseanne
4. Susan (George’s fiancee) from Seinfeld
5. Bobby Simpson from Home and Away
He vividly remembers the death of Molly in A Country Practice and seeing his mother in tears. “It was a huge moment and everyone was talking about it,” he said.
It can also be seen as the death of a particular character archetype, as Molly was the stay-at-home mum and 1980s society was changing beyond that, he said.
The death of Ned Stark in Game Of Thrones was also huge.
“You do expect death on Game Of Thrones but violence visited upon someone you care about becomes more powerful,” he said.
With that in mind, we look at our 10 most dramatic TV deaths.