Tissues at the ready! This two part feature lists our top 20 saddest moments in TV. Prepare to bawl your face off at the scenes you tried so hard to repress. Warning – it’s pretty spoiler heavy.
(Sorry about the sappy music videos for some of these. They were the best I could find - Ed.)
Sherlock Holmes has been confronted by Moriarty, and informs Sherlock that unless he jumps from the roof of St Bart’s, snipers will murder everyone he loves. That’s pretty brutal. Sherlock, of course, does the right thing and takes the leap as Dr. Watson looks on, helpless.
Anyone who has read the books at this point wouldn’t have found this quite as sad, knowing that Sherlock would eventually resurface. But for John Watson, the moment he realises his friend is dead is one of the most painful things to witness.
In the season two finale, Angel has lost his soul after experiencing a moment of ‘true happiness’ with Buffy. In order to save the world, Buffy must kill him. But not before Willow’s spell brings his soul back long enough for him to tell Buffy he loves her.
The Doctor is haunted by a spectre of his wife, River Song; a spectre no one else can see. She talks to him incessantly through the episode and he ignores her, up until this moment.
“I thought it would hurt too much” – Oh Doctor, you were so right. It hurts us, too.
A tornado has torn through Wisteria Lane, leaving devastation at every turn. There are a lot of gut-wrenching Desperate Housewives moments, but Lynette Scavo and Karen McCluskey surfacing after the storm to find Karen’s house in ruins, knowing that the entire Scavo family are inside with Ida, Karen’s best friend, is probably the worst of the lot. Watching as Lynette’s family are pulled out one by one is a moment of relief before realising that Ida isn’t coming out. And when we later learn that Ida sacrificed herself to save the Scavo boys’ lives, it just gets so much worse.
After several seasons of Lucas not having a father, he is adopted by Keith who loves him as his own. It’s a beautiful relationship, hearts warm all round. So of course, in true American drama style, our hearts are broken along with Lucas’ after Keith is murdered during a school shooting, and Lucas is the one to find him.
Dexter considers himself a psychopath incapable of love. But when he returns home to find his wife murdered by the killer he’s pursuing, this claim takes on a different light.
Right from episode one, we all love Rita, and losing her is so sudden and unexpected in the episode that the pure shock of the thing is enough to bring us to tears.
The worst thing about sad moments in comedy series’ is that they’re so unexpected. So when Laverne is hit by a car in Scrubs, it was a shock, but many people expected her to live. But it wasn’t gonna go down that way. She was declared brain dead, and taken off life support. But she did stick around just long enough for Carla, who had been in denial for the majority of the episode, to come and say goodbye in this completely heart destroying scene.
It was bad enough when Jesse woke up to find the first woman he’d ever loved dead from a heroin overdose without any idea that Walt could have saved her. But anyone who can hold themselves together whilst watching him repeatedly call her phone to hear her voice on the voicemail is a complete emotionless zombie, and probably has no soul.
After an entire six year run of the show, we’ve seen Carrie and Big repeatedly miss their chance with each other, and accepted the fact that they’re each other’s lobsters, and yet here we are, finale time, and she’s moving to Paris with another man.
Big finally realises he doesn’t want anyone else and rushes to tell her, resulting in one of the most devastating break up scenes in history.
“You can drive down this street all you want, coz I don’t live here anymore”
Probably the cruellest moment on this list is this entire episode. Hilde has recently rekindled her relationship with her son’s father, Santos. He proposes, the wedding is planned, all is going well. In the season finale, Santos is shot in a store robbery. We see Hilda finding out, and it’s awful. But not as awful as the first episode of the new season.
Hilde and Santos are locked in Hilde’s room with all of the wedding gifts. He’s bandaged up and she is refusing to let him leave. The real devastation sets in when we realise it's all in her head. He died from the gunshot wound, and refuses to accept it.
What do you think of our choices so far?
Which moments make your eyes a little moist?
Let us know in the comments!