Advertisement

5 shows that killed off most of their cast in one go

Photo credit: ABC
Photo credit: ABC

From Digital Spy

As Marvel fans will know, unceremoniously wiping out a whole cast of favourites is a powerful dramatic move.

It's been done before but mainly on the telly. Here, for your delectation, are five TV moments in which entire casts are wiped out in one fell swoop.

1. Blake's 7 (Series 4, Episode 9)

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

Back in the late '70s, sci-fi fans were hooked to the BBC's low budget version of Star Wars on Saturday afternoons. Blake's 7 followed the adventures of a group of freedom-fighters battling a corrupt Earth Federation, led by a pompous fella called Blake (Gareth Thomas).

For two series Blake and his ever-changing band of followers took on the wicked but beautiful Servalan, the Supreme Commander of the Federation, before Blake was killed off at the end of series two and his sidekick Avon (Paul Darrow) assumed the position for the remaining couple of seasons.

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

When the series was cancelled in 1981, producers dreamed up an ending that would linger in the minds of its devoted fans forever. The crew are reunited with Blake, who it turns out wasn't actually killed in season two, and is now masquerading as a bounty hunter. However, Avon doesn't realise that Blake is actually on their side and shoots him.

Suddenly, a squad of Federation soldiers burst into the room and start shooting the team one by one, leaving Avon standing alone by Blake's lifeless body. Then Avon raises the gun and as we cut to the closing credits we hear the gunshot.

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

The bleak ending divided fans, with many hating the shocking conclusion. Speaking about the notorious bloodbath, Paul Darrow said in a TV interview: "I wouldn't have written it this way. But it was very well done.

"I say to any one who is upset by the ending, at least it provoked a reaction. But I was still standing and Servalan wasn't in the episode. You could bring us back for another series."

There have been talks of rebooting the show back, but nothing definite has been decided.

2. Blackadder II ('Chains')

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

For two series of Richard Curtis and Ben Elton's historical and hysterical sitcom, Blackadder had audiences laughing themselves silly. After the first series, which focused on Prince Edmund 'The Black Adder' Plantagenet during the middle ages, series two focused on the life of Lord Edward Blackadder in the court of Elizabeth I.

After six episodes, which on average attracted around 10 million viewers, the series ended spectacularly with Hugh Laurie appearing as a lunatic German Prince who ended up killing off the whole court.

For the LOLs, obviously.

3. Blackadder Goes Forth ('Goodbyeee')

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

Yes, it is something of a habit. Series four of the brilliant sitcom took place in no man's land during the first world war. This time Edward was a captain desperately trying to escape the trenches and stay alive. But after six episodes of hilarity, viewers were left devastated by the final scene that saw Blackadder and his troops go over the top and get killed by enemy fire in slow motion before the screen fades to a poppy field.

Producer John Lloyd said in a documentary about the series that he wasn't happy with the original footage of the final scene because it just didn't work. But after a bit of techy manipulation – ie slowing down the footage and sound, and accompanying it with a pared-back version of the show's theme – the final scene proved to be the most emotional of the whole series.

Speaking of filming the final scenes, Hugh Laurie said: "It was immensely sad. Sad that these characters were going to die and that we were representing the deaths of many hundreds of thousands of people."

The episode won two BAFTAs.

4. Dynasty ('Royal Wedding')

Photo credit: CBS
Photo credit: CBS

Dynasty was the camp, glossy supersoap that focused on the bitter business and personal battles between super-rich oil tycoon Blake Carrington and his bitchy ex-wife Alexis Colby. Initially the show was perceived a flop when its first season failed to set the ratings alight. But once Joan Collins was cast as Alexis, ratings went through the roof and the series became the most talked-about show in the world.

By season five the show was at its most successful so producers decided to end the season with one hell of a cliffhanger. The final episode saw Blake and Alexis's daughter Amanda marrying Prince Michael of Moldavia. As the ceremony got underway, the guests, including all the regular cast, were unaware that terrorists were planning an assault.

Photo credit: ABC
Photo credit: ABC

When the vicar pronounced Michael and Amanda man and wife, terrorists burst into the church and started spraying the congregation with bullets, seemingly killing everyone one by one. The episode ended with the haunting image of the series regulars lifelessly lying on the ground as a church bell rang out sombrely.

Photo credit: ABC
Photo credit: ABC

The series finale notched up record viewing figures in the US and UK, with millions of viewers tuning into see which of their favourite characters would survive the bloodbath. It turned out that the cast were just as eager to find out who survived, as many of them were still negotiating their contracts.

"Aside from John Forsyth, Linda Evans and Joan Collins a bunch of us were up for renewal so part of the knowledge was a bunch of us weren't coming back," Michael Nader, who played Dex Dexter, told E! Hollywood Story.

Photo credit: ABC
Photo credit: ABC

Catherine Oxenberg, who played Amanda, recalled: "The producers would be walking around with this fake blood and dab it on various characters, depending on how the negotiations were doing and whether the characters were going to be written out of the show."

Photo credit: ABC
Photo credit: ABC

Joan Collins said she thought the cliffhanger was "very funny" while Gordon Thompson, who played Adam Carrington, said that while the massacre scene was "extraordinary", it was the opener of season six that was "the cheat" for viewers as we discovered that all the regular cast were alive and only two bit-part characters had met their maker .

5. Game of Thrones ('The Rains of Castamere')

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

If you thought the Dynasty massacre was tough, then you haven't seen the Red Wedding episode of Game of Thrones. As fans of the series will know, it's a brutal show that's never shy about killing off major characters. But in episode nine of series three, fans of the show were left dumbstruck as various characters were killed off out of the blue (unless of course you'd read the books).

In the episode, Robb Stark, king of the North, his mother, Lady Catelyn Stark, and his pregnant bride Talisa watch his uncle Edmure Tully marry one of Lord Walder Frey's daughters. After the ceremony, the guests are savagely slaughtered by Frey's men, as he and Robb's bannerman Lord Bolton have secretly taken the side of his enemies the Lannisters.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

In the chaos, Robb's pregnant wife is brutally stabbed in the stomach, and it's clear that no-one will leave alive. So to ensure his freedom, Robb's mother Catelyn threatens to cut Frey's wife's throat in order to stop the killing. As she begs her son to leave, he is brutally stabbed to death. Catelyn lets out a guttural scream and then slashes Frey's wife's throat before she too is murdered.

The scene left fans aghast, stunned by the massacre, but author of the books George RR Martin says he was pleased with the reactions.

"I like my fiction to be unpredictable. I like there to be considerable suspense," he said. "It's probably the most powerful scene in the books. It cost me some readers, but gained me many more.

"And in a TV show you get to know the actors. You're also ending that relationship with an actor that you have affection for. Richard Madden and Michelle Fairley have done an amazing job."

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Speaking about shooting the brutal scene, Richard Madden told Rolling Stone: "It was [a] really difficult day for everyone. There was lots of tears from many people, including myself.

"The way it happens: Robb Stark with his dead queen in his arms and her stomach ripped open and blood pumping out of that, his mother getting her throat slit... it was a really disturbing day."

Yes. Yes it was.


Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter account.

('You Might Also Like',)