Sob stories
The Cold Feet car crash – 2003
In that classic “hit them when they’re happy” one-two blow which emotionally ruins viewers, Adam and Rachel, played by James Nesbitt and Helen Baxendale, learned they’d finally got the house they wanted before tragedy struck.
Adam told Rachel the happy house news on the phone while she was driving, so maybe we should have had a clue what was coming next. Especially as she unexpectedly told him: “Adam, I meant it, I do love you.” “Sure why wouldn’t you,” he glibly replied, imagining they had the rest of their lives together.
Tragically, their relationship, which had begun with a rose between his bare buttocks and kept the nation on tenterhooks, lasted only a few more seconds as Rachel’s Saab was then properly sandwiched between a lorry and another car.
Del Boy and Rodney in the lift – 1996
This was the episode when 24 million viewers saw Del Boy and Rodney, played by David Jason and
Nicholas Lyndhurst, finally fulfil their dream of becoming millionaires thanks to an antique watch.
But the most poignant moment – of the whole of John Sullivan’s classic sitcom – came earlier, when the lift in Nelson Mandela House broke down, trapping the brothers.
Rodders is then forced to open up and talk about his grief over wife Cassandra’s recent miscarriage.
“Cassie seemed so fragile. I wanted to cuddle her and talk to her about it, but I was frightened I might... sort of break her,” says an emotional Rodney. His wise older brother Del then tells him: “It’s just a dropped stitch in life’s tapestry – that’s what Mum used to say.”
Then Del magically fixes the “broken” lift with the flick of a switch and Rodney realises he has been set up.
But, as Del says: “You can’t run away in a broken lift.” POLDARK fans were heartbroken when season four ended with the shock death of Ross’s true love Elizabeth.
They happily mourned the character, played by Heida Reed, and some may even have shed a tear for her evil husband George (Jack Farthing).
A sad state of affairs is always a TV ratings winner, which is why these other shows chose to play the crying game...
Cathy has her children taken away – 1966
Ken Loach’s gritty Cathy Comes Home was a television play which changed the nation. It tackled the problem of homelessness and led to the formation of the charity Crisis.
The play told the story of Cathy, played by Carol White, and Ray (Ray Brooks), who start off full of hope for their lives together and descend into poverty, let down by society.
The darkest moment came at the end when, on a railway platform, Cathy’s children were taken into care.
A caption then appeared that read: “All the events in this television play took place in Britain within the last eighteen months. 4,000 children are separated from their parents and taken into care each year because their parents are homeless.”
The drama, watched by 12 million people, was named the UK’S most influential TV programme of all time in 2005.