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The (fictional) on-screen deaths we still haven't got over

[Warning: Contains almost 20 years of spoilers]

What are the fictional on-screen deaths which are hard to forget?

The Must Watch team (Scott Bryan, Hayley Campbell and Nihal Arthanayake) and 5 Live listeners have picked the ones that most affected them…

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1. Dr Mark Greene in ER

Alex Kingston: Dr Greene's death in ER 'was devastating'

Actress who played Dr Corday in ER says she still finds the fictional death emotional.

“I’m still not over the death of Dr Greene,” says Hayley.

“It always turns up when people talk about 'what are the deaths you never got over in TV?' and that’s always top of the list."

Dr Greene (Anthony Edwards) was the first face at the beginning of ER and his death eight years later from a brain tumour, (along with flashbacks under the strains of ‘Over the Rainbow’) still gets people even now.

Alex Kingston, who played Mark’s second wife Elizabeth in the series, spoke to Must Watch and said even years after, she cried when asked about that moment.

2. River Song in Doctor Who

Scott says: “My death is Alex Kingston but in another role.”

“River Song in Doctor Who is one of the most original deaths I’ve ever seen on television, in the way that we see her die in the very first episode we see her in.

“Every time we then see her in an episode of Doctor Who it’s a time in her life before her death happened, with the Doctor meeting her whilst being on a different timeline than her.

“There’s something so fateful about their relationship, but something so utterly touching about it’s inevitability.

"You see River Song savouring every moment she has with him and he has with her, the most devastating moment is when he has his first ever kiss with her, whilst she has her last with him.”

3. Ned Stark in Game of Thrones

Nihal says: “I don’t think I’ve ever got over the death of Ned Stark.”

"When he was killed I was like, 'are you serious, what have you just done? Why did you just do that?'

"At that point he was the moral spine of that show, so the moment that his head was lobbed off, suddenly you felt moral-wise, where is this going to go?

"You suddenly felt that every faith you had in a narrative arc to keep that central, morally strong character with you to guide you through and bring about goodness was gone.

"At that point, if they were willing to do that to him, how could I invest in any other character that I liked?"

4. Mrs Landingham in The West Wing

A number of Must Watch listeners said they still hadn't got over Mrs Landingham's death in The West Wing.

Hayley says: "Mrs Landingham's death was major not just for the audience but also for President Bartlet - it was her death that led to one of the greatest episodes of The West Wing, where Bartlet has to figure out if he wants to put himself up for re-election in the midst of the MS scandal.

"Without her, he sees that time is limited and he's gotta do what he's gotta do, he sees what really matters in the scheme of it all. And he figures it all out while standing in the rain while Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms plays over the sound of rain, then does his press conference while still soaked."

Scott adds: "The thing about Mrs Landringham is how it comes out of nowhere. Her death is so intrinsically linked to a lighthearted storyline in that episode (she’s buying a new car!) then she dies in a car accident.

"I think it really reinforces the lesson of how we don’t know exactly what the future will bring; so we have to embrace what we all have at every moment."

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