Most depressing TV storylines

[DRW50]

I always have a weird fascination with depressing stories on TV shows. I don't want to see it, yet, if the story has emotional weight, the story will stay with me for a long time. I wondered if there are any gutwrenching stories on primetime TV shows (here or in other countries) you remember.

For many years I think the British did this best, especially in the 70s and 80s, when there was not the gloss which you often find on everything now.

My "favorite" would probably be in the long infomercial for lithium, Survivors. Paul, who was a happy-go-lucky, adventure type, decided to go to a big city to get urgent medical supplies for the newborn baby of a close friend. After he returned with the supplies, they soon realized he'd contracted the bubonic plague. He was quarantined. His girlfriend, who knew he would have a long and agonizing death, forced herself to euthanize him. She then disappeared. After several days, they found her in the woods, and she told them she'd spent that time contemplating suicide, but had finally decided to try to go on if she could.

Runner up is the episode where Abby, one of the few in the world who has an immunity to plague, stays with three men who are "angels" - they help out those who have lost their loved ones. Too late does she realize she has given them the plague. Out of duty, she stays with them until they each die.

After this would be Doctor Who, which, in spite of being a genuine childrens' show for most of the 60s, decided to have a long space epic of carnage. Katarina, the Doctor's companion, initially a handmaiden from Troy, sacrifices her own life to save the Doctor, Bret Vyon, and Steven from a murderer. They are stunned (as were viewers - this was the first companion to die on Doctor Who). All the Doctor could say was, "I hope she has found her place of perfection."

Bret, who had turned against his corrupt government, is soon killed by his spy sister, Sara Kingdom, after being tricked into thinking she was a traitor. Sara, full of remorse, joins the Doctor and Steven to try to stop some machine which will quickly age everyone into oblivion. They succeed...but Sara doesn't get out in time, and the Doctor and Steven helplessly watch her turn into dust.

In the next story, the Doctor again causes a close friend of Steven's to die, and he has enough. This was rare stuff for this type of TV show in 1965.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyfi_OzB-YA&feature=related

[I Am A Swede]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by depressing, but there have been some stories that have stuck with me. But maybe they would be more categorized as tragic.

First was a story from the Australian tv-series "The Flying Doctors". One of the doctors, Dr. David Ratcliffe (played by Brett Climo), had decided that he wanted to make some changes in his life and discover new interests. He was looking forward to experiencing new things in life. It was his last day at work when, during a rescue mission, he slipped and fell down from a steep cliff into a ravine to his death.

Next is a story from one of my favourite tv-shows, the nostalgic British drama series "Heartbeat". A young couple, police officer Nick Rowan (played by Nick Berry) and his doctor wife Kate (played by Niamh Cusack) relocates from London to North Yorkshire in the early 1960s. After some initial hardships the future looks bright, especially when Kate discovers she's pregnant. Sadly, she soon finds out she's contracted leukemia. She keeps this a secret from everyone, and doesn't seek treatment for her baby's sake. After the baby is born she starts treatment, but it's too late, and she soon succumbs to the disease. The episode where she dies is one of the most heartbreaking hour of television I've ever seen.