Why do all the characters die in British TV?

[GSHamster]

I think it's just that British television is a lot less stable than American television. Seasons are much shorter (6-episode run compared to 22), and renewals seem to be a lot more dicey. For example, an American series generally knows if it's going to be renewed or not before the current season ends.

So because employment in a Brit TV series is a lot less predictable, I think there's a lot more turnover in casts, as British actors are constantly looking for another job. That means that the writers are forced to kill off characters because the actors have left. That in turn makes them more willing to kill off characters.

In American shows, in contrast, it's a lot easier to keep the actors under contract for multiple seasons. And the actors are happy to have steady predictable work, so they're less likely to leave. It's also a lot more work to replace them. So killing regular characters off becomes a rare tool, deployed for major effect.

 

[Plane Sailing]

First shocking main character death in a UK series was in Doomwatch back in the 70's - it was genuinely shocking when Robert Powell's character dies defusing a bomb. That was pretty new.

Nowadays the poster child for death of main characters was the Spooks series (called MI5 or something similar in the US?). After a female agent was killed in a deep fat fryer in an early episode there were a wide range of deaths across each series - often pointless, hopeless ones. It is rumoured that applications to work for MI5 dropped significantly as a result of the show!

 

[Fast Learner]

I''ll still watch both, but I agree they're nowhere near as good as they were.

I was really losing interest in the last series of the UK Being Human. The first couple of episodes of this series left me a bit flat but this most recent episode has made it much more interesting, so I'm optimistic.

 

[Richards]

People bring up Joss Whedon look at Buffy the main characters were always Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles. Other characters came and went but those four were the heart of the show. He wisely did not kill them off.

What do you mean? Joss killed Buffy off in season one, when she drowned in a pool of water over by the Master's underground lair. That was the event that generated Kendra the Vampire Slayer, and then later Faith. (Xander revived her with mouth-to-mouth, but she was technically dead.)

Joss also killed off Buffy at the end of season five, when she sacrificed herself in Dawn's place to stop Glory. (Season six brought her back again, when the Scooby Gang got her yanked out of Heaven and resurrected.)

Then there was the alternate reality Buffy who was also killed off... or were you talking about PERMANENT deaths?

Johnathan

 

[Elf Witch]

See now, you were doing great up until this point because OBVIOUSLY the BEST moment in the WHOLE of Star Trek was when Worf was the Captain of the Defiant in battle against a Borg Cube and said, "Today IS a good day to die! RAMMING SPEED!"


On a show that got canned shortly after 'cause it was crap... sorry, you lost me with that one. I will agree that the new Daniel was 10,000 times better than that whiny, self-entitled, arrogant little prat he replaced (talking about both the character and the actor), though.

That is subjective your opinion that it was crap. The show was not canceled due to low ratings. Skiffy got into a disagreement with the home studio that makes it on how much they were willing to pay for it.

They wanted to pay less for it because of how much they were willing to pay for the new Stargate which in my subjective opinion was crap.

They believed that all fans wanted grim and gritty like BSG they were wrong.

They have seemed to have lost faith in the entire franchise of BSG now. They have been delaying Blood and Chrome forever.

 

[Elf Witch]

Which is a huge part of why the books are so popular: anyone -- ANYONE -- can die. When they're at risk they're genuinely at risk.

Could they kill off Castle or Beckett? No, but if each season was only 6 episodes long they sure could, and man would that make it exciting!

To each his or her own, obviously. Me, I love the possibility that my favorite characters can die.

And it also the reason why a lot of fans don't like them that and the way they are written. At any SF con I have been to there has always been a lot of discussion on the series and a lot of SF fans don't like them because of the violence and graphic sex in them.

That makes no sense at all if each season was only 6 episodes long if they killed them there would be no seasons left to make regardless of how many episodes. If you kill those two you don't have a show left.

 

[Elf Witch]

It is not a universal truth; it's very genre dependent.

A medical show where people come in with life-threatening conditions every week and are always saved is dumbed down (to be fair, the doctor shows seem to be having more and more patients die over the years).

An action adventure show where people go through life-threatening circumstances every week and no one ever dies loses its stakes.

But there are cetainly some genres in which character death is not appropriate, or when the creators are specifically shooting for an unrealistic tone. But if the show revolves around danger and death, the main characters being immune to that often detracts from the story, whereas the converse has a powerful impact.

I watch a lot of medical shows and I don't know of any where the seriously injured always live. Not since the days of Medical Center and Marcus Welby.

Even on House they have been known to kill of patients and characters. Most of the time they don't because the focus of the medical part is diagnosing the illness.

As for adventure series again it really depends on the tone of the show. Take 24 they killed people right an left. But since each episode is set in one day they don't really do a lot of character development or give a lot of character background. What makes 24 exciting is the adrenaline pumping action.

But say a show like Burn Notice the action part of the show is only part of the appeal. There is also the relationships between Fi and Michael, Michael and his mother, Sam and Fi. There has the background development of all the characters. Start killing of those characters and the show changes.

If you look through the history of TV you will find that more often then not changing a show often leads to lower ratings.

On most crime solving shows they solve the crime that is very unrealistic yet I doubt they would be popular if more than half of their cases go unsolved.

I find it amusing when people complain over the heroes getting out of dangerous situations but they willing accept other non realistic stuff. Like the two part episode on Castle yeah sure the CIA are going to bring a writer and a local cop into an investigation like that. Or the fact that NYPD homicide detectives have the luxury of working on one case at a time.

 

[Morrus]

And it also the reason why a lot of fans don't like them that and the way they are written. At any SF con I have been to there has always been a lot of discussion on the series and a lot of SF fans don't like them because of the violence and graphic sex in them.

That makes no sense at all if each season was only 6 episodes long if they killed them there would be no seasons left to make regardless of how many episodes. If you kill those two you don't have a show left.

They do fairly well over here. Bear in mind you're not the target market. They're designed for British viewers.

The BBC sold the format to a US network so that you guys can have a version targeted at you. I hear that's doing OK, too.

Different products, different markets.

 

[Storn]

If you don't like spoilers, probably best not to read any further.














So, all but one of the original cast is now left on Being Human UK and only two are left on Misfits. What the Hell is wrong with you people? Morrus? Anyone?

And good lord, MI-5/Spooks? The death toll is like 70% of the cast. They just keep chipping away every season, replace 'em, kill 'em off. That show is a bloody turnstile.

 

[Elf Witch]

What do you mean? Joss killed Buffy off in season one, when she drowned in a pool of water over by the Master's underground lair. That was the event that generated Kendra the Vampire Slayer, and then later Faith. (Xander revived her with mouth-to-mouth, but she was technically dead.)

Joss also killed off Buffy at the end of season five, when she sacrificed herself in Dawn's place to stop Glory. (Season six brought her back again, when the Scooby Gang got her yanked out of Heaven and resurrected.)

Then there was the alternate reality Buffy who was also killed off... or were you talking about PERMANENT deaths?

Johnathan

Permanent deaths. If you kill a character and bring them back it does not count and often feels like a cheat.

Joss never killed permanently is core cast in Buffy.

Star Trek Voyager killed the entire crew once but there was duplicated ship that had lost Harry Kim and the newborn baby. The one Janeway sent her Harry Kim and the baby who had lived over to the duplicate ship then destroyed hers to take out the Viidians.

On Next Gen they destroyed the Enterprise and her crew over and over when they were caught in a time loop and in Generations.

IN Science Fiction death is often just a non permanent story element.