My votes is for 'Blackadder Goes Forth'. Watching the finale for the first time, I think it was the first time I genuinely teared up at a TV show. The moment when they think just for a second that the wars over. Then the slow motion chaos of the charge and the fade to an empty scene and then a poppy field in silence.

by Time-Comment-141

22 comments

  1. Not necessarily saddest, but the 1996 ending of Only Fools And Horses still hits me.

  2. Like it or not that’s what you, me or Joe over there were in 1917, 1942, 20–?

  3. It’s been a while since I watched so I may not have it correct. I though Life on Mars was quite sad in which his coma life was better than his real life

  4. Honestly, Blackadder goes forth is a really tough one to beat. The weight of the whole thing … The knowledge as the viewer we have of what it all means… Nah , I can’t think of anything that tops it TBF 

  6. Tears, every time I watch it. The totally insane waste of a generation of young men

  7. Nothing beats Blackadder Goes Forth for me, but as a more recent show the ending to His Dark Materials really got me. I loved the books as a child and remembered the ending being really sad, but not the exact details. The show was a bit up and down in terms of quality (although generally good), but it nailed the ending.

  8. Blackadder Goes Forth was the first TV show that made me really upset, I remember watching it with my dad when I was a kid, properly heart rending stuff l.

  10. This definitely was the saddest, but the 2nd saddest for me the final sketch at the end of That Mitchel and Webb Look, with an elderly Sherlock and Watson

  13. Still game and After Life probably top it for me.

  14. Victor Meldrew’s death and final episode is pretty sad. Awesome show that was, One Foot in the Grave.

  17. I don’t think anything tops Blackadder

    But the last episode of Still Game always makes me tear up

  18. it’s got to be Blackadder, there’s nothing else like it. It’s a work of art.

  19. Just watched it again. Nope, don’t think anything can beat that.

    (and it was interesting to watch again, I could see lots of details that I’ve missed – Tim McInnerny’s expressions in background as there is dialog between Baldrick/Blackadder/George are incredible)

  20. Its crazy that one of the most respectful, powerful tributes to those lost in world war 2 was from the same show where a guy sticks straws in his nose to pretend to be insane.

  21. Not as sad as Blackadder, but George’s outcome in Drop the Dead Donkey was definitely sad.

  22. I don’t think we ever appreciated as a country, the generational impact of loosing men from families had. You can definitely sense a respect for it here, as the actors look back at history.

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