Three TV moments to make you cry
It takes a lot for a TV show to make me cry. Not because I’m particularly “tough” or anything, it’s just the way it is. So when something comes along that leaves me feeling, at the very least, a bit emotional, I know it’s pretty darn special. And if you, dear reader, are ever feeling in need of a good cry (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t every once in a while?), then you couldn’t go far wrong with these heart-wrenching TV moments. Guaranteed, you will be a blubbering wreck, or your money back*
*Terms and conditions apply. No refunds are available to people with a stone for a heart, or to the cast of Thunderbirds.
Andy’s Big Brother epiphany – Extras – 2007 Christmas special
Two of the three moments on this list are from comedies. You could argue that they’re not doing their job properly, but I’d just ignore you, because, when a comedy is as touching as the closing scenes of Extras’ final episode, it’s difficult to complain that you’re not exactly laughing your socks off. Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) realises that fame is not all it’s cracked up to be (awww), and, during a stint on Celebrity Big Brother, Andy makes a superb speech where he exposes the reality of a celebrity and asks his neglected best friend Maggie (the adorable Ashley Jensen) to forgive him for behaving like… well, Ricky Gervais. It’s beautifully done, and when he finally answers Maggie’s latest “What would you rather be…?” question, well that’s it for me.
Rose’s “death” – Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 13: ‘Doomsday’
Billie Piper’s much-publicised departure from Doctor Who added a touch of melancholy to her fun-filled frolics throughout the second series with new Doctor, David Tennant. By the time of the series finale, I don’t think there was a viewer who’d not bit their own arms off as the build-up reached breaking point. The image of Rose desperately clinging onto that lever will forever be imprinted on my brain; an image made all the more torturous because the outcome was all too pre-determined: she was going to lose her grip. When it finally happened, the breath of the nine million viewers watching was sucked into that parallel world with her. And, in the words of Take That, there’s no holding back the flood after that, even when watching it six years on, as the Doctor and Rose say goodbye for the last time (ahem) in the superlative beach scene, where he doesn’t even get to finish his damn sentence! Oh, my aching fourteen-year-old heart!
Goodbye Nana – The Royle Family – 2006 Special: ‘The Queen of Sheba’
Of all the moments listed here, this is without doubt the one that has the biggest effect. It’s just soooooooooooooooooooo sad! From the minute that Barbara (Sue Johnston) walks downstairs into the living room and cannot wake Nana (Liz Smith), not even forty minutes into the episode, right till the end, twenty minutes later (stretching the definition of ‘moment’ here), I am literally shaking with tears. From the hospital farewells, to Jim’s eulogy at the end (the first time I saw him put the urn on the TV, I think I actually wailed), I have never been more moved by a TV programme, and, had the decision not been made to revive the series for the lesser Christmas specials, then this could not have been a better ending. And I’m afraid I’m going to have to stop there because I’m welling up just typing this and I’m strugglung ti see thr kwys!
