10 Greatest 'I'm Dead And I Know It' Moments In TV History

10. Stringer Bell - The Wire

Like several other properties featured elsewhere on this list, The Wire is a series that could offer up a handful of truly worthy "I'm dead and I know it" moments. If picking just one of those, it's the execution of Idris Elba's Stringer Bell that gets the nod here.

Unlike many of his cohorts, Stringer wasn't solely all about the crime and carnage. Instead, by the time of his demise, he was attempting to look for a better life - with a career in real estate seemingly in the crosshairs of Bell.

Sadly for Stringer Bell, his past misdemeanours would be his downfall, with his former partner Avon Barksdale giving Bell's location to Omar and Brother Mouzone. As soon as that pairing found Stringer, he realised that his time was numbered.

Despite initially pleading his case and offering up money to Omar and Mouzone, Stringer knew there was no way out of this particular pickle, delivering the phenomenal "Well get on with it, motherf..." line; a line of dialogue that was interrupted by gunshots, as Stringer Bell was killed off in cold, clinical fashion.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 9th Jun 2021

In this post:

The Sopranos The Walking Dead The Wire