The Simpsons: 10 Characters Who Reappeared After Long Absences

10. Bleeding Gums Murphy

One of the most emotional episodes of The Simpsons' first season is Moaning Lisa, where Lisa overcomes a depressive episode by connecting with a saxophone player named Bleeding Gums Murphy.

After helping cheer Lisa up, Bleeding Gums disappeared from the show for five years before turning up in the Season 6 episode Round Springfield.

Lisa and Murphy reunite in Springfield hospital, where Bleeding Gums is being treated. After a touching moment where Lisa borrows the jazzman's sax for a recital, she returns to the hospital to tell him all about it, only to find out that he's sadly passed away.

It's a brutal emotional whiplash for Lisa and the audience, who is just as invested in the duo's unlikely friendship as the middle Simpson child.

The Simpsons changed a lot between its first and sixth seasons, so bringing back a character from the early days of the show was a big risk for the writers. However, it paid off massively, as Bleeding Gums once again taught Lisa a vital life lesson about dealing with sadness, and cemented himself as one of the show's greatest side characters.