10 Grimmest TV Storylines Ever

Life is pain sometimes and don’t TV writers know it. From the heartbreaking to the just plain offensive, some plot lines can ramp things up to the extreme and then some.

Tensions soar as we the viewer watch the kinds of struggles we spend our whole lives trying to avoid unfold on the small screen. From deaths to wounds to curses and rituals, there’s all manner of darkness out there in the land of TV.

Often bleak, often depressing, some of these storylines pushed shows to new creative heights where others had viewers hastily changing the channel for some relief.

Fred Burkle was a fan favourite with her life in full swing by season 5. Her and Wesley had finally made good on their oft teased romance and her work at Wolfram & Hart was going well. All it took was inhaling some sarcophagus dust for that to all come tumbling down.

Suddenly under attack from an ancient demonic force, we have to watch the amiable Fred be consumed by the parasite within as the main cast unite to try and save her.

At first it appears Angel and Spike have done just that, locating the cure for her in England only to discover it would cause thousands to die instead. Caught between a rock and a hard place, they choose to let Fred succumb to her long, drawn out, agonising death.

And to add some injury to injury, we’re informed that the damage done to her will also prevent her soul from an afterlife or a resurrection. Talk about having a hard run of things.

“Why can’t I stay?” remains some of the saddest last words in TV history and one the of most devastating and memorable moments the Buffy spin-off put out.