10 TV Characters Killed Right In Their Prime

Homeland's first season exploded onto our screens some years back and quickly garnered a reputation as one of the most exciting and tense shows on television. A large part of this deserved success was down to the powerfully believable performance of the fantastic Damian Lewis as Sgt. Nicholas Brody.

Brody was a cripplingly conflicted character and the perfect springboard for the show to chuck twist and after twist at the audience. He was a character we sympathised with without ever fully understanding what he was going through; meaning we were never quite sure how he would behave. Lewis' Brody made for constantly gripping T.V.

There can be little doubt that Homeland never managed to capture it's early heights after it ill-advisedly killed off Brody. Losing an actor of Lewis' calibre would hurt any show and losing a character of Brody's depth would mean certain death for it.

So it proved to be for Homeland.

Brody still had so much more to give, and the audience knew it and interest fell because of it. It ended up being startling example of how a shock value death can go wrong. The show has recovered since then, but it looked touch and go for a long time.