12 Main Character Deaths That Killed Great TV Shows

8. Curtis (Misfits)

Episode Of Death: S04E04 - "Series 4, Episode 4"

What is it about British shows and rotating casts? Sure, Game of Thrones might have an ensemble of, what, thirty, and not be afraid of trimming their numbers down, but it never pulled a Misfits: killing off or sending away the whole original lineup.

Nathan - imprisoned; Simon - dead; Alisha - dead; Kelly - abroad.

By the time Series 4 rolled around, the only one remaining from the pilot was Curtis, a former athlete turned time manipulator turned ressurector. It's arguable that Curtis, out of the first cast, never really found his niche: Nathan had his cheeky charm, Simon and Alisha had each other, even Kelly had something resembling an arc.

Unlike Being Human, though, the new breed that have replaced his former comrades haven't entirely been up to scratch: the lovably obnoxious Rudy aside, Jess, Finn and Abbey are yet to really make their mark on the show.

As such, saying goodbye to Curtis in Episode Four of the previous series carried a lot more weight than it might otherwise had done. Not only was it (brutally) well-executed - forcing Curtis to account for his zombie-based mistakes in taking his own life - but it marked the last time that we were likely to see Nathan Stewart-Jarrett or any of the original cast again.

It was, in effect, the end of an era. Howard Overman's scripts are just as good, the concepts just as dark and offbeat, but the people who drew us to the show are now gone. Misfits worked because it was about those particular misfits, that particular set of personalities; the new cast do their best but it's just not the same.

The TV show Heroes originally intended to do the same - cycle cast members in and out on a season-by-season basis, but perhaps Tim Kring and co. realized that it could only work to diminishing returns. Lucky that show dodged the bullet, huh? Oh...