12 TV Deaths You Knew Were Coming (That Still Broke You)
8. Sybil Branson - Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey had some truly heartbreaking deaths over the course of its run between 2010 and 2015, however the departure of Lady Sybil Branson in series three was perhaps the saddest of them all.
The youngest daughter of Robert and Cora Crawley, Sybil was one of the show's most kindest, caring and socially aware characters, regularly clashing with her stiff-lipped family members over the roles of women and the status of those seen 'beneath' her at the time. She chose to take this thinking into her marriage, opting to marry out of love for Tom Branson rather than someone her family would prefer.
Having moved to Ireland to marry Tom, Sybil's relationship with her family began to improve and the couple returned to Downton for the birth of Sybil's baby daughter, Cora.
Despite knowing that actress Jessica Brown Findlay had turned down the option of continuing on following the expiration of her three series contract, her death midway through the show's third season was still absolutely gut-wrenching to watch. The fact that the whole sequence is surrounded by hopeful optimism and jubilation about a new life being born ultimately serves to make this all the more tragic.