8 Great TV Characters Who Die At The Beginning

Torchwood spun off from Doctor Who in 2006, when showrunner Russell T Davies recognised both a need and opening for a more adult-themed sci-fi offering, which could make the most of flirty, feisty fan-favourite Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman).

And so a new team of Earth-based team of alien hunters adorned our screens, comprising the mysterious, Cardiff-based Torchwood Institute. Amongst them was Suzie Costello, played by Indira Varma (who you might recognise as Game Of Thrones' Ellaria Sand), a genius and dedicated extra-terrestrial researcher who was willing to go to extreme lengths in the name of science.

Initially billed as one of the main cast, the writers blasted her off the face of the show in season one's very first episode, "Everything Changes". Caught experimenting with a resurrection gauntlet and, umm, killing people, Suzie blows herself away before the credits roll. Not without its uses, her death created an opening in the Torchwood team for series protagonist Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), kicking off the show in spectacular fashion.

Returning briefly at the end of the season in the aptly named "They Keep Killing Suzie", the character is brought back using the gauntlet before it – and her – are destroyed for good.