Top 10 Heartbreaking Deaths in British Soaps

There won't be a dry eye in the house. For this list, WatchMojo counts down the Top 10 Most Heartbreaking Deaths in British Soap Operas, featuring farewells from Ashley Thomas, Alice Wilson, Max Cunningham, and many other fan-favourites. Let us know in the comments which hit you the hardest.
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#Emmerdale #Eastenders #CoronationStreet #Hollyoaks #HolbyCity

[@WatchMojoUK]

10 Soap Stars Who Got FIRED From their Show kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWfbiWWdbZJkpa8

[@Comic3247]

Soap deaths will always be affective as you watch these characters weekly for years and years, or even decades and decades

[@stopghoztingaround4112]

Danielle dying in Ronnie's arm was a rlly sad loss, I will never forget. It's hard seeing your own child pass away 😥😥

[@racheljackson4428]

the actor who potrayed Aiden is right. we need to talk about the connection between mental health and suicide.

[@thomashughes4977]

When my parents went through a divorce, it caused me to go through a devastating phase no child, or teenager for that matter, should have to go through. I was 17 when it happened. To make matters worse, I also suffered so much isolation from my friends at school, this caused me to want to commit suicide. Luckily, I stopped and thought about what would happen if I did go ahead with suicide, such as how devastated my parents, relatives, and friends would have felt to have heard about my death.

[@katemissfilanpurrmcdevitt]

Absolutely Shayne Ward did an amazing job let’s hope the storyline helped others in Aidan’s situation I cried so much Xx

[@tom-tx9md]

The episode where Kylie Platt dies has to be one of the saddest

[@pearljam619]

I cried my eyes out when Vera collected Jack.

[@samanthahardy9903]

Jamie dying in Eastenders was also sad. I think this is one of the reasons why Sonia became a nurse. She couldn't save her beloved Jamie but she did go on to save others. I still remember when she saved Bens life after he was shot in the Vic.

[@robertcomer2767]

The greatest acting should be given to Jean Alexander when Hilda brought Sean's belongings back from the hospital. Once you seen that scene, you can never forget it

[@torilove4868]

It's between Shakil Kasimi and Dr Legg from Eastenders for me. Shakil was such a sweet kid and them having Harry and Meghan's wedding in the previous episode with him saying that a biracial princess gave him hope that he could do anything made it that much worse. And with Dr Legg, by the time he came back, he wasn't a familiar character to me, but him talking about the blitzes and how he was separated from his wife and she died made me cry.

[@DemonAsh40]

The one about Dr Legg wasn’t too sad, because he wasn’t well known by viewers or even his fellow characters, he had no family in the soap, just one friend, Dot. Shakil tho I agree, he had a future and was very much in love with Bex Fowler, but he was killed after a stabbing in which his best friend survived, portraying the harsh reality of knife crime today. Shakil’s funeral only portrayed it even further with Families of real life victims appearing at his funeral in the soap.

[@margaretswan9597]

Oh geeze, Hayley's death..I cried so much I could hardly breathe. 😭😭😭😭

[@ImmortalSparrow]

Cal's death on Casualty (and his funeral) and Raf's death on Holby City makes me cry every single time 🥺💔

[@pearlkelly6337]

Aww yeah, I met him not long after that as well

[@pearlkelly6337]

My mate says Jeff's death got to her

[@cedgson91]

Sam’s death makes me cry

[@tonygold1239]

Ashley's story was written so so well some of the best writing in a soap ever they ended up almost sweeping up all the Soap Awards and they where very much deserved

[@dementednun1175]

It was terrible...

[@rileymartin2202]

@@dementednun1175luv you know full well it was acted and written incredibly and that’s fact not opinion

[@beepboop9464]

How could they forget the newer sad deaths of eastenders? Abi Branning, either of the Dennys. Sharon's performance after her sons death is one of the best performances I've seen on a soap.

[@PlutoPebble]

Jack and Vera's scene was so sweet.

[@drunkenmaster6434]

Although you didn't hear it, when Nigel has to break to his step daughter Claire that her mum Debbie was killed in a car accident. While Grant Mitchell looks on sympatheticly from his car

[@thunderchild2756]

Shayne Ward's performance on his last scene was beyond words 👏🏻

[@OfficialDuckox]

Danielle from Eastenders ought to be on there, that shit is depressing

[@torilove4868]

More than just one Eastenders death should be on here. It's really ITV heavy.

[@orlyb1310]

I can't watch it without sobbing. Really surprised it isn't on here.

[@Alex11371]

i remember bawling when gennie died in emmerdale that one will always stick with me…and kylie in coronation street too

[@tmumvadi2002]

Carmel McQueen death from Hollyoaks had me in tears😭😭

[@blackknight1433]

This list needs a Part 2

[@tonymil7319]

I completely agree 😀

[@djwalkerfemaledj]

I cried my eyes out when Max from Hollyoaks died😢😰

[@Wasp-ce7yr]

There should be one for each soap in my opinion. The ones that destroyed me were Shakil and Denny in EastEnders.

[@whitneyfan7107]

Chantelle Atkins death was very sad 😭

[@itzpurple_queen9711]

I think deaths of babies and children are the saddest in soaps 😭 and cancer related deaths are also always sad too

[@owenjolley351]

No Jamie Mitchell? His last Christmas was my first. 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

[@Becksnnc]

The one that gets me the most is Tricia from Emmerdale. That scene when they wheel her away through the doors and poor Marlon is watching on knowing he'll never see her again tears me apart.

[@RhJones]

Holby City ended? Genuinely surprised to hearvthat

[@jo-joal3791]

Tiffany Mitchell for me still was heartbreaking despite it being so dramatic.

[@torilove4868]

Omg, not Tiffany. By the time she FINALLY died, I felt zero sympathy for her. Every time she didn't get her way, she used Courtney as a pawn, like a mother's rights are the only ones that matter. Even in her last episode, she went to the jail, where she'd lied to get Grant locked up because she was angry at him, not because he did anything worth locking up, just because she was angry, and tried giving him a picture of Courtney as a "souvenir" since he was never going to see His Own Daughter again. She was a spoiled princess and that entire family was insufferable.

[@marklynn5899]

EastEnders definitely beloved sisters Ronnie & Roxy, Shirley's friend Heather, Chantelle Atkins by abusive husband

[@matthewpattison8611]

My top 15 deaths in British soap dramas are: 1. Archie Mitchell the killer was unknown EastEnders 2. Callum Logan murdered by Kylie Platt coronation street 3. Derek Braming got disowned at Christmas and suffered a heart attack on Christmas day EastEnders 4. Dennis Rickman Jr killed by Ian Beale EastEnders 5. Dennis Rickman got stabbed EastEnders 6. Dirty Den Watts murdered by Chrissie Watts and blamed it on Sam Mitchell and Zoe Slater for the murder EastEnders 7. Halley Croper coronation street 8. Heather Trott murdered by Ben Mitchell as Harry Reid EastEnders 9. Imran murdered by Toyah Battersby coronation street 10. Kylie Platt got stabbed by Clayton Hibbs coronation street 11. Mick Carter got drowned while trying to save Linda Carter 12. Pat Phelan got stabbed by Anna Windass coronation street 13. Richard Hillman drove him and the Platts in a canal while Martin Platt gave chase coronation street 2003 14. Rick Neelan murdered by Gary Windass coronation street 15. Tony Stewart suffered a heart attack coronation street

[@helenaw302]

What about seb in coronation street ? That was devastating 😢😢

[@meganwilliams7434]

Especially since it was inspired by a true story makes it all the more real🥺

[@lucindabundy1887]

Jac Naylor death was so heartbreaking to watch my favourite character in Holby city 💔💔💔

[@louiseogden1296]

My maiden name was Stanley. When I got married, I got a lot of good-natured ribbing at work about Coronation Street and becoming an Ogden, so decided not to double-barrel my surnames so I'd not become Stanley Ogden! Fast forward a few years and my hubby died of cancer. I was brokenhearted, obviously, but even though I'd never been a Corrie watcher, I looked up the scene on KZbin where Stan's belongings were returned to Hilda along with his ashes. She laid his glasses on top of the urn. Hubby is on the bedside table he used in our bedroom with his glasses perched on the basket in the same way. These scenes and others really help in reminding me I'm not alone in my grief -- most people will experience it at some point and showing deaths and their aftermath is a really important part of fiction for the bereaved. The earliest known written story -- Gilgamesh -- features the death of Gil's friend Enkidu, and no doubt the last ever written book will cover such themes as well. Also -- I'm an NHS worker, albeit in property management. It's sad to see Holby go, but well done them for portraying the tireless work and compassion of the staff so brilliantly. IRL the staff at my local hospital -- North Hampshire in Basingstoke -- worked so hard to make my husband comfortable and get him a hospice bed even in the face of the terrible state of the wards there. I have my own opinions on how the HS should be funded, but there's no doubt people work so hard and give so much of their time to that vocation.

[@michellemunn7959]

Damn I never the last one coming watch this video. I lost my 19 year old April 8. So this hit me in the gut.

[@gordonwilson4722]

Hello

[@marian3nene45]

So sorry for your loss. Sending love, light and healing prayers to you and yours xx

[@sarahjaneclarke6614]

I think all soap death's are sad, they are all well written and acted really well

[@hayleydouglas]

Raf's death in Holby City completely broke me - I was still in tears even after the episode was over

[@annarichardson9401]

Me too. That and Digby’s death. I was a blubbering mess at those. Raf’s got me though because it was so unexpected.

[@themoores9817]

@@annarichardson9401 me too 🙂

[@ashleybuckley5594]

Laurel and Ashley didn't marry in 2011! They married in 2005, divorced in 2012 then remarried in 2016 when Ashley's dementia became the centre focus then of course they had baby dotty, and they didn't lose a baby, they thought they did but turned out the babies were swapped and their son Arthur was still alive!

[@lynzb2815]

Batley from Emmerdale was the saddest soap death. I cried for days!

[@dannyohare3645]

Time to add Lola from Eastenders and Liv from Emmerdale😢

[@timelordgeek16]

What no Pat? No Peggy? Also it’s Liz Dawn who played Vera Where did you get Smith from 😂

[@christopherplatt7282]

Was going to comment about the fact it was Liz Dawn not Smith, Liz Smith is the actress that played the grandmother in the Royal Family. :)

[@katemissfilanpurrmcdevitt]

It has to b said the performances were phenomenal I remember watching some of those scenes and I was in floods and floods of tears superb acting from Jane Danson Shayne Ward Alison King David Neilson and many others Xx

[@Disneygirlie]

What about Wilson in Friday Night Dinner? That was heartbreaking 🥺 Poor Jim! 💔

[@LiveHedgehog]

Not a soap opera, but Wilson's death was heartbreaking, yeah. The only time Jim could bring himself to touch him.

[@makaio9578]

How is that a soap

[@ericastones1052]

Ethel's death was mine next to Jamie Mitchell's death

[@katelouiseloves]

Kylie will always be the saddest 💔

[@Zedekiah_Samuel_Tily_2021]

There's a theme going on with some of these deaths assisted suicide

[@ellie9311]

where was Peggy's, Pat's, Bradley's, Shakil's or Ronnie and Roxy's death

[@alexanderjohns3084]

I Completely agree, Bradley Branning fell off the Queen Vic on live TV to be treated this badly by watchmojo. Hate to see it

[@wirelad2007]

Mmmm Roxy Mitchell

[@georgiawin97]

You can't have everyone in one last. There'll probably be another list to add more people.

[@PINKKYLIELOUISE]

Got the years wrong about Jack and Vera Vera was first and Jack didn't come into it till 1979

[@lizhumphries9100]

Ethel that was hardest for me

[@G_-jq9kn]

What about Grace Dingle in emmerdale ??? I cried at that.

[@tommyvine4640]

Number 1 should have been Danielle from eastEnders

[@Zedekiah_Samuel_Tily_2021]

Alice dingle death. U got names mixed up. Its Sam dingle and his son is called Samson

[@acs6785]

Baby Katie in hollyoaks was really sad

[@nickbamber1232]

My heartbreaking deaths 1 Kylie Platt 2 Raui Connor 3 Aidan Connor 4 Johnny connor 5 Tina carter 6 Ashely Thomas 7 jack duckworth 8 Vera duckworth 9 heather trott 10 Molly. Dobbs/ Ashely peacock

[@dawnbetts400]

vera duckworth was played by liz dawn not liz smith please get the names right .

[@makaio9578]

They could do a whole list of Corrie Hayley, aiden, Kylie, Oliver, roary, Alison

[@pearlkelly6337]

Can't remember roary

[@harryraiswell2158]

It's actually spelt Ruairi. He was Steve and Michelle's baby who was a late miscarriage.

[@meganwilliams7434]

Seb🥺

[@harryraiswell2158]

@@meganwilliams7434 Ashley Peacock was quite a sad one too. 😢

[@meganwilliams7434]

@@harryraiswell2158 yes:(

[@harryraiswell2158]

I think Judy Mallett from Coronation Street should be on here. Probably one of the saddest Corrie deaths of all time. And probably soaps in general. For those who don't know, Terry Duckworth sold a cut-and-shut car to his mum Vera, and one day in September 1999 when Vera went shopping in the Freshco's supermarket, she bumped into Judy and asked her if she would like a lift home. When they were reversing in the car park another car bumped into them as it went the wrong way, which led to Judy having an embolism in her left leg. Judy decided not to go to the hospital as she thought it wasn't very serious. While her husband Gary was at Ashley and Maxine Peacock's wedding she decided to hang out some washing in the back yard, despite Emily Bishop telling her to rest. Whilst she was putting the washing out, she collapsed and died and you could hear her 9 month old twins, Billy and Becky, crying and screaming from inside the house, and Emily eventually found her lifeless body lying on the hard ground after she came back from doing some shopping for her. Ken Barlow and Natalie Barnes tried to help Emily revive Judy, and to call an ambulance, but it was already far far to late. When Gary returned to the house after the wedding he held Judy's body and refused to believe she was dead at first and then realised that there was nothing anyone could do. The following Christmas, Gary and the twins spent some time with Vera, her husband Jack, Tyrone Dobbs and Tyrone's dog Monica, Terry decided to show up wishing Jack and Vera a happy Christmas, not realising that Gary would be there. Gary punched Terry after he made a horrible remark about Judy's death saying that it was just her time and they got into a massive fight. Gary lost his wife and Billy and Becky lost their mum all because of Terry, other wise Judy would probably still be alive. If that's not upsetting then I don't know what is.

[@thomashughes4977]

All we can do is hope this list is redone, with 10 more deaths, making this 20 deaths altogether. Who can ever ignore Sebastian and Kylie's deaths. those were the most devastating deaths in Coronation Street history.

[@harryraiswell2158]

@@thomashughes4977 I remember when Kylie died me and my brother who was just 10 years old at the time, watched the episode on catch up the morning after it was first shown, and my brother was literally in tears when he realised what was happening. I sat myself next to him and gave him a massive hug. 🫂

[@thomashughes4977]

@@harryraiswell2158 And how did you both find Seb's death?

[@harryraiswell2158]

@@thomashughes4977 by that point my brother didn't watch Corrie anymore and I only really watched full episodes of Current Corrie if something big was happening. I know the hate crime was obviously a big one, but they didn't go about it in the same way as they did when Pat Phelan was getting his 5 day cummupence or only a few weeks ago when Imran and Toyah's car crash happened. I watched loads of clips of the hate crime attack, but I don't really seem to get emotional when a fictional character is getting killed off, so my reaction to the clips was probably like watching paint dry. Also there are quite a lot of violent deaths in soaps these days, so it's not really a shock anymore if someone is murdered or commits suicide or is caught in an explosion or whatever.

[@thomashughes4977]

@@harryraiswell2158 I believe that ITV know showing these storylines would enjoy making us so frustrated, because my response is sometimes, "Congratulations, ITV. You know how to make us upset." This is also my opinion as well, so how do you find watching Corrie right now?

[@chrisr19897]

Liz Dawn was Vera Duckworth

[@txmch5849]

Lola from Eastenders and Juliet from Hollyoaks last year 💔💔

[@Dynexsil]

Nana moon 😢

[@JackW42]

Liz Dawn NOT Smith!! Ffs 🙄🤦🏼‍♂️

[@mykeyburton5487]

how DARE you not include Jade Albright, Lisa Loveday and Neeta Kaur

[@lillyalgate5609]

Tommy harris and kylie platt always makes me cry when i watch their deaths 😢

[@kedwards8373]

Ronnie and Jack's son dying of SID

[@gazowen7310]

Hayley for me

[@11clairelouise]

Jade dying in alfies arms...Hollyoaks

[@lucypatrick7631]

Oliver in Corrie xx only 3 😢😢😢

[@jane1975]

Vera Duckworth was portrayed by Liz Dawn, not Liz Smith.

[@kevinlindsay9969]

Stan Ogden

[@britishhedgehog]

Ethel ought to be top 2 with hayley

[@craigwaters1508]

So sad 😭😭

[@AdiPullen]

how about kate rowan in heartbeat in series 5?

[@Dani_Ptitsa]

Heartbeat wasn't a soap.

[@tonymil7319]

I agree that death was sad as well.

[@leonsallovertheplace]

Jamie Mitchell should of been top 10

[@seanleonard1315]

Liz Dawn NOT Liz Smith played Vera Duckworth

[@KingOfTheMandem]

Alma Bladwin ? Come on

[@charlotte241000]

My Top 5 Welards Death EastEnders Baby Rory's Death Coronation Street Pat Butchers Death EastEnders Alma Sedgwick's Death Coronation Street Dr Legs Death EastEnders

[@teddyshowtaylor3645]

Don't say anything about me I'm a child I watch soaps I am smart enough to watch it but this is sad 😢 I have seen some of them

[@tonymil7319]

I'm a child and I'm a big fan of soaps as well (particularly Coronation Street). I'm quite mature enough to handle it as well. How old are you? I'm 16.

[@lisadargan5398]

Kylie platt

[@cedgson91]

Music track over narration is a bit loud and is quite distracting

[@PaulaABurnham]

Jade from hollyoaks

[@nickbamber1232]

Lisa Dingle Liv Dingle Faith Dingle Shadrach Dingle Butch Dingle Finn Barton Harriet Finch

[@dogsbreed5]

Blackadder ?.???

[@JohannaLeigh]

Who's Liz SMITH? Liz DAWN.

[@amyclarke41]

ok

[@candythomson844]

Its liz dawn not smith

[@truthiskey8625]

British soaps are so ancient now

[@Zedekiah_Samuel_Tily_2021]

Once again u got names wrong. Vera is played by Liz Dawn not Smith do ur research before making video common sense. Liz Smith was in royale family

[@dafullclip]

OK! I just didn't know that Brits could cry. That's all! LOL!

[@juliemitchell3013]

How dare you! We are always crying, especially over our soaps! You need to meet a nice Brit dear x I’m too old

[@dafullclip]

@@juliemitchell3013 my fault. 10-4, lol

[@somebawldy3789]

Something other than whats on Tv would be nice, sick of seeing the same shite