There were howls of derision this week when BBC2’s Tom Rob Smith-written, Ben Whishaw-starring sex-and-espionage drama London Spy reached its climax. After four weeks of arty intrigue, it ended with unconvincing explanations, daft twists, dangling loose ends and a melodramatic maze fire. But was it as bad as these dodgy drama denouements? (NB: Multiple spoiler alert!)
Lost (2010)
The plane crash saga opened with the most expensive pilot in TV history. It ended six series later with a lame whimper: it seemed the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 were really dead and stuck in a new-age afterlife. A purgatory with en suite polar bear and smoke monster. Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel summed up viewers’ reactions: “That’s it? Seriously? Come on. Really?” Danny Baker called it “an outrage”.
Anger rating: 3/5
Dallas (1986)
The 80s super-soap contrived one of the most twisty series finales in TV history after actor Patrick Duffy, aka Bobby Ewing, changed his mind about quitting. They had killed off the Texan oil baron, only to have him return a year later in the notorious shower scene, bidding shocked wife Pam (Victoria Principal) a cheery “Good morning!” Yep, the events of the previous series had all been just her long, detailed dream.
Anger rating: 5/5
The Sopranos (2007)
The mob epic’s final scene saw crime kingpin Tony Soprano sit in a diner booth, put Don’t Stop Believing on the jukebox and wait for his family. Suddenly the screen cut to black. Happy non-ending? Or did that shifty bloke at the counter nip to the restroom, return with a gun Godfather-style and shoot Tone? The ambiguity enraged some fans, satisfied others and still sparks debate.
Anger rating: 1/5
Dexter (2013)
When the gory serial killer drama finished after eight series, most viewers expected retribution for Michael C Hall’s antihero. After mercy-killing his long-suffering sister, Dex takes her body out to sea, the boat gets destroyed in a hurricane and he drowns. Except he doesn’t. As a final shot showed, he miraculously survived to start a new life a few states down the highway, with just a lumberjack beard to disguise his identity. Riiiiight. Even Hall himself hated it.
Anger rating: 4/5
St Elsewhere (1988)
This Emmy-winning medical drama, dubbed “Hill Street Blues in a hospital”, had a finale packed with in-jokes, including a large lady who’d lost her voice. When she was cured and “the fat lady sang”, the show was over. Except for an infamous scene in which a doctor’s autistic son was seen staring at a model of the hospital inside a snow globe. Six years of life-and-death action had all taken place in little Tommy’s mind.
Anger rating: 4/5
