The Last Shots From Classic British TV Shows

Last week we published the final shot from classic '90s TV shows. Here's how famous TV shows ended in Britain. Spoiler alerts, obviously.

1. Brookside

Lime Pictures / Channel 4

The soap ends on a very cheesy note, with Jimmy (Dean Sullivan) breaking the fourth wall and winking to the camera, not long after graffitiing the Brookside Close sign to read to read "Brookside Closed". A trailer for Hollyoaks followed.

2. Father Ted

Hat Trick Productions / Channel 4 / Via channel4.com

The final episode ends with a montage of the three series, followed by Ted (Dermot Morgan) and Dougal (Ardal O'Hanlon) saying goodnight followed by their bedroom light switching off.

An alternative ending to the episode was filmed, but as Morgan died the day after it was filmed, a montage was chosen instead.

3. Skins

E4 / Company Pictures / Via channel4.com

After seven series and three specials, Skins ended with a one-off storyline about Cook (Jack O'Connell) and new his role selling drugs for Louis. In the end they fight and the final shot is of Cook leaving Louis for dead, walking into the distance.

4. Gavin & Stacey

Baby Cow Productions / BBC / Via Netflix

The episode ends with the cast on the beach teasing Smithy (James Corden) after he utters (Ruth Jones) Nessa's catchphrase, "What's occurring?"

5. The Vicar of Dibley

Tiger Aspect / BBC

Comic Relief specials excluded, the final scene features Alice (Emma Horton) finally getting one of Geraldine's (Dawn French) jokes, but only after it was explained to her by her husband Harry (Richard Armitage). Frustrated, Geraldine jokingly chokes Alice.

6. Only Fools and Horses

BBC / Via Netflix

The final scene of Only Fools and Horses consists of Del (David Jason) and Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) driving their famous van home after leaving a cemetery.

7. The IT Crowd

Talkback Thames / Channel 4 / Via channel4.com

A fifth series was desired by fans, but only a one-off final was ever made. It ends with Moss (Richard Ayoade) looking at an empty office, then switching the light off.

8. The Young Ones

BBC / Via youtube.com

The Young Ones infamously ends with Rick (Rik Mayall) shouting "Look out, Cliff!" as a Routemaster playing Cliff Richard's "Summer Holiday" smashes through a billboard with Cliff Richard's face on it, then falls down a cliff and explodes.

9. The Office

BBC / Capital United Nations / Via Netflix UK

Moments after the scene when Tim (Martin Freeman) and Dawn ( Lucy Davis) finally get together, the closing titles roll as David Brent (Ricky Gervais) asks the interviewer whether she has got everything, before taking off his microphone and leaving.

10. The Thick of It

BBC Worldwide / BBC / Via Netflix

A camera slowly zooms out of yet another political disaster. As the credits roll, you hear cries of "shit in the couscous", "fuck the stamps", and "what a shit day".

11. The Royle Family

Granada Productions / BBC / Via Netflix

Barbara (Sue Johnston) finds a new wedding ring in a Christmas pudding as a present from Jim (Ricky Tomlinson). The family then wish each other happy Christmas.

12. Dinnerladies

BBC / Good News

After the canteen closes for the last time, Bren (Victoria Wood) kisses and hugs her partner, Tony (Andrew Dunn), after talking about their future lives together. Wood then performs as the closing titles roll.

13. Peep Show

Objective Productions / Channel 4 / Via channel4.com

The final shot is preceded by Jeremy (Robert Webb) thinking, Ah, we do love each other really, followed by Mark (David Mitchell) thinking, I simply must get rid of him.

14. The Mighty Boosh

Baby Cow Productions / BBC / Via Netflix

The cult show ends with a commercial for Windy Blast Fast, tablets for trapped wind.

15. Fresh Meat

Channel 4 / Lime Pictures / Via channel4.com

After saying goodbye to her housemates, Josie (Kimberley Nixon) walks around an empty house. She then leaves and walks down a nearby road.

16. Spaced

Big Talk / Channel 4

The final shot of the sitcom shows Tim (Simon Pegg) and Daisy (Jessica Stevenson) watching television together, followed by a shot of their front door.

17. My Mad Fat Diary

Tiger Aspect / Channel 4, Tiger Aspect / Channel 4 / Via channel4.com

The last shot is of Rae (Sharon Rooney) seeing her family and friends reflected on a window in front of her as she writes: "For all the crazy shit, the mental screw-ups and the madness, well that's mine, Dear Diary. I get to keep that. That travels with me."

18. Downton Abbey

Carnival Films / ITV / Via Amazon Prime Video

The final shot consists of the Downton estate as the cast sing "Auld Sang Lyne"after it passes midnight on New Year's Day.

19. Dad's Army

BBC

The platoon believe they are under attack from the Nazis, only to realise it is a false alarm. They then toast "Britain's Home Guard" for protecting the country.

20. Fawlty Towers

BBC / BBC Worldwide

Only 12 episodes of the sitcom were ever made, and in the final scene Manuel (Andrew Sachs) drags a fainted Basil (John Cleese), who is in the bottom right, out of the living room.

21. Grange Hill

Lime Pictures / BBC

The kids show ended in 2008 with some schoolchildren simply walking out of school at the end of term. This was the opposite of the first episode in 1978, which began with kids entering the playground.

22. Crossroads

Carlton Television / ITV

In one of the most baffling endings to a TV show ever, the revival of ITV soap Crossroads ended with Angel (Jane Asher) waking up to find that she's a shop assistant who had dreamt up the whole series, followed by a weird montage.

23. The Bill

Talkback Thames / ITV

Several characters leave the police station to go to the pub. This is followed by a dedication to the "men and women of the Metropolitan Police Service".

24. Life on Mars

Kudos Films / BBC

The final episode ends with the young girl from the BBC test card switching off the screen as David Bowie's "Life on Mars" plays.

25. Blackadder Goes Forth

BBC One / Tiger Aspect, BBC One / Tiger Aspect / Via youtube.com

The moving final scene of the sitcom consists of the entire cast going over the top into No Man's Land, followed by a transition to a field of poppies.

The scene was deliberately slowed down, including the music, resulting in a powerful moment of television. There were no closing titles, only birdsong.