Wikia

TARDIS Index File

Cliffhanger

Talk0
32,651articles in progress
This article is written from
a real world point of view
You may be looking for a list of televised cliffhangers.

A cliffhanger is a standard device of serial fiction. It involves the heightening of dramatic tension at the end of an episode to such a degree that the viewer is made anxious about the fates of the protagonists. This, the producers of the work hope, will inspire viewers to return for the next episode, so that they can see how - or if - the protagonists survived.

Cliffhangers were included at the end of almost every episode of the 1963 version of Doctor Who. Most typically, the only episode free of cliffhangers was the last one in a serial, although there were periods - such as most of the 1960s and season 19 - where even these episodes had at least mild cliffhangers.

The device is still used in the BBC Wales version of the show for multi-episode storylines. A cliffhanger has also been a feature of the the last episode of the first three series, in which it served to point to that year's Christmas special.

Cliffhangers are less prominent parts of earlier Torchwood narratives, although each episode of Children of Earth and Miracle Day used them. Conversely, The Sarah Jane Adventures regularly employs cliffhangers, in a style that directly echoes so-called "classic" Doctor Who. SJA stories universally have cliffhangers between parts one and two. Series-ending cliffhangers are much less common in the spin-off series. Only the Torchwood series 1 finale ends in a cliffhanger that is directly resolved in a later episode (though series 4 has an as-yet unresolved cliffhanger as of September 2011). Unusually, this cliffhanger resolves in both TV: Utopia, and TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, and it is not strictly necessary to have seen Utopia to understand its Torchwood resolution.

As documentary subject

The quality of various cliffhangers - in terms of their efficacy to make viewers return the next week - was the subject of a short documentary, Now, Get Out of That, on the Terror of the Vervoids DVD.

WikipediaInfo

N

Have a question about how Cliffhanger relates to the rest of the DWU? See a problem here that's also happening on other pages of the wiki? Join us at our forum to have a good, ol' natter with the rest of our community. But if you want to talk about the editing of just this article, please click here and start talkin'.

Advertisement | Your ad here

Videos

Remove video
Are you sure you want to remove this video from the Videos list?
Please wait wile we are removing the video
Error occurred while loading data. Please recheck your connection and refesh the page.
520 videos about or featuring Cliffhanger
+ video
By site policy, all video must come from the official YouTube channel of the copyright holder — typically the BBC or its licensees. It's likely that no such video exists. Or maybe Cliffhanger is a subject which was never caught on video.
Only admin may add videos to this site.
1 of 1

Photos

+ image
18,481photos & counting
See all photos >

Recent Wiki Activity

See more >

Around Wikia's network

Random Wiki