There's nothing like a heroic act of self-sacrifice to totally flip fan opinion on a TV character.
You can be an irritant, a scoundrel, even an outright villain, but if you go out with a bit of dignity – and even better, save another character (or characters) in the process – then all your sins can be forgiven.
Take this bunch, who all rubbed us up the wrong way only to pull it back at the very last minute.
1. George Mason - 24
The first season of FOX's real-time thriller introduced Xander Berkeley's company man Mason as a straight-laced opponent to Kiefer Sutherland's maverick hero Jack Bauer.
Not only was he an uptight twerp, but Mason was also laundering money, something Jack used to blackmail him, restoring his reign at CTU.
But things turned around in Day 2 when Mason, investigating a terrorist hideout, was exposed to large amounts of plutonium. Dying slowly from radiation sickness, Mason volunteered to pilot a plane carrying a primed nuclear bomb into a remote area of the desert. He died in the blast, but saved millions.
So maybe we should lay off him for being a bit snippy?
2. Roger Dooley - Agent Carter
Shea Whigham's SSR chief Dooley was what some might describe as "a product of his times" – working alongside Peggy Carter in the 1940s, he constantly underestimated and undermined the kick-ass super spy.
Then, just as he was starting to see her potential, Dooley was strapped to an explosive vest by evil scientist Johann Fennhoff. Making Peggy vow to catch "the son of a bitch" responsible, he leapt out of the SSR office through a window, losing his own life in the explosion that followed but protecting his agents from the blast.
3. Charlie Pace - Lost
Though he started out likeable enough, junkie rocker Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) had all but lost our sympathy by Lost's second year. He killing dead his budding romance with Claire (Emilie de Ravin) by stealing her baby, while operating under the delusion that the child had to be baptised in the ocean to keep it safe.
Charlie's increasingly erratic behaviour began to grate on viewers and his fellow islanders but he eventually redeemed himself, sacrificing his life to save Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) when the Looking Glass station flooded.
He even passed on an important message – that a rescue team claiming to have been sent by Desmond's beloved Penny were imposters – in his final moments. His exit was, without a doubt, Charlie's greatest hit.
4. Merle Dixon - The Walking Dead
A violent thug. A racist. And he was mean to Daryl.
Merle didn't have much going for him in early episodes of The Walking Dead, so we didn't blame his fellow survivors much for leaving him trapped on an Atlanta rooftop, handcuffed to a pipe.
But when Merle reappeared two seasons on having amputated his hand and replaced it with a bad-ass bayonet, he ended up turning on his new boss, the deranged Governor (David Morrissey).
Showing no mercy, the Guv bit off two of Merle's fingers in a brutal brawl, before fatally shooting him in the chest. It was then left to a heartbroken Daryl to put down Merle in his undead form. Who thought we'd ever be sorry to see him go?
5. Brad Bellick - Prison Break
Bullying prison officer Bellick (Wade Williams) was a character who worked spectacularly well as part of the show's Year One set-up – and never quite clicked in subsequent seasons.
In season two, the writers made an admirable effort to reinvent the character. Unemployed after Michael Scofield's successful break-out, Brad became a rogue agent and human bloodhound who pursued the Fox River Eight.
In later episodes though, the character felt utterly surplus to requirements. Having him become an inmate at Sona at the close of season two was a neat reversal, but he then spent most of the subsequent year being tediously brutalised and a subsequent redemption arc saw him utterly lose his once-compelling edge.
The writers were wise to write out Bellick when they did, giving him a noble exit midway through the fourth season as he drowned in a water pipe to secure his team's safe passage into Company HQ.
