History HeroicSacrifice / LiveACtionTV

** A minor one in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts "Army of Ghosts"]], when the Torchwood scientist Dr. Singh offers himself up to give information to the [[spoiler:Daleks]] in place of Rose and Mickey. The [[spoiler:Daleks]] consent and drain the information forcibly from his brain in a horrific process that only leaves a blackened husk of a skull behind.

* ''Series/TheGifted'': [[spoiler: Reed]] goes after [[spoiler: Reeve]] even while knowing it would likely lead to his death. This quickly becomes {{taking you with me}}.

* The GrandFinale of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' ends with [[spoiler:Trip]] sacrificing [[spoiler:him]]self to stop a group of boarders who were threatening the ship. However, many fans dislike this and believe it to be a StupidSacrifice, since all [[spoiler:he]] had to do was stall for time until the [[SpaceMarines MACOs]] intervened. Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse {{RetCon}}s this into a cover-up: [[spoiler:Trip was recruited by Section 31 and was doing black ops missions after his death was faked]].

'''Abby''': [[spoiler:[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome I don't.]]]]

*** The Ninth Doctor performed a similar feat in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays "The Parting of the Ways"]], when he absorbed the energies of the spacetime vortex from his companion, Rose Tyler, so that they would not kill her. Instead, they killed him, forcing him to regenerate. (Actually, this episode has lots of HeroicSacrifices, including the one made by the Doctor's other companion, Jack Harkness. It's kinda a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome cool moment]] as he stands there and [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu flips off]] his enemy before giving a "come and get me" type gesture (he gets [[BackFromTheDead brought back to life]], though.) Brought back to life, but also CameBackWrong. The event made him physically ''incapable of death'' [[spoiler:for a few billion years, at least]]. He has it tough after that.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': "In Praise of Pip" is about Max Phillips, a bookie who learns his son, Pip, was seriously wounded in Vietnam and is possibly dying. After getting in a serious argument with his boss, Max ends up getting shot and stumbles into a darkened amusement park. There he finds Pip as a ten year old, hugging him, apologizing for not being a better father or role model, and begging for him not to die. Knowing it may be too late for both of them, Max pleads with God to take his life in exchange for Pip's. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming God obliges]].

* ''Film/PerfectAssassins'': Billy jumps in front of his sister as she's about to be shot.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum "The Tsuranga Conundrum"]]: General Cicero has a heart condition from her years of piloting that makes rushes of adrenaline potentially lethal. She volunteers to manually pilot the ambulance ship to safety anyway, and dies in the process.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E2ToothAndClaw "Tooth and Claw"]], Robert Macleish is killed holding off the alien werewolf, buying the 10th Doctor, Rose and Queen Victoria time to set up a device that can destroy it.

** She also pulls one in the alternate reality episode "The Last Man" where the ''Phoenix'' is critically damaged in a battle with 3 Hive ships. With most of the systems offline, she beams the remaining crew down to the nearby planet, then rams the ''Phoenix'' into the nearest of the Hive ships, destroying both vessels, and with the blast destroying the other 2 Hive ships.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E2ToothAndClaw "Tooth and Claw"]], Robert Macleish is killed holding off the alien werewolf, buying the 10th Doctor, Rose and Queen Victoria time to escape.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]]:\\\
The new series has used this trope to the point where there seems to be more episodes with it than without. [[spoiler:Davros]] actually calls the Doctor out on it.\\\
There's also Harriet Jones, [[RunningGag Former Prime Minister]], (WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE!) whose personal timeline and career are destroyed by the Doctor and [[spoiler:still sacrifices herself to allow the Companions the time to summon the Doctor.]]\\\
It's revealed that UNIT has planned this for the entire human race: the Osterhagen Keys will trigger nuclear warheads which will blow the Earth apart — to be activated if humans are reduced to such a state by some alien invasion that it's agreed they'd be better off ending it - or, as in this case, if said aliens need the Earth for some far worse purpose, and destroying it will defeat them. As shown in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]], they have a similar situation set up in the event of the compromise of the Black Archive, which contains all the alien technology they've acquired. In this case, it's a nuke that would destroy London.\\\
It should be noted that Martha is one of the holders of the keys and is only stopped from using it and destroying the Earth when the Daleks teleport her to their base.\\\
Sarah Jane, Captain Jack and Jackie get one later on when they also threaten the Daleks with an object called a warp star, planning to blow up the Dalek base and foil their plans, while still inside. Like Martha, they are only stopped when the Daleks cheat using teleports.

** [[spoiler:Adric's]] death in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock "Earthshock"]]. [[spoiler:Ultimately, he failed in his goal (and achieving it would have been impossible without a major paradox being created), but he was ''trying'' to be heroic. Technically, he didn't fail completely —]] his actions prevented the entire population of the earth from being killed. Well, the human population, anyway.

*** [[spoiler:The 10th Doctor]] in the second part of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]]. [[spoiler:He switches places with Wilf in a box-thing which was going to fill with radiation when opened. Cue TearJerker as The Doctor comes out dying, and then proceeds to say goodbye to all his friends and/or companions from throughout the series]]. And incredibly, [[spoiler: The Master!]] But then again, [[FoeYay the viewers should have seen it coming...]] "Get Out of the Way!" Possibly justified, as it might means "''My'' prey. Scram." He's too pissed off to care about anything other than [[spoiler:making the Time Lords pay dearly for what they did to him, in the sense of TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou. This is BigDamnVillains. This is the Master. And they NeverFoundTheBody...]]
*** The Eleventh Doctor gets two. First one is in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang The Big Bang]]'' when the Doctor triggers a second big bang to reboot reality and restore everything erased by the cracks in time, at the cost of his being erased from existence himself. Fortunately Amy brings him back at the end. The second time is probably one of the most prolonged examples of this trope to date, when he spends NINE HUNDRED YEARS defending the planet [[spoiler:Trenzalore]] in ''[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]'' from entire armies and fleets of his enemies, including the Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, Ice Warriors, Sontarans, Judoon, Silurians, Slitheen, Krynoids, Mara, Krotons and Nestene to name a few. All this to protect the residents of a little colony called Christmas, and [[spoiler:Gallifrey]], which sits on the other side of [[spoiler:the very last crack in the universe]], on the wall of the town's clocktower. The reason this counts as a sacrifice is since he spends SO long defending the place he starts dying, not of injuries, but OLD AGE. Even more profoundly, he's using up all this time with the full knowledge that [[spoiler:he is out of regenerations, and when he dies this is death will be his last.]] [[spoiler:Fortunately, Clara convinces the Time Lords to chip in and grant the Doctor a new cycle of regenerations.]]

* Joss Whedon examples:
** Merrick in the original ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' film.
** Buffy in the season 5 finale of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. [[FirstLawOfResurrection She comes back.]] [[DeathIsCheap Again.]]
** Spike in the GrandFinale of ''Buffy''. Once again, it doesn't stick.
** Doyle in ''Series/{{Angel}}'''s first season.
** Darla on ''Angel'' as well, in order to allow her son to be born.
** [[spoiler: Wesley]] sacrifices himself in the grand finale of ''Angel'', but comes back as a ghost in ''[[ComicBook/AngelIDW Angel: After the Fall]]''.
** In the ''ComicBook/AngelIDW'' oneshot "Lorne: The Music of the Spheres", Lorne sacrifices his corporeal body by leaping into the Music of the Spheres, thereby restoring balance to the universe. This one has [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim real-world subtext as well]], as his actor Creator/AndyHallett had just died.
** [[spoiler:Ethan Rayne]] in ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Season 8''. He knew he was going to die when he helped Buffy.
** [[spoiler:Giles]] also sacrifices himself in Season 8. He got between a Twilight possessed Angel and Buffy as they fought near the Seed of Wonder, wielding the Scythe to try and destroy the Seed himself and end Twilight's invasion of Earth, or get killed by Twilight and give Buffy the motivation she needed to take the Scythe and end things herself.
** In the final issues of ''Buffy'' Season 9, [[spoiler:Severin]] sacrifices himself to help create a new Seed of Wonder and restore magic to Earth.
** Simon Tam in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' was a very good one. He does not just die quickly as in most Heroic Sacrifices. He gives up his life, fortune and safety and lives the life of an outlaw just to be able to save his little sister from being tortured by the Alliance.
** Topher has stepped up to join the ranks by going out with a very literal bang to save the world in ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}''.

** Years later, in the future of the TimeTravel sequence, Londo, under the control of the symbiote, has the heroes at his mercy. In a moment of lucidity, he lets them go, then asks G'Kar -- either his sworn enemy, his best friend, or both -- to kill him so the symbiote won't alert anybody to the escape. This G'Kar does, in a manner which Londo had foreseen decades earlier in a prophetic dream -- which at the time he took to mean G'Kar would eventually murder him in cold blood. Londo is therefore an example of HeroicSacrifice, RedemptionEqualsDeath ''and'' ProphecyTwist. The symbiote then wakes up, kills G'kar, and fulfills the rest of the prophecy.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
** One episode has a rather heart-wrenching inversion. Commodore Decker and his crew are facing an unbeatable foe, so he beams his crew down to a nearby planet and intends to go down with the ship. Except it doesn't play out like that. The enemy in question is a PlanetKiller, and his ship isn't what it's after. However, since Decker is a FourStarBadass, he still gets his Heroic Sacrifice. But in a roundabout fashion.
** In "The Alternative Factor", the crew is menaced by a time-traveling madman named Lazarus, who is constantly being forced to switch places with his more benevolent counterpart from a parallel antimatter dimension, where the natives learned how to pass through one universe to the next. The evil Lazarus threatens to destroy both universes by bringing himself and Anti-Lazarus into the same one; Anti-Lazarus, however, instructs Kirk to destroy his spaceship when he tries, which will seal him in the tiny "corridor" between the two dimensions. This, however, will also destroy Anti-Lazarus' ship, and he knows it; he won't die, but is willingly condemning himself to a FateWorseThanDeath, trapped forever with a madman to save both universes. Having no other option, Kirk complies.
* Two different starships Enterprise get this in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Yesterday's Enterprise". Short version: A Captain Picard from a timeline where the Federation is losing a war against the Klingons pulls a YouShallNotPass against a squadron of Klingon battlecruisers, sacrificing the ''Enterprise-D'' in order to allow the ''Enterprise-C'' to return to her own time and get destroyed defending a Klingon outpost from a Romulan attack, cementing the Federation's status as a [[FireForgedFriends Fire Forged Friend]] to the Klingon Empire.
-->'''Picard''': Attention all hands! {{As you know}}, we could outrun the Klingon vessels, but we must protect the ''Enterprise''-C until she enters the temporal rift. And we must succeed. Let us make sure that history never forgets the name, "''Enterprise.''"
** The episode ''"The Quality of Life"'' has one for one of the Exocomp droids (who had just been established to be self aware). Three of them enter a highly dangerous radiation field in order to allow Picard and Geordi to be rescued. However, in order to rescue the Exocomps, one chooses to stay behind to prevent the radiation from killing the other two, and it is destroyed in the process.
** In the episode "Face of the Enemy", Troi is persuaded (well, forced) to act as a double agent for a member of a Romulan underground resistance movement named N'Vek, who uses surgery to disguise her as a Romulan officer of the Tal Shiar. At the climax of the episode, when Troi is about to escape back to the ''Enterprise'' after completing the mission - helping three high-level dissenting members of the Romulan government defect to the Federation - the Romulan Commander is onto her, and N'Vek threatens the Commander to buy Troi time. The angry Commander vaporizes him using a disrupter, but the stalling works, and Troi manages to escape.
* In season two of ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'', Stefan Salvatore sacrifices himself by handing himself over to Klaus in order to get the cure for Damon when he is dying from a fatal werewolf bite. During this process, Stefan is forced by Klaus to shut off his humanity, become the blood addicted Ripper and to torture and kill innocents.
** And in the third season finale, Elena insists that Stefan rescue Matt while the two of them are drowning, mirroring how Elena's father insisted Stefan save Elena before the show began.

** The Doctor in general tends to go out with a bang: most of his regenerations were heroic sacrifices of some kind or another. Honourable mentions go to Three (walks into a radiation-drenched cave to confront the Great One), Four (unplugs a cable with an effort that throws him off a tower and incidentally saves the Universe) and possibly Eight ([[spoiler:purposefully abandoning his identity to create a regeneration capable of ending the Time War]]).\\\
Leela's father takes her place in a trial for heresy and dies minutes into ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E4TheFaceOfEvil The Face of Evil]]''. Neeva does a not-entirely-intentional version later on.\\\
The Fifth Doctor at the end of ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani The Caves of Androzani]]'', which is seen as one of the best stories. Both he and Peri (a DamselScrappy if there ever was one) were suffering from fatal poisoning, and the Doctor gives the antidote to her. He then collapsed, and willed on by his past companions, regenerate into a new body in the best such sequence in the series.\\\
The Ninth Doctor performed a similar feat in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays The Parting of the Ways]]'', when he absorbed the energies of the spacetime vortex from his companion, Rose Tyler, so that they would not kill her. Instead, they killed him, forcing him to regenerate. (Actually, this episode has lots of HeroicSacrifices, including the one made by the Doctor's other companion, Jack Harkness. It's kinda a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome cool moment]] as he stands there and [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu flips off]] his enemy before giving a "come and get me" type gesture (he gets [[BackFromTheDead brought back to life]], though.) Brought back to life, but also CameBackWrong. The event made him physically ''incapable of death'' [[spoiler:for a few billion years, at least]]. He has it tough after that.\\\
[[spoiler:The 10th Doctor]] in the second part of ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]''. [[spoiler:He switches places with Wilf in a box-thing which was going to fill with radiation when opened. Cue TearJerker as The Doctor comes out dying, and then proceeds to say goodbye to all his friends and/or companions from throughout the series]]. And incredibly, [[spoiler: The Master!]] But then again, [[FoeYay the viewers should have seen it coming...]] "Get Out of the Way!" Possibly justified, as it might means "''My'' prey. Scram." He's too pissed off to care about anything other than [[spoiler:making the Time Lords pay dearly for what they did to him, in the sense of TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou. This is BigDamnVillains. This is the Master. And they NeverFoundTheBody...]]\\\
The Eleventh Doctor gets two. First one is in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang The Big Bang]]'' when the Doctor triggers a second big bang to reboot reality and restore everything erased by the cracks in time, at the cost of his being erased from existence himself. Fortunately Amy brings him back at the end. The second time is probably one of the most prolonged examples of this trope to date, when he spends NINE HUNDRED YEARS defending the planet [[spoiler:Trenzalore]] in ''[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]'' from entire armies and fleets of his enemies, including the Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, Ice Warriors, Sontarans, Judoon, Silurians, Slitheen, Krynoids, Mara, Krotons and Nestene to name a few. All this to protect the residents of a little colony called Christmas, and [[spoiler:Gallifrey]], which sits on the other side of [[spoiler:the very last crack in the universe]], on the wall of the town's clocktower. The reason this counts as a sacrifice is since he spends SO long defending the place he starts dying, not of injuries, but OLD AGE. Even more profoundly, he's using up all this time with the full knowledge that [[spoiler:he is out of regenerations, and when he dies this is death will be his last.]] [[spoiler:Fortunately, Clara convinces the Time Lords to chip in and grant the Doctor a new cycle of regenerations.]]\\\
It has been debated whether Time Lord sacrifices count, since they can regenerate up to 12 times; at any rate, several of the Doctor's incarnations regarded it as death.
--->'''The Doctor:''' I don't want to go... (''regenerates'')

** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan The Daleks' Master Plan]]'', [[spoiler:a desperate convict is holding Katarina hostage to hijack the ship to Kembel; he's [[TooDumbToLive so ignorant]] of [[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Stolen_Earth Earth's]] [[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Dalek_Invasion_of_Earth history]] that he actually thinks the Daleks will help him. Rather than risk the Doctor risking all their necks and their chance to get word to Earth, Katarina blows the hatch.]]
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E4TheKrotons The Krotons]]'', Serlis charges into the machine to bring the Doctor the acid he asked for. He gets it to him, but the Krotons kill him.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E4ColonyInSpace Colony in Space]]'', the Colony leader Ashe does this by piloting the doomed spacecraft alone, thereby tricking the mining corporation into believing all of the colonists have died. This allows the group to mount a successful surprise raid against the corporation later, and to regain control of the planet.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen Revenge of the Cybermen]]'', one of the men carrying a boobie-trapped bomb deliberately sets it off as a weapon against the Cybermen. These frees the other victims.
** [[spoiler:Adric's]] death in the episode ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Earthshock]]''. [[spoiler:Ultimately, he failed in his goal (and achieving it would have been impossible without a major paradox being created), but he was ''trying'' to be heroic. Technically, he didn't fail completely --]] his actions prevented the entire population of the earth from being killed. Well, the human population, anyway.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E6TheKingsDemons The King's Demons]]'', Hugh insists on taking up the king's champion's gauntlet, to protect his father from having to fight the DuelToTheDeath. (He is quite offended when the Doctor intervenes to save his life after he fails.)
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld The End of the World]]'', the [[PlantAliens Plant Alien]] Jabe sacrifices herself to hold down a switch that slows a gauntlet of fan blades just enough to allow the Ninth Doctor to escape to safety. She then burns to death, on-screen at that, from the extreme heat vented in shortly afterwards.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead The Unquiet Dead]]'', a clairvoyant maid named Gwyneth becomes the voice for a race of ghost-like aliens named the Gelth, who claim to wish to pass through a rift to Earth using her as a gateway in order to possess human corpses to regain physical form. The Ninth Doctor and Gwyneth agree, [[spoiler:only for the Gelth to pour through the rift and reveal their true intentions of taking Earth by force.]] Gwyneth promptly [[spoiler:traps the Gelth within the house,]] has the others flee, and lights a match, igniting the gaseous [[spoiler:Gelth]] and destroying the house with her inside.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E8FathersDay Father's Day]]'', after Rose destroys the timeline by saving his life, Pete Tyler [[spoiler:allows himself to be run over by the car that was meant to kill him]] to restore it.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E12BadWolf Bad Wolf]]'', the Controller, a human woman hooked up to Satellite Five since her childhood [[spoiler:as part of the machinations of the Daleks to destroy the human race]], takes advantage of a brief solar flare that disrupts the communications between her and [[spoiler:the Daleks]]. At that point, she transmits the coordinates of the kidnapped Rose [[spoiler:(and the Dalek fleet)]] to the Ninth Doctor, knowing full well [[spoiler:the Daleks]] will discover her betrayal after the flare passes [[spoiler:and exterminate her.]] They do just that moments after she finishes.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E2ToothAndClaw Tooth and Claw]]'', Robert Macleish is killed holding off the alien werewolf, buying the 10th Doctor, Rose and Queen Victoria time to escape.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion School Reunion]]'', [[spoiler:K9 MK III]] blows up a room full of Krillitanes pursuing the Doctor and co. by shooting a cluster of explosive barrels while it is still in the room. [[spoiler:Fortunately it gets rebuilt later as the MK IV model.]]
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters Love and Monsters]]'', the still-conscious members of LINDA absorbed by the Absorbaloff (Ursula, Colin, Bridget and Bliss) immobilize the monster long enough for Elton to destroy it, killing the 4 victims in the process. Ursula gets brought back, however. Sort of.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit The Satan Pit]]'', Mr. Jefferson is trapped in a maintenance shaft slowly draining of oxygen while busy fighting off possessed Ood, in order to buy time for Rose and the other workers to escape.
** A minor one in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts Army of Ghosts]]'', when the Torchwood scientist Dr. Singh offers himself up to give information to the [[spoiler:Daleks]] in place of Rose and Mickey. The [[spoiler:Daleks]] consent and drain the information forcibly from his brain in a horrific process that only leaves a blackened husk of a skull behind.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E3Gridlock Gridlock]]'', [[spoiler:the Face of Boe]] sacrifices himself to provide enough energy to open up the motorway in which the [[spoiler:last surviving]] citizens of New New York are trapped, releasing them from both the doomed fate of driving on the motorway forever [[spoiler:and from being preyed on by the Macra below.]] Specifically, this saves the life of Martha and numerous other minor characters met throughout the episode who are stuck in cars on the motorway with no escape.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks Evolution of the Daleks]]'', [[spoiler:Dalek Sec, after becoming a Human-Dalek hybrid and gaining emotions,]] takes a shot from another Dalek to save the life of the Tenth Doctor.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood The Family of Blood]]'', [[spoiler:John Smith -- a fake personality created by the Doctor while hiding from some villains -- sacrifices himself and dies]] so that the Doctor can save the day.
** A whole lot in ''[[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned Voyage of the Damned]]''. [[spoiler:Foon]] sacrifices herself to take down a Heavenly Host by grabbing it and diving into the ship's engine. Later, [[spoiler:Bannakaffalatta]] uses up the power in his cybernetics to disable several more Hosts and also dies. Finally, [[spoiler: Astrid Peth]] sacrifices herself by driving a forklift to pick up the villainous [[spoiler:Max Capricorn]] and send them both into the engine.
** [[spoiler:[[TeenGenius Luke]] [[EvilGenius Rattigan]]]] in the New Season 4 episode ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E5ThePoisonSky The Poison Sky]]''.
** Similarly, [[spoiler:Jenny]] takes a bullet for the Doctor in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E6TheDoctorsDaughter The Doctor's Daughter]]'', causing Ten to flip out to the point where he [[BatmanGrabsAGun actually threatens the killer with a gun]]. Earlier on, the Hath Peck jumps into a quicksand pit to pull out Martha after she falls in. Unfortunately, she is unable to help him out before he sinks below the surface.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E7TheUnicornAndTheWasp The Unicorn and the Wasp]]'' this is attempted by Agatha Christie by using herself to lure off the attacking Vespiform towards the end of the episode. She gets all the way to a lakeside where she is prepared to sacrifice her life, which is connected to the Vespiform's, in order to destroy it. Fortunately it's ultimately subverted when Donna intervenes and chucks the Firestone (the object linking Agatha and the Vespiform) into the lake, with the Vespiform diving in after it to its demise.
** River does this in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead Forest of the Dead]]''. [[spoiler: Although she may be doing this to keep the timeline. If The Doctor died then he would have never met River's parents and took them on the TARDIS, thus failing in her ever being conceived.]]
** The Hostess in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight Midnight]]'' sacrifices herself to destroy the monster possessing one of the passengers by opening the door of the shuttle they are all in and dragging the possessed passenger, along with herself, outside into the lethally radioactive sunlight. Also invokes [[HeHadaName He Had a Name]] as none of the other passengers, including the Doctor, bothered to get her name, much to their shame.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft Turn Left]]'' we get treated to a whole conga line of these, as the episode occurs in an alternate universe where [[spoiler:the 10th Doctor never met Donna, and died defeating the Racnoss]]. One by one, the various alien invasions of Earth since then occur, and without the Doctor around to stop them, things go wrong extremely quickly. First, the Judoon abduct the Royal Hope Hospital, and [[spoiler: Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde and Maria have to intervene instead]]. They are less successful than the Doctor was and the Hospital is returned with only one survivor, who was saved by [[spoiler:Martha Jones]], who gave him the very last oxygen mask before dying. Later on, [[spoiler:Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones]] are killed defeating the Sontaran plot to gas the planet with the ATMOS devices, and [[spoiler:Captain Jack is captured and imprisoned on Sontar]]. Finally, after the stars themselves start going out, Donna decides she has had enough and seeks out [[spoiler:Rose]], who sends her back in time to the moment she made a decision that prevented her meeting the Doctor, to prevent herself from making the same mistake and causing the bad timeline. Unfortunately, Donna lands in the past a significant distance away from her past self and isn't able to catch up in time to talk to her personally. To stop her past self, the future Donna [[spoiler:throws herself in front of a car, killing her]] and causing a traffic holdup that forces the past Donna to make the correct decision. Luckily, since it was an alternate universe, the events are undone and all the characters who perished survive.
** ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Journey's End]]'':\\\

It's revealed that UNIT has planned this for the entire human race: the Osterhagen Keys will trigger nuclear warheads which will blow the Earth apart -- to be activated if humans are reduced to such a state by some alien invasion that it's agreed they'd be better off ending it - or, as in this case, if said aliens need the Earth for some far worse purpose, and destroying it will defeat them. As shown in ''[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]'', they have a similar situation set up in the event of the compromise of the Black Archive, which contains all the alien technology they've acquired. In this case, it's a nuke that would destroy London.\\\

** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars The Waters of Mars]]'' Ed Gold blows up the rocket ship, the only escape for the survivors on the Mars base, with himself inside when he gets infected by the Flood to prevent the virus from using it to reach Earth and destroy it.
** In the Eleventh Doctor episode ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks Victory of the Daleks]]'', a group of Daleks successfully enact a plan to resurrect stronger, pure Daleks. The new Daleks' feelings toward their predecessors? "YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness." The old Daleks' response: "We are ready." Those Daleks took a course of action to save their race knowing full well it would end in their deaths.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E6TheVampiresOfVenice The Vampires of Venice]]'' the 11th Doctor and Rory enlist the aide of a boat constructor named Guido, whose daughter (and Amy) was taken by the titular alien vampires. Eventually the vampires come after them in force, and Guido lures them away from the 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory into a building full of gunpowder barrels, which he promptly ignites, blowing up the building and killing himself and all the female vampires.
** [[spoiler:Rory]], who [[TakingTheBullet takes a shot]] meant for the Doctor in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E9ColdBlood Cold Blood]]''. It goes FromBadToWorse though, because [[spoiler:his body is very near one of the Cracks in time, and it starts to erase him from existence]]. Even worse, [[spoiler:Amy]] forgets all about him.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E6TheAlmostPeople The Almost People]]'', the human worker Dicken sacrifices himself to hold off the crazed Ganger of Jennifer Lucas to buy the remaining human workers, the good Gangers, 11, Amy and Rory a chance to get away. Later, the Gangers of Miranda Cleaves and [[spoiler:the 11th Doctor]] dissolve themselves willingly to defeat Jennifer's monstrous Ganger once and for all.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes to War]]'', the soldier Lorna Bucket defects to the side of the Doctor's allies and participates in the final showdown with the Headless Monks to defend Amy and her baby. Unfortunately during the skirmish she takes an energy blast to the chest and is killed. Strax is seemingly killed too, but gets better later in a short.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks Asylum of the Daleks]]'', [[spoiler:the Dalek]] Oswin Oswald wipes the memory of the Doctor from [[spoiler:ALL of]] the Daleks and lowers the defenses of the Asylum, allowing it to be destroyed with her still on it to prevent the insane Daleks within from escaping and invading the universe.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E3ATownCalledMercy A Town Called Mercy]]'', [[spoiler:the sheriff of Mercy, Isaac]] shoves Kahler Jex out of the way when he is about to be shot by the Gunslinger and is killed himself. [[spoiler:Granted, Jex deserved it, but Isaac had noble intentions attempting to save him and thus this still qualifies.]]
** [[spoiler:Rory, again,]] in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E5TheAngelsTakeManhattan The Angels Take Manhattan]]'' when he [[spoiler:and Amy, who refuses to live without him]], plunges off of a building to his death, creating a paradox that destroys the Weeping Angels. Both of them get brought back shortly after, [[spoiler:but Rory is caught by the last remaining Angel and sent back permanently into the past, and Amy joins him soon after willingly]].
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E2IntoTheDalek Into the Dalek]]'' the soldier Gretchen gives her life holding off the Dalek antibodies so that Clara and Journey Blue can escape. [[spoiler:She ends up in Heaven, seemingly fine, with Missy. However, the events of the season finale confirm that she is dead]].
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E5TimeHeist Time Heist]]'', Psi deliberately overloads his mind with the criminal records of hundreds of infamous bank robbers to lure the Teller away from Clara, figuring her ties to her loved ones make her life more valuable than his. [[spoiler:Subverted when the "Shredder" he uses to avoid becoming lunch teleports him to safety instead of killing him.]]
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline Flatline]]'' Rigsy attempts this by getting onto a train and attempting to drive it into the oncoming Boneless in order to defeat them and save Clara and the others. Fortunately, its subverted when Clara also gets on the train and wedges the wheel in place, allowing Rigsy to get off with her. [[spoiler:Good thing too, since the Boneless end up just flattening the train into the wall]].
** A very interesting example in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven Death in Heaven]]'' with [[spoiler:Danny Pink]], who was hit and killed by a car in the previous episode. In this one, he gets brought back [[spoiler:as a Cyberman, retaining his emotions and memories]] and uses his new form to rescue Clara and eventually save the day by rallying [[spoiler:the Cybermen]] and leading them into the clouds of conversion pollen to detonate themselves, saving the world and killing him again. What makes this example interesting is that the real sacrifice is due to the fact that [[spoiler:the 12th Doctor finds a way to bring back 1 soul from the Nethersphere, and ensures Danny has access to it. Later, Danny's voice speaks from the Nethersphere to Clara, but instead of returning to life he sacrifices his chance to instead send back the child he killed long ago by accident in a war]].
** In "Empress of Mars", the awakened Ice Warriors are [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] the Victorian soldiers, but then one of them manages to sneak up on Queen Iraxxa and puts a blade to her throat to get her warriors to stop shooting. He then plans to have her pilot the Ice Warrior ship back to Earth, leaving his men behind. However, his superior sneaks up on ''him'' and shoots him for treason and cowardice. He then begs the Queen to take his life both to spare his men and to allow him to die honorably (having been dishonored previously by abandoning his post). She agrees to give him an honorable death, making the guy almost cry with relief, but then decides not to kill him right away, as he has earned her respect and deserves a warrior's death in battle. He immediately drops to his knee and swears fealty to his new Queen.
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'':
** In "The Reichenbach Fall", [[spoiler:Moriarty issues Sherlock an ultimatum: commit suicide and be remembered as a fraud, or doom his three closest friends to death by sniper. Sherlock manages to fake his death convincingly enough to both call off the snipers and walk away. However, the public disgrace remains, and he spends the next two years in exile to avoid further endangering his friends.]]
** In "His Last Vow", [[spoiler:the only way to stop Magnusson from blackmailing Mary Watson is to kill him. Acting alone, Sherlock shoots Magnusson in front of multiple credible witnesses so that John cannot possibly be accused of the murder, knowing that he is risking arrest at best and a virtual death sentence at worst.]]
** In the third season, [[spoiler:Mary returns the favor by taking the bullet for Sherlock]].
* Neeva, not entirely intentionally, in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E4TheFaceOfEvil The Face of Evil]]''

** Then subverted. D.L. takes a bullet from Linderman to save Niki. Enter season two: he is dead, and we are lead to assume that that is how he died. But then a flashback to four months ago has him make a full recovery from the hospital, and is indeed well enough to go fight fires and stuff...only to [[DroppedABridgeOnHim get shot by some random crackhead with the hots for Niki]].
* ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' has [[spoiler: Hale]] trying to stop a van with shooters at Half-Sack's funeral... But unfortunately, ''they run over his head''.
** Season 5, [[spoiler:[[GoOutWithASmile Opie]]]]
** [[spoiler: "I got this," to [[ForcedtoWatch Jax]]]]

* In the ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode, "Ashes and Dust," [[spoiler: Evan Abby lures the serial arsonist into a warehouse (which has been doused with benzene) and incinerates both himself and the arsonist.]] Somewhat falls under RedemptionEqualsDeath, since [[spoiler: Abby was the head of the company that the arsonist believed was a club for setting fires.]]
--> '''Vincent''': "Seriously, how do you plan on getting out of here?"
--> '''Abby''': [[spoiler: [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome "I don't."]]]]
* On ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'', George Mason (the former director of CTU) is accidentally exposed to radiation early in the second season, and slowly begins to die. He secretly stows away on a plane that contains a nuclear bomb, and is being piloted into the Mojave Desert by Jack Bauer. He ends up convincing Jack to let him fly the plane on a suicide run, letting Jack parachute out and live, as well as saving millions of innocent people.
** In Season 3, a terrorist named Stephen Saunders orders that Ryan Chappelle be killed or he will release another vial of a weaponized virus. Saunders has already released one vial resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people. Chappelle is scared at first but when their attempts to find Saunders fail, he agrees to sacrifice his life so others can live.
** In Season 7, a chemical plant manager called John Brunner attempts to cut off supply, when terrorists attempt to release it into the atmosphere. He instead releases a large dose into the chamber he's in, to minimize damage. Subverted, slightly, in that the attack is stopped by events elsewhere, but still, pretty damn heroic.
** A moment of silence for [[spoiler: Bill Buchanan, who set off an explosion in a gas filled room with himself still inside it to save the President's life.]]
** Jack is a fan of this trope, too bad he [[CharacterShield never gets to pull it off]].
** And now we can add [[spoiler:President Omar Hassan to the list, who gives himself up to the terrorists to prevent a bomb detonating in New York. They torture him and eventually slit his throat before Jack can rescue him.]]
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' -- two words: [[spoiler: "Talyn, Starburst!"]]
** A bit of a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] in that the sacrifice, while incredibly [[TearJerker moving and sniffle-worthy]], isn't purely selfless, and [[spoiler: Crais does take the opportunity to deliver a grand JustBetweenYouAndMe speech to Scorpius before he and Talyn self-destruct.]] Truly, he was a megalomaniac to the end. And we ''loved'' him for it.
** When [[spoiler:Talyn!Cricthon exposes himself to radiation to save everyone, knowing that he will die for it.]]
** At the end of ''The Peacekeeper Wars'', Crichton arguably knew that both the universe and he might not make it if [[spoiler:he used wormhole weapons to stop the war. And he did it anyway. Granted, he came out fine, but he very well might not have, but he figured out that the only way to make the Scarrans and the Peacekeepers see reason—and leave him and his new wife and son alone—was to make them stare their own death in the face. And by this point, Crichton basically had nothing left to lose. He put it like this: "''Either way, this war is over.''"]]
** The Farscape episode "My Three Crichtons" has Crichton split by an energy probe into the original, a caveman version and a highly evolved version. As the probe will continue to tear their ship apart until one of the Crichtons is fed to it, a game of cross & double-cross ensues. The Neanderthal Crichton, [[{{KillingYourAlternateSelf}} by killing future Crichton]], saved Crichton. Then proceeds to [[{{BigDamnHeroes}} save everyone else]] by sacrificing himself to the probe.
* ''Series/CaptainPowerAndTheSoldiersOfTheFuture'': In the series finale, Corporal Jennifer "Pilot" Chase sacrifices herself to manually activate the Power Base's self-destruct mechanism, taking TheDragon and its invading horde down with her.

---> '''Col. O'Neill:''' I think what the Captain's asking is, "What now?"
---> '''Bra'tac:''' Now we die.
---> '''Col. O'Neill:''' Well, that's a bad plan.
* In the pilot of ''Series/StargateUniverse'' [[spoiler:the senator]] seals a damaged shuttle through which they were losing oxygen, though doing so means being trapped inside and asphyxiating. His daughter got to watch. [[spoiler:He was going to die anyway from either internal bleeding or a heart condition, so he was just [[TakeAThirdOption choosing a third option]]]].

* In ''Series/PrisonBreak'', [[spoiler:Brad Bellick]], who spent the first two seasons as a main antagonist and the third as a pain in the arse before joining the heroes in season 4, sacrificed himself to ensure the grand plan would be completed. They make a point to show the character's dead body by the time the episode is out, just to be clear.
** The series finale has [[spoiler:Michael Scofield]] sacrificing himself so the final prison break can succeed and [[spoiler:his wife and unborn child]] can be free. However, [[spoiler:the nosebleed implies that his condition was not cured and he was going to die anyway]]. Possibly averted in Season 5, where [[spoiler:it's revealed that he may yet be alive]].
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': [[spoiler: Gunnery Sergeant Granger]] dies during the street ambush in "War Cries".
* In ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', Zordon, who, after being held hostage and drained of energy for a year, begged the man that had finally arrived to rescue him to stab his [[SealedGoodInACan can]], which was done after some convincing. The resulting [[DeusExMachina magical explosion]] destroyed the enemy army throughout the universe, turned three villains human, and brought the rescuer's recently deceased sister back to life.
** The viewers' response to this was so overwhelming positive, that the writers felt they were safe using such a plot element again; in ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'', Kendrix sacrificed herself to save Terra Venture from Psycho Pink. (In this case, it was done because Valerie Vernon had to leave the show after [[RealLifeWritesThePlot being diagnosed with leukemia]]. [[spoiler:Kendrix did [[UnexplainedRecovery get better]] in the finale of the series.]]
* Franchise/KamenRider:
** Riderman in ''Series/KamenRiderV3'' saves Japan from a nuke, apparently being taken with it, leading to V3 to declare, officially, that he was the fourth Kamen Rider. He shows up in ''Series/KamenRiderX'' no worse for the wear, though, and ''Manga/KamenRiderSpirits'' reveal that he did survive, but suffered amnesia for awhile.
** [[EverybodysDeadDave Multiple]] examples in ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki''.
*** Miyuki Tezuka/Kamen Rider Raia, being a fortune teller, predicts the next rider death as that of [[TheHero Shinji Kido/Kamen Rider Ryuki]], but lies about it, saying he will. He then sacrifices himself to change fate, prove his otherwise always right prophecies wrong and save Kido so he could continue trying to stop the Rider War.
*** Satoru Tojo/Kamen Rider Tiger, after realizing how his ChronicBackstabbingDisorder made a mess of his life, jumps in front of a truck to safe a father and a little kid. Ironically, his ChronicBackstabbingDisorder came from his wish to become a hero and his twisted interpretation of what a hero is, is that a hero is someone who sacrifices what's most dear to them, which in this case were the people he cared about.
*** Shinji Kido/Kamen Rider Ryuki dies protecting a little girl from a monster in the series' finale.
*** Ren Akiyama/Kamen Rider Knight sacrifices himself to protect Shinji Kido in alternate timeline of Ryuki special ''13 riders''.
** In ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'' Yuji Kiba sacrifices himself against the [[BigBad Orphenoch King]] so Takumi Inui/Kamen Rider Faiz gets the chance to finish him off.
** In the alternate timeline of ''Series/KamenRiderBlade'' movie ''Missing Ace'', Hajime Aikawa/Kamen Rider Chalice links himself to the BigBad and asks Kazuma Kenzaki/Kamen Rider Blade to kill him, so the BigBad will become mortal.
** ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' combines this with LastDance. Ankh had his main Core Medal damaged by [[BigBad Doctor Maki]] so he decides to aid Eiji Hino/Kamen Rider OOO in the final battle, knowing full well that the strain will shatter it and kill him.
** Subverted in a comical manner in ''Series/KamenRiderGaim.'' CampGay Oren Pierre Alfonzo/Armored Rider Bravo throws himself in the line of fire to save Takatora Kureshima/New Generation Rider Zangetsu-Shin from an attack by the Overlord Deemushu, causing him to revert into his human form. It may seem dramatic with Oren lying weakly in Zangetsu-Shin's arms, as if Oren is going to succumb to his injuries in the arms of his lovely warrior in white. Then it turns comical as Zangetsu-Shin [[ComicallySerious nonchalantly]] throws Oren out of his arms and out of harm's way. He got better, though.
** ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'': Chase/Kamen Rider Chaser protects Gou Shijima/Kamen Rider Mach from [[BigBad Gold Drive]] and dies after passing his [[TransformationTrinket Shift bike]] to him. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Asskicking]] ensued.
*** In the Direct-to-DVD crossover special ''Kamen Rider Yongou'', released during ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'''s run, the evil organization Shocker uses a machine to trap the Kamen Riders in a GroundhogDayLoop, giving Shocker the time to strengthen their army. Each time one of the Riders dies, the loop resets. In the end, it is revealed [[Series/Kamen Rider 555 Takumi Inui]] keeps the loop active with his desire keep everyone he cares for alive, making him the anchor for the loops. In the original timeline, he was supposed to have died after the events of ''555'', but with Shocker's meddling of history, Takumi survived. If the original timeline is restored, Takumi would cease to exist. In true heroic fashion, Takumi destroys Shocker's time machine and restores the timeline to normal, at the cost of his own life.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'': Alain/Kamen Rider Necrom tries to pull this twice, but the first attempt is interrupted by his [[TrueCompanion fellow]] riders and he can't go through with the second attempt because he realized that he doesn't hate his [[BigBad brother]] as much as he thought.
** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': Poppy Pipopapo sacrifices herself to spread the cure for Bugster Virus [[ZombieApocalypse epidemy]] in series' finale. Parado does the same to help Doctor rider defeat [[OneWingedAngel Gamedeus Cronus]] only little later.
* In ''Series/FlashForward2009,'' FBI agent Al Gough learns from his flash forward that his actions at some point result in [[spoiler:the accidental death of Celia, a woman he has never even met.]] He also knows that fellow agent Demetri Noh had no flash forward and has been told he will be murdered. He chooses to sacrifice himself by [[spoiler:jumping from the roof of the L.A. FBI building to prevent Celia's death and to show Demetri and others that the flash forwards can be changed.]] [[spoiler: Sadly this proves to be pointless, she ends up dying anyway.]]
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'': In the episode "A Feasibility Study", aliens who have been immobilized by disease abduct a whole neighborhood of humans. The people are informed that if they can survive the harsh environment of the aliens' home world, then the rest of the human race will be abducted and turned into slaves. The humans decide to deliberately infect themselves with the alien disease to save Earth, causing the aliens to cancel their plans for mass abduction.
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'':
** "The Voyage Home" has the protagonist blow up his spaceship to prevent an evil alien from reaching Earth.
** In "To Tell The Truth", the protagonist chooses to stay behind and fend off an angry mob. He is beaten to death, but his action buys just enough time for his friends to activate and launch an escape pod.
** In "In The Zone", a scientist uses his own body to absorb excess energy from his device, and vanishes, trapped in SuperSpeed to be invisible to normal people and rapidly age until death.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
** In "Fracture", Chloe uses her healing powers to bring Lex, who is pretty obviously a villain at that point and has done her great personal harm previously, back from the brink of death at the cost of her own life. Luckily, she has ResurrectiveImmortality, although she remained dead for 18 hours. Clark is worried the next time she won't be coming back.
** {{Deconstructed}} in the episode "Lazarus". [[spoiler:Clark Kent finds himself in the afterlife after dying in the previous episode to stop Zod. Jor-El calls him an idiot for not realizing that even though he did save the day, he's now left Earth vulnerable to future threats. Fortunately, Lois manages to revive him.]]
* ''Series/HoratioHornblower'':
** In the first episode "The Duel", Midshipman Clayton takes Horatio's place in a duel and as one episode guide described it, "becomes the first in a long line of people to cheerfully die for Horatio".
** In the episode "Retribution", Archie Kennedy takes sole blame for a mutiny in order to save Horatio from being hanged. It wasn't his life he was sacrificing -- he had been wounded in a battle shortly before and was dying anyway -- but his good name and the pension for his surviving family members, suggesting how loyal he is to Horatio.
* Writers must love writing this trope for ChronicallyKilledActor Creator/JamieBamber. Aside from Archie Kennedy, Tony Dewhurst (the very first of his characters to be killed off) was shot and killed trying to protect Series/TheScarletPimpernel from being gunned down (adding insult to injury is that Dewhurst ''lived'' throughout the series of books the miniseries is based on), and the most recent one, DS Matt Devlin of ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'' was shot protecting his friend Alesha Philips (along with the young witness in their case) from a hail of gunfire.
* ''{{Series/Sliders}}'':
** In "The Exodus", Professor Arturo steps in front of Quinn Mallory and takes a bullet meant for him. At this point Arturo is already severely brain-damaged thanks to Colonel Rickman, but he still sacrifices himself so that Quinn can live to get the others home.
** In the GrandFinale, Rembrandt injects himself with the anti-Kromagg virus and jumps to his own Earth despite the seer's vision that anyone who did that would die. While his fate remains unknown, it's clear that, even if he dies, the virus has a chance to spread and free that Earth from the Kromaggs.
* In ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS2E06Epidemiology Epidemiology]]" Abed allows himself to become infected in order to allow Troy time to escape.
* On ''Series/BurnNotice'', [[spoiler:Ian]] sacrifices himself to stop a rogue diplomat.
** A few episodes later, [[spoiler:Fiona turns herself in]] to make Anson's leverage over Michael worthless.
** In the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:Madeline Westen]] goes out with a bang in order to protect [[spoiler:her grandson]] and give Michael a little more time to stop [[BigBad James Kendrick]]. "This one's for my boys..."
** Sam tries to do this in one episode, when he's captured by a group of mercenaries, who want to send a photo of him to Michael. Sam makes a weird gesture that Michael recognizes from another photo of him and Sam and realizes Sam is trying to tell him not to come for him, knowing it's a trap. Naturally, Michael isn't about to let Sam die and manages to rescue him.
* Quite a few in ''Series/{{Primeval}}''.
** Season 2: [[spoiler: Stephen]] locks himself in with [[spoiler: Helen's captured creatures]] to trap them, in among the most dramatic and heartwrenching scenes in the entire series. [[spoiler: Cutter]] offers himself up for one multiple times throughout the episode, but is constantly stopped at the last minute by other characters. This episode is the one most often regarded as the best by fans and critics.
** Series 5 Episode 6, a.k.a. the finale: [[spoiler: Phillip Burton realises that his anomaly chanelling power station is out of control. Matt is with him in the control centre when Phillip tells him to leave, and that he will shut down the machinery holding the artificial anomaly open. He says, "[[HeelFaceTurn Hey, I'm the bad guy]]."]] But it isn't enough. He [[spoiler: shuts down the machine, but the artificial anomaly no longer needs it, and it is large enough that it destroys the building. Phillip is killed as the building collapses. This is distinct from a RedemptionEqualsDeath because Phillip neither intended the destruction, nor did he die following rather than during it]].
** [[spoiler: Matt Anderson]] does one in the climax of the episode, but...[[spoiler: he lives]].
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** "What do we say to the God of death? Not today! Now go!" This was said by Syrio Forel as he defends Arya and holds off their attacker long enough for her to make good her escape.
** Septa Mordane stands in front of Lannister soldiers to prevent them from taking Sansa, whilst urging her to flee. [[spoiler: It costs the woman her head. Her sacrifice ultimately fails, but she would've been killed either way.]]
** [[spoiler: "Hold the door!"]] This was said by Hodor in "The Door" when he, Summer and Leaf all die to save Bran and Meera from attacking wights, though he is under the control of Bran at the time.
** Theon assures Robb that the two thousand men he sent to their death on the Green Fork was this, but Robb is still uncomfortable with it.
** Yoren refuses to surrender any of his charges and goes down fighting for them.
** Grenn and his chosen men die defending the tunnel through the Wall against the giant Mag the Mighty.
** Summer buys Bran and Meera precious time to escape at the cost of his life.
** The Three-Eyed Raven tells Bran how Jojen's entire journey with Bran to the cave was this, considering Jojen was very weak and that he fully expected and accepted death when they reached it.
** Barristan goes against utterly impossible odds for the sake of saving his comrade's life.
* ''Series/ChoudenshiBioman'': After being hit with a ray that was already starting to kill her Mika/Yellow Four 1 took the rest of the shots saving the other four team members as well as rendering the weapon useless.
* ''Series/LastResort'': Captain Marcus Chaplin makes one of these to make sure the Colorado and its nuclear weapons do not fall into Chinese hands and explicitly forbids his second-in-command from joining him.

* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': In the finale of the second season, Nina is willing to [[spoiler:send herself into the afterlife with Senkhara]], in order to release the curse off of her friends and family. She doesn't end up leaving, though, as Senkhara [[spoiler:was taken away by Eddie.]]
** In the same scene, Joy has one. Nina (who was possessed by Senkhara at the time) threw a lightning bolt at Fabian- [[TakingTheBullet and she jumped in his way to save him.]] She didn't die, though, as Victor [[spoiler:sacrified his last tear of gold to save her life.]]
** Eddie has his on in [[TheMovie The Touchstone Of Ra]]. According to prophecy, whoever touches the touchstone are to, well, be turned to stone, unless the Osirian dies. He was willing to make the sacrifice. [[spoiler:However, rather than dying, [[ProphecyTwist he merely lost his powers- as the Osirian did indeed die, but not the human.]]]]
* The GrandFinale of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' ends with [[spoiler:Trip]] sacrificing [[spoiler:him]]self to stop a group of boarders who were threatening the ship. However, many fans dislike this and believe it to be a StupidSacrifice, since all [[spoiler:he]] had to do was stall for time until the [[SpaceMarines MACOs]] intervened. Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse {{RetCon}}s this into a cover-up: [[spoiler:Trip was recruited by Section 31 and was doing black ops missions after his death was faked]].
* On ''Series/{{The 100}}'', both Kane and Jaha are eager to perform heroic sacrifices to atone for the things they've done. That they both keep surviving their attempts to sacrifice themselves is actually a minor source of frustration for them.
* Parodied on ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', when Dewey and Hal accidently throw a spider out the front door and straight into Lois' face.
-->'''Dewey''': [''locks the door''] Go. She can only ground me. Get your keys and go.\\
'''Hal''': B-but...\\
'''Dewey''': ''GO!''
** Played straight in a later episode. Grandma Ida, the biggest {{Jerkass}} in the entire show, sees that Dewey is about to be hit by a truck. She then clamps her cigarette in her mouth, runs as fast as she can, and pushes him out of the way. It costs her a leg, but it's undoubtedly the only nice thing she's ever done in her life, and she did it with nothing to gain and no one pushing her to do it.
* ''Film/PerfectAssassins'': Billy jumps in front of his sister as she's about to be shot.
* ''Series/{{Homeland}}'': In "A False Glimmer" Qasim tries to stop Bibi from triggering the gas, gets shot for his trouble, but still manages to pull him away from it long enough, letting Carrie shoot him and therefore saving thousands of lives. He dies in Carrie's arms as she recites an Islamic prayer for him.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': "In Praise of Pip" is about Max Phillips, a bookie who learns his son, Pip, was seriously wounded in Vietnam and is possibly dying. After getting in a serious argument with his boss, Max ends up getting shot and stumbles into a darkened amusement park. There he finds Pip as a ten year old, hugging him, apologizing for not being a better father or role model, and begging for him not to die. Knowing it may be too late for both of them, Max pleads with God to take his life in exchange for Pip's. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming God obliges]].
** "The Changing of the Guard": A teacher forced into early retirement questions if he's made any impact on the world. He's visited by the ghosts of some of his former students who all gave their lives to save others. One was killed at Iwo Jima, another died as a result of experiments into X-ray treatment for cancer, yet another saved twelve men on the USS Arizona during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and all alongside so many others. They were inspired by lessons they taught him.
* John Reese in ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' replaces Harold Finch in the GrandFinale and makes a last stand against Samaritan's forces, resulting in him being fatally wounded in a shootout with Samaritan's men before the cruise missile strikes. There's also Root, who swerves a car and ends up taking a bullet for Finch several episodes prior. Considering God Mode, her DisabilitySuperpower, it's hard to believe she didn't know what she was doing.
* Near the end of Season 1 of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', Rip is shown the vision of Ray dying in a blast of energy. When the team attempts to destroy the Oculus to prevent the Time Masters from interfering with the timeline and [[spoiler:helping Savage]], Rip recognizes the circumstances of Ray's impending death and warns him. Ray decides he doesn't mind dying for a good cause and continues rigging the device. [[spoiler:He's knocked out by Mick, who has grown to grudgingly respect Ray and intends to take his place; when Leo finds out, he comes back, knocks Mick out in turn, and ends up being the one who blows up with the Oculus]]. He also gives an awesome PreMortemOneLiner:
--> [[spoiler:'''Leonard Snart''']]: There are no strings on me.
** In the Season 2 finale, [[spoiler:all the remaining Legends choose to travel back to 1916, crossing their own timeline, in order to save the reality from Thawne's manipulation. They know that, by doing that, they themselves become Time Aberrations and will disappear upon the success of their task. All but Future!Sara end up dying in different manner (with Future!Jax taking an arrow for Past!Stein), though, and Future!Sara vanishes with a smile on her face after the Black Flash kills Thawne]].
** In Season 3, during the final episode of the ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'' crossover event, [[spoiler: Stein is mortally shot by Nazi soldiers, with only his link to Jax keeping him alive, but at the cost of slowly killing Jax as well. Realizing this, Stein takes a serum to sever that link, killing himself in order to save Jax's life.]]
* ''Series/{{Delete}}'': Daniel connects to the AI knowing it could kill him, as a means of stopping it. He survives though.
* ''Series/ChannelZero: Candle Cove'' ends with one of these. Mike knows that the paranormal force behind [[ShowWithinAShow Candle Cove]] [[spoiler: the spirit of his dead brother [[EnfantTerrible Eddie]]]] wants to pull a GrandTheftMe on him, in order to regain total access to the real world and spread Candle Cove's influence, and is forcing his compliance by [[IHaveYourWife abducting his daughter Lily]]. So, Mike allows himself to be dragged into [[spoiler: Eddie]]'s [[EldritchLocation realm]], securing Lily's freedom in exchange for going along with the plan... only to then [[DidYouJustScamCthulhu distract]] [[spoiler: Eddie]] long enough for his mother to MercyKill Mike's body, cutting the link to the real world and trapping Mike and [[spoiler: Eddie]] in the other world forever.
* ''{{Series/Homeland}}'':
** In "A False Glimmer" Qasim tries to stop Bibi from triggering the gas, gets shot for his trouble, but still manages to pull him away from it long enough, letting Carrie shoot him and therefore saving thousands of lives. He dies in Carrie's arms as she recites an Islamic prayer for him.
** In "America First" [[spoiler: Quinn]] is killed getting Carrie and the President elect to safety.
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', in which the main character Oliver Queen, under the crime-fighting persona 'The Vigilante' and later 'The Green Arrow', frequently stands to lay down his own life in order to protect those closest to him and the city he swore to protect.
** During the show's second season, Oliver finds himself coming face to face with a former comrade turned enemy, Slade Wilson, who seeks to enact a vendetta against Oliver as revenge for events which took place on the island, notably his failure to stop Dr. Ivo from killing Shado, with whom Slade was in love with; injecting a severly injured Slade with the 'super-soldier' drug Mirakuru, which both gives him superhuman strength and drives him insane. At their last encounter, Oliver faced off against Slade, finally driving an arrow into his right eye, presumably killing him. Slade survived, however, and resurfaces as the terrorist mercenary 'Deathstroke'. In "Seeing Red", Slade captures Oliver and his family and forces him to chose between his mother Moira and younger sister Thea over who will live or die. Moira, having recently strained relationships between both her children, sacrifices herself to save her children by allowing Slade to kill her by stabbing her through the abdomen before both Oliver and Thea.
** In "City of Blood", Oliver finds himself resolved to end Slade's vendetta against him without anybody else getting hurt by sacrificing himself. After not showing up to Moira's funeral, Felicity and Diggle confront Oliver, who reveals to them that he intends to surrender to Slade. He accepts responsibility for Slade's actions, having not acted to cure Slade on the island, thus accepting responsibility for his mother's death. He tells them that after killing Moira, Slade told him that before this was to end, one more person would have to die, and having seen what Slade is capable of, Oliver is convinced that his own death is the only thing that will stop Slade from harming those remainig closest to him and the city he swore to protect. When Felicity desperately tries to dissuade him from surrendering, Oliver tells her "someone once told me that the essence of heroism is to die so others can live." Admitting defeat, Oliver tells them he sees no other solution and leaves to prepare for his surrender, after which Felicity and Diggle inform Laurel of Oliver's intentions, who in turn confronts him in another effort to dissuade him. She reveals to him that she knows he is the Arrow, and that she knows he was with Tommy when he died following the earthquake. Oliver, still determined to face Slade, tells her that although he couldn't save Tommy or his mother, he could still save the rest of them and Starling City from Slade. Laurel responds by pointing out the effect his death would have on Thea, having just lost their mother. She finally manages to dissuade him by telling him she has proof that Sebastian Blood, Starling City's newly elected mayor, is working with Slade, thus giving him another way to stop Slade.
* ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
** In the Season 2 finale, [[spoiler:Barry creates a Time Remnant of himself in order to stop Zoom from destroying TheMultiverse. While Barry fights Zoom, Barry's Remnant runs faster than his body can handle in order to create a feedback loop on Zoom's device. His body disintegrates from the stress, as the Remnant screams in agony, but the machine is stopped. In an unusual departure from the ExpendableClone trope, everyone, including Barry, honors the Remnant for his sacrifice]].
** In a Season 3 episode, Barry heads into the Speed Force in order to [[spoiler:take Wally's place in the prison]]. However, the Speed Force is having none of that, telling him that it's high time he stopped blaming himself and took responsibility for the problems he'd caused. [[spoiler:Jay ends up taking Wally's place until such time as Barry can put Savitar back in prison]].
** Later [[spoiler: H. R. switches places with Iris using a holographic cover to make himself look like her, so Savitar kills him instead]]. In addition, [[spoiler:Barry voluntarily goes into the Speed Force to take his place in the prison (Cisco having freed Jay), happy in the knowledge that Iris is safe and willing to atone for his sins. On the other hand, the Speed Force (as his mother Nora) tells him and the others that, for him, the prison will be a paradise, not hell]].
* ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'':
** James the artist manages to paint everyone out of his enchanted painting before it burns, dying in doing so.
** [[spoiler:Leo diving in front of Nicci's lightning to save Kahlan.]]
** Richard finally meets his biological father [[spoiler:Panis Rahl]]. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Panis]] and Zedd don't get along, since [[spoiler:Panis]] killed Zedd's father long ago (to be fair, though, [[spoiler:Zedd's father had been trying to kill Panis's infant son Darken]]) and then [[spoiler:used a [[BedTrick disguise to seduce and impregnate Zedd's daughter]], producing Richard and Jennsen]]. Near the end of the episode, the group is attacked by Sister of the Dark, and one of them hurls her Dacra (a large shuriken) at Zedd, whose back is turned. [[spoiler:Panis]] calmly takes a step, [[TakingTheBullet interposing himself]], and receives a fatal wound. He's able to make amends with Zedd and Richard before expiring.
** Kahlan lets herself fall when she's left hanging from Richard after she slips when going up a cliff, so he can take the Stone of Tears off to stop the Keeper in "Eternity". Luckily it turns out to be just a magical illusion and she's fine.
* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': Luke tries to hold off the soldiers while June and Hannah run, with just a revolver. He's quickly shot, but manages to survive and escape into Canada.
* ''Series/AmericanGods2017'': Mexican Jesus dies placing himself in between undocumented Mexican immigrants and right-wing thugs shooting them while trying to cross the US border.
* ''Series/{{Killjoys}}'':
** Weymer Simms triggers the explosive to destroy the virus which is killing his family, dying in the process. He was already infected himself.
** Khlyen infects himself with a toxin that poisons the source of the green plasma to stop the Sixes in the Quad, dying in the process.
* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaBloodAndChrome'': The ''Osiris'' {{suicide attack}} on a Cylon basestar.
* ''Series/FallingSkies'':
** Mike holds off the 7th Mass long enough for Hal to help the kids escape, but is killed by Clayton in the process.
** [[spoiler: Tom gives himself up to the aliens so they won't take his son again.]]
** Alexis pilots the beamer right into the Espheni Power Station, destroying it and being killed in the process.

* ''{{Series/Misfits}}'': Superhoodie takes a bullet intended for Alisha in episode 4 of the second series, ending his mission.
** And Simon later takes a knife in the gut to save Curtis, in order for Curtis to be able to rewind time to save the others.
** [[spoiler: Rudy attempts one to save Alisha from Time-Control Girl but they're rescued before he actually dies.]]
** In the Nazi timeline, [[spoiler: Peter, the guy who can direct the future via comics]], presumably makes one when trying to escape, knowing the unimaginable damage his power could do.
** Nadine later [[spoiler: lets the Four Horsemen kill her rather than having the gang sacrifice themselves to save her.]]
* ''Series/FearTheWalkingDead'': In "No One's Gone" [[spoiler: after the falling of the stadium, Madison sacrifices herself to save Nick, Alicia, Victor, and Luciana]]
* ''{{Series/Humans}}'':
** Mia triggers a device which will destroy Hester, knowing it would do the same to her since she's in range there. Thankfully she can be revived before it's too late.
** Karen sacrifices herself to save her son when he's exposed as a synth, identifying herself as one to an angry mob so he has time to get away. They beat her to death.

* ''{{Series/Humans}}'': Karen sacrifices herself to save her son when he's exposed as a synth, identifying herself as one to an angry mob so he has time to get away. They beat her to death.

* ''Series/Humans'': Karen sacrifices herself to save her son when he's exposed as a synth, identifying herself as one to an angry mob so he has time to get away. They beat her to death.

* ''{{Series/Humans}}'': Mia triggers a device which will destroy Hester, knowing it would do the same to her since she's in range. Thankfully she can be revived before it's too late.

** In "City of Blood", Oliver finds himself resolved to end Slade's vendetta against him without anybody else getting hurt by sacrificing himself. After not showing up to Moira's funeral, Felicity and Diggle confront Oliver, who reveals to them that he intends to surrender to Slade. He accepts responsibility for Slade's actions, having not acted to cure Slade on the island, thus accepting responsibility for his mother's death. He tells them that after killing Moira, Slade told him that before this was to end, one more person would have to die. Determined to protect Thea, Laurel, Sara, Felicity, Diggle and Starling City, he finds himself prepared to meet his fate at the hands of Slade. When Felicity desperately tries to dissuade him from surrendering, Oliver tells her