History NoOneGetsLeftBehind / LiveActionTV

'''Col:''' OK! ''(makes to leave)''\\

'''Angel:''' He, uh...he stayed behind.\\
'''Lorne:''' Stayed behind? But you never leave a...(Angel and Spike won't look him in the eyes) Or...I guess we do. [[WhatTheHellHero That's what we do now.]]
* ''Series/BandOfBrothers'': played straight on numerous occasions, especially with the character of Wild Bill Guarnere, who will go to any lengths to drag a wounded comrade off the battlefield.
** Although the characters are occasionally forced to leave their friends to die on the enemy line, with episode 6 being a particularly egregious example.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E1TheDominators "The Dominators"]]: Jamie opts for this when Cully says IWillOnlySlowYouDown to Jamie after the Quark shots him.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel "The Age of Steel"]]: Mickey insists on rescuing Rose, the Doctor, and alt!Pete despite the risk to himself and Jake.

** The Doctor says this to Amy in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]]. Admittedly, he knows that [[spoiler:there's not ''really'' anything slowing her down]], but he's prepared to risk his life trying to convince ''her'' of that.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' initially averts this trope with everyone just looking out for themselves. As time goes on, however, the crew bonds and, by the end of the series, everyone has risked their lives to save someone else numerous times. Discussed during a rescue mission to recover [[spoiler: a pregnant Aeryn]].
-->'''Sikozu''': If the freighter escapes then we abandon all hope.\\
'''John''': We abandon all hope of leading long and prosperous lives and we follow the freighter. (about Sikozu) She's still learning.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' had at least two episodes explicitly dealing with this:
** "War Stories" (where Zoe and the crew rescue Wash and Mal from Niska) and "The Message" (where Mal and Zoe are shown in flashbacks saving Tracey's life).
** In "Safe", Simon asks Mal why he went back for him and River:
--->'''Mal''': [[TrueCompanions You're on my crew.]]\\
'''Simon''': Yeah, but you don't even like me. Why'd you come back?\\
'''Mal''': You're '''on my crew'''. Why are we still talking about this?
* ''Series/{{Life on Mars|2006}}'': Gene goes back for Sam after he is knocked down by the man they are chasing torturing him in the future. No, really.

* In season 3 of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Kate insists on going back to the Barracks for Jack after escaping the Others with his help. Her efforts seemingly destroy Jack's opportunity to leave the island.
** Then in season 5, Robert says this to Jin when going into the smoke monster's lair after Montand. This does not turn out well, either.

* In ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'', at first it seems that it will be this, but Morgana must leave Gwen in order to get away and call for help. In the same episode, Lancelot is held prisoner along with Gwen and he tells her to leave him and escape, but none are able to escape.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "The Invisible Enemy". After Major Merritt is trapped on a rock in the middle of the Martian sand sea, Captain Buckley refuses to leave him behind even though doing so could result in his own death. Buckley eventually figures out a way to save Merritt.

''(catches up with the others)''\\

* ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'': {{Inverted}} (albeit under protest from [[AFatherToHisMen Commodore Ross]]) in "Sugar Dirt". A landing to capture a strategic airstrip goes south because the Chigs suckered the UN high command, but the Navy realizes that in order to pull this off the Chigs withdrew forces from an even ''more'' strategic target, which is now open to attack. But there isn't time to retrieve the troops already on the ground so the ships are forced to abandon 25,000 troops, including our protagonists in the 58th, for two months until they've captured the new target and can return to retrieve them... by which point the 58th have nearly starved to death and only 2,000 survivors remain.

** In the first season episode "The Torment of Tantalus", Daniel Jackson wants to attempt to rescue a man who went through the Stargate in 1945 and was lost when the Stargate shut down. He comes up with multiple reasons for why such a dangerous mission should be attempted, but General Hammond shuts him down very quickly, pointing out that the man was put in danger by the US Air Force, and he should be rescued as a matter of honor (which was Jackson's original argument, he just over-prepared).
** Most notable was the 2-parter episode "Heroes" which featured a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope when they show the cost of the rescue attempt of a single {{Redshirt}}: numerous wounded, a small fortune in monetary expenses and most severely [[spoiler:Dr. Fraiser is KilledOffForReal. She does get a good sendoff though, with a DeadGuyJunior (well, dead girl junior) and the second episode ending with a eulogy listing the names of people she's saved during the series]].
** The above quote is from the episode "[[ThoseTwoGuys The Other Guys]]" where two scientists witness SG-1 getting captured. With this motto in heart, they attempt a more or less successful rescue [[spoiler:Only to be told by O'Neil that the capture was part of a BatmanGambit, so SG-1 could meet up with TheMole in the enemy's ranks.]]
** Averted in the finale of season one, when [[spoiler: Daniel was left behind on Apophis' soon-to-be-destroyed ship.]] The implication, however, was that [[spoiler: he]] wasn't going to survive anyway (being severely injured), and the other characters probably wouldn't, either, if they didn't avert this trope. The irony was that [[spoiler: if Daniel ''hadn't'' been left behind, he probably ''would'' have died anyway: he used the sarcophagus and the Gate to heal himself and get home (respectively). It's implied that they wouldn't have been able to save him on Earth.]]
** Becomes an important point in "Cor-ai" when Teal'c is put on trial for killing a crippled old man while he was in the service of Apophis. Daniel finds out that the villagers escape through hidden tunnels when the Goa'uld come, but they won't leave anyone behind. Part of the way they exonerate Teal'c is by showing that he did what he did to save the multitude of the villagers so they could escape without being slowed down.

** The episode "The Galileo Seven". During an attack by aliens, Spock is pinned by a boulder. He orders the other Enterprise crewmen to go back to the shuttlecraft and lift off. They refuse and manage to free him, getting everyone to the shuttle safely. While the delay means they have to use the shuttlecraft's boosters to escape, apparently dooming it to be destroyed in re-entry, Spock is the one who comes up with the lifesaving bright idea that enables them to be rescued.
** In "All Our Yesterdays", [=McCoy=] tells Spock to [[IWillOnlySlowYouDown go on without him]] when his and legs get frostbitten. Spock insists, [[Heartwarming/StarTrek "We go together or not at all."]]
* In their first few appearances on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the Borg would collect pieces of their fallen comrades who had been killed, like picking up a black box, and allow the rest of the body to self-destruct. They also attempt to retrieve any RogueDrone who escapes the Collective, but as they are a HiveMind this is akin to someone saving a severed limb so it can be surgically reattached.

** In "Dark Frontier", before launching a high-risk mission to rescue Seven of Nine from the Borg, Captain Janeway cites three rules about being a Starfleet captain to [[TokenMiniMoe Naomi Wildman]]. "Keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship, and never abandon a member of your crew."
** In "The Haunting of Deck 12", Neelix says this to Tuvok.
--->'''[[TheSpock Tuvok]]''': I am injured. Logic dictates that you take the mask and proceed to engineering.\\
'''[[TheHeart Neelix]]''': I don't care what logic dictates! This isn't the ''Salvoxia''. We're not drawing lots.\\
'''Tuvok''': I am giving you an order.\\
'''Neelix''': And I'm disobeying it! You're coming with me if I have to drag you by your pointy little ears!

** {{Subverted}} in "[[Recap/SupernaturalS13E08TheScorpionAndTheFrog The Scorpion and the Frog]]". Facing Shrike, who has a weapon, Smash kicks him and runs for her life, leaving Dean to face him alone.
* Often averted on ''Series/TopGear''; the show's "code" states if the car of one presenter breaks down, the other two travel on without him. If it is played straight, it's usually because the situation is serious enough that they need to stick together, most frequently during the overseas specials.
** In practice this is usually played straight with Jeremy and the "code" usually isn't brought up when Jeremy's car needs a serious problem repairs, probably because he tends to be much less capable of doing it. Ironically, he is usually the one to invoke the code (causing the trope to be averted) when anyone else's car is broken down.
* ''Series/TheUnit'' has a variation where [[spoiler:the sniper kills a Unit operator and then ties a wire to the operator's hand to simulate movement, thus making the survivor and rescuers think that he's alive; it's only when the rescuers take out the sniper that they find that all the tension and emphasis on rescuing the "wounded" operator were for nothing]].

* The Harfoots from ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' supposedly live by the mantra about "not leaving anyone behind", but it seems at times to be more of a guideline than an actual code, a utilitarian way that at its worst can come off as InformedKindness. They practice TheNeedOfTheMany far more. Barely at the end of the first season they live up to their mantra, when Malva, Sadoc, Nori and Poppy decide to save the Stranger from the worshippers of Sauron.

* The Harfoots from ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' supposedly live by the mantra about "not leaving anyone behind", but it seems at times to be more of a guideline than an actual code, a utilitarian way that at its worst can come off as InformedKindness. They practice the NeedOfTheMany far more. Barely at the end of the first season they live up to their mantra, when Malva, Sadoc, Nori and Poppy decide to save the Stranger from the worshippers of Sauron.