Assassinations in Fiction - Television

Television

• Playhouse 90 (1956–1960) — The 1958 episode "The Plot To Kill Stalin" involved a plot against Uncle Joe (Melvyn Douglas).

• On Trial (1960) — a series of dramatizations of important UK legal cases, including the case of Governor Joseph Wall. In that episode, Spencer Perceval appears as a character. Perceval is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated (in 1812).

• The Time Tunnel (1966–1967) — The episode "The Death Trap" involves both the 1865 assassination of President Lincoln and the 1861 conspiracy against him, known as the "Baltimore Plot".

• Star Trek (1966–1969) — In the episode "Journey to Babel", the Tellarite ambassador is assassinated and an attempt is made on the life of Captain James T. Kirk. In the episode "The Savage Curtain", US President Abraham Lincoln is murdered, but in battle on an alien world.

• Saturday Night Live (1975–present) — Nightline broadcaster Ted Koppel (Joe Piscopo) reports as famous but incomprehensible actor Buckwheat (Eddie Murphy) is assassinated on live television, and then Buckwheat's assassin (Murphy again) is assassinated in turn.

• Red Dwarf (1988–1999) — The episode "Tikka to Ride" features an elaborate plot which takes place in an alternate timeline where JFK survives due to accidental intereference by the Red Dwarf crew. After witnessing the negative result of his survival the crew enlist Kennedy to go back in time to carry out the assassination. The plan works: Kennedy shoots his past self and the timeline is restored. Kennedy grimly thanks the gang for the chance to restore himself to his proper place in history, and fades away as a result of the resetting timeline.

• Quantum Leap (1989–1993) — The episode "Lee Harvey Oswald" concerns the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy.

• Babylon 5 (1993–1998) — features several assassinations (meaning the targeted killing of a significant political figure, rather than the many other deaths or murders that occur in the show). One of the earliest assassinations is of Earth's President Santiago, in a spectacular scene showing the explosion of the Presidential Spaceship, Earth Force One. The same episode shows his Vice-President Clark being sworn in. The scene is shot as a replica of the swearing in of LBJ, following the JFK assassination, complete with Santiago's widow posed in the background. Clark's assumption of power begins Earth's slow decline into fascism, and it was discovered his faction arranged the assassination of President Santiago.

• La Femme Nikita (1997–2001) — a television spy drama, based on the French film Nikita, starring Peta Wilson and Roy Dupuis as assassins who work in a secret government counter-terrorist organization, "Section One". Section One's operatives (assassins) work not for monetary gain nor from ideological devotion, but out of a fear of being cancelled (executed) for sub-standard performance. La Femme Nikita had a run of five seasons and a total of 96 episodes; during its first two seasons, it was the highest-rated drama on American basic cable. Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, who created and produced La Femme Nikita, later went on to create 24.

• Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000) — Episode 15, "Noshing and Moshing", is set at the time of the assassination attempt on President Reagan. One character believes that it was the result of a conspiracy organized by Vice-President Bush.

• The West Wing (1999–2006) — In the first season finale, in the episode "What Kind of Day Has It Been" there is an assassination attempt on President Bartlet's personal aide, Charlie Young. It is, however, thwarted by the Secret Service. In the following episodes the assassins are discovered to have been members of an organization called Virginia White Pride, a group of racists and white supremacists. In the third season, President Bartlet orders the assassination of Qumari Defence Minister Abdul Ibn Shareef, after it comes to light that the latter has ordered a group of terrorists to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge and is plotting other terrorist acts.

• Alias (2001–2006) — Numerous assassinations, real and simulated, take place over the course of Sydney Bristow's odyssey through the underworld of covert intelligence and international organized crime.

• 24 (2001–2010) — Assassination plots have featured prominently throughout: Season 1 revolves around Counter-Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer's attempts to stop the assassination of Democratic presidential candidate David Palmer. Season 2 ends with the attempted assassination of now-President Palmer. Season 3 involves the assassination by Jack Bauer of his superior Ryan Chappelle at the behest of terrorist Stephen Saunders. Season 4 features an attempt to assassinate President Keeler by shooting down Air Force One (and subsequently the assassination of the president's son). Season 5's plot begins with a hired killer assassinating former president David Palmer at the beginning of the first episode, along with the assassination of CTU employee Michelle Dessler. Later in the 13th episode, Christopher Henderson attempts to assassinate Michelle's husband Tony Almeida. Season 6 involves the attempted assassinations of President Wayne Palmer and former President Charles Logan.

• Monk (2002–2009) — The pilot episode centres on the failed assassination of a mayoral candidate, while the first episode of Season 3 involves the murder of the Latvian ambassador in New York City. In Season 3 Episode 12, Monk the detective himself becomes the target of Chinatown hitmen.

• NCIS (2003–present) — In Season 1, Episode 1 the death of a naval officer aboard Air Force One may represent an assassination attempt on ostensible President George W. Bush.

• Deadwood (2004–2006) — Season 1 includes the 1876 assassination of lawman Wild Bill Hickok (Keith Carradine).

• Veronica Mars (2004–2007) — Roman Emperor Caligula is namechecked by Veronica (Kristen Bell) in Season 2, Episode 39, and two evil principal characters are assassinated in the season finale.

• Stargate Atlantis (2004–2009) — Several assassination attempts are featured through the series, the most extreme of them being the coup when Ladon Radim assassinates Chief Cowen and his Elite Guard with a hidden nuclear device, taking over as the new Genii leader. On another occasion, the protagonists narrowly protect the 13-year old Harmony from an attempt on her life ordered by one of her sisters (in order to usurp her position as would-be queen). In yet another incident, Teyla (disguised as a Wraith Queen) and Todd infiltrate a Hive Ship under the guise of negotiations. However, Todd stabs the Queen to death and blames Teyla for it, resulting in her becoming the new Queen.

• Lost (2004–2010) — In Season 4, former Iraqi Army torturer Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) works as an assassin for the mysterious Ben Linus (Michael Emerson). In Season 6, Sayid again becomes an assassin, this time for the Smoke Monster (Terry O'Quinn).

• House (2004–2012) — In Season 6 episode "The Tyrant", a hospitalized African dictator (James Earl Jones) avoids one assassination attempt before being murdered by a doctor

• Rome (2005–2006) — HBO/BBC/RAI series by Michael Apted et al. on wars, intrigue, and personal and political violence in ancient Rome. Season 1 includes the assassinations of several historical figures, Pompey, Pothinus, and Julius Caesar. Season 2 includes the assassination of Cicero but, unhistorically, omits Caesarion.

• Heroes (2006–2010) — In the finale of the second volume of Heroes, "Generations", former New York Congressman Nathan Petrelli gives a nationally televised speech to the media in Odessa, Texas, regarding the successful stopping of an outbreak of a deadly virus. About to reveal that he has the ability to fly, he is shot in the chest twice, mid-sentence, by an unknown assassin who quickly leaves the scene. Nathan falls into the arms of his brother, Peter, and uses his last breath to whisper his name.

• Robin Hood (2006–2009) — The story involves plots against the life of King Richard I of England.

• Reaper (2007) — President William McKinley's assassin Leon Czolgosz is the demon in "Leon", episode 6 of the first season.

• The Tudors (2007–2010) — There is an assassination attempt against Anne Boleyn on the way to her coronation, in Episode 3 of Season 2.

• Murdoch Mysteries (2007–present) — The Season 3 episode "The Murdoch Identity" involves a plot against Queen Victoria and her War Secretary in Bristol, England.

• IRIS (2009) — The South Korean TV series details a black ops agency named the National Security Service or NSS, an agency created by Park Chung-Hee that protected South Korea by operations including assassination. One of its agents, Kim Hyun-Jun, goes rogue after completing his assassination assignment in Hungary after being betrayed by NSS Director Baek San and threatened with assassination himself by his friend and fellow NSS operative Jin Sa-Woo. An arms-dealing terrorist group called IRIS also uses assassination to kill off anyone trying to rout out the group and prevent the Koreas from reuniting under peace talks.

• Warehouse 13 (2009–present) — The pilot episode features an attempted assassination of the US president at a Washington musem.

• The Event (2010–2011) — The story involves a US presidential assassination attempt.

• Nikita (2010–present) — An updating of the 1990s series, once again focusing on the exploits of a female assassin and her section.