In the 1950s, Gilbert Harding was Britain's biggest television star, a larger than life figure who revelled in his status as the country's 'rudest man'. He was also a practising homosexual, at a time when it was still illegal in the UK. John Freeman famously tried to 'out' Harding in his BBC Face To Face interview in 1960. An audience of 11m people watched in horror as the star was reduced to tears when Freeman insisted that he talk about the death of his mother. The event made Harding a national hero and Freeman a hate figure.

Things may look grim at the beginning of Animal Hospital when a distressed pet is brought in for treatment, but normally, by the end, a full recovery is made. Unfortunately for Flossie the dog, this was not the case. When he appeared on the programme, the vet had the difficult task of telling his owner that he wouldn't recover. The tough-looking male owner then kissed his dog goodbye, hugged Rolf Harris and started to cry.

Cliched and corny, this 70s weepie was almost universally slated by the critics. The cinema-going public ignored the cynical hacks and lapped up the saga of family feuding and malingering disease which tears grief-stricken lovers Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal apart. The whole film is pretty much designed to have you sobbing into your popcorn, but we'll plump for a dying MacGraw bidding a final farewell to O'Neal from her hospital bed.

The Olympic Games have produced so many emotional moments, but Derek Redmond's 400m semi-final run in Barcelona in 1992 produced drama to live long in the memory. 175m into the race, Redmond pulled his right hamstring. Rather than giving up, he rose to his feet and decided to finish the race. Unable to bear his son's agony, Jim Redmond ran onto the track to help. Millions around the world choked back the tears as the father-son team made it over the finish-line.

Ken Loach's important TV drama tells the story of a young woman who marries, has children and who then, when her husband suffers a terrible accident, is plunged into poverty to such an extent that she loses her home and finally, her children. Applauded for its realistic depiction of poverty and homelessness, Cathy Come Home has become a British TV classic. The whole tale is harrowing in its nature, but the final scene in which Cathy's children are taken away is especially devastating.

One of the most beloved institutions of British television, Inspector Morse finally hung up his hat in 2000, with the 33rd and final instalment, 'The Remorseful Day'. Essentially a detective drama set in and around Oxford, it was the character of Morse himself, a mildly cantankerous figure so ably embodied by John Thaw, which helped maintain the show's popularity. The Inspector's death in the final episode is made all the more poignant by Thaw's subsequent death as a result of cancer.

A vivacious, sensual and ultimately moving ensemble piece about an Indian family's wedding preparations. As relatives and friends converge, a host of issues emerge. Amongst the excitement and anticipation of the union, various secrets are uncovered. Emotions run high during the scene where the bride's cousin reveals she was abused by her uncle - prompting her father to stand up to the perpetrator.

Anthony Hopkins stars in this definitive Merchant-Ivory film, adapted from the novel about class, love and repression by Kazuo Ishiguro. Set in an English country house just before the Second World War, Hopkins is a repressed butler, kept from revealing his love for Emma Thompson by a chronic case of British reserve. Such are the performances of the two leads that you can almost feel the aching in their hearts. When Hopkins fails to express his love for Thompson and can only hold his hand up to his face in pain, you'll be weeping along with him.

The original and successful sitcom about a Northern family who spend their time watching the television was one of the hottest comedies of the 1990s. The Royle Family are just like many other families and that's what makes them so loveable! The real point of the programme is that there isn't one. There is no plot, there is no farce or slapstick, and there is no comedy star! There are no jokes. The nation took Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston's family to their hearts. The ordinariness of the whole thing gave scenes like Tomlinson's heart-to-heart with Caroline Aherne in a bathroom just before she gave birth even more emotional punch.

Richard Dreyfuss is the titular Mr Holland, a musician and composer who reluctantly takes a teaching job to pay the rent while working on his masterpiece. Stuck in the job, he comes to realise that imparting his passion for music to his students is his life's real major opus. Hankies at the ready when Holland mimes/ sings Lennon's 'Beautiful Boy' to his deaf son as an act of regret.