Attempted Rape in Live-Action TV series.
General Examples:
- Just about any family sitcom with a teenage girl was bound to trot this out for a Very Special Episode—The Facts of Life, Mr. Belvedere, Blossom (of course), etc. This happened so frequently that the aversions are probably more noteworthy than the examples.
- Family dramas too—middle daughter Dinah in the series Promised Land (1996) (a Touched by an Angel Spin-Off) is assaulted while walking home from her hospital volunteering job. She gets away after biting her attacker's hand. True to form, despite managing to fend the guy off, she's as traumatized as if she had been raped after all—a Shower of Angst, dressing shabbily, etc. Plus some serious Survivor Guilt when she learns that another girl was raped the same night, possibly because her attacker was frustrated by his failed attack on her.
- Soaps like to trot this out almost as often as their full-fledged rape stories, occasionally handling it just as seriously:
- On One Life to Live, cop Andy is kidnapped by two thugs working for a local mob boss. Although they have orders not to harm her, they take matters into their own hands and begin torturing her by slowly undressing her, making their intentions clear. Luckily, her boyfriend shows up in time to pull a Big Damn Heroes moment, but Andy is still so traumatized that she reacts as badly as if she had been raped—a Shower of Angst, reluctance to be intimate with her boyfriend, needing counseling.
- Similarly on Guiding Light, after Abby ventures into a bad part of town searching for a friend of hers and is attacked by a local gang member (the assault is made all the worse by the fact that Abby is deaf and is unable to hear the guy creeping up on her). She manages to fight him off and get away, but is left in such battered disarray that it's not until she's examined at the hospital that it's established that she wasn't raped. She still finds the whole experience as traumatizing and degrading as if she was, especially since she points out that she would have been had she not managed to escape.
By Series:
- Accused (2023): In "Morgan's Story" Jason tries to rape Morgan after learning she's begun seeing another man (and had asked for a divorce). Thankfully, she throws him off.
- The Affair: One of the reasons why Alison didn't reveal to anyone that she was with Scott right when he died in the hit and run accident with Noah and Helen is because he had previously attempted to force himself on her and it would make her look guilty.
- All in the Family:
- "Edith's Fiftieth Birthday": The Season 8 episode from the legendary series is perhaps television's trope codifier, where a man posing as a police detective attempts to rape Edith. He is experienced and too smart for Edith's attempts to fight him off, but eventually, she shoves a burning cake in his face and knees him in the groin, causing him to fall onto the porch and forcing him to flee.
- "Gloria the Victim," in a Season 3 episode, although that one happens offscreen and is less about the assault itself than her reaction to it. In the end, Gloria decides not to press charges against her attacker due to the humiliation she'll face in court.
- Banshee:
- Anna is subjected to this by a biker gang. Siobhan saves her by killing the would-be rapist. But it is implied that she might have been able to save herself even without the intervention.
- The mayor's wife almost gets raped by a hostage taker. Fortunately, the hostage negotiations interfere with that.
- Battlestar Galactica:
- Cally bites off part of an attempted rapist's ear on the prison ship.
- Helo and Tyrol arrive just in time to save Sharon from her would-be rapist. The extended version on DVD shows them interrupting the rape instead.
- In a fifth season episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, Donna is almost raped by the Campus Rapist who has been terrorizing her college. He breaks into her apartment, waits for her in the dark, ties her up, and prepares to rape her (delighting in her reveal that she is a virgin) when her ex-boyfriend, David arrives to rescue her. David miraculously figures out something is wrong when Donna calls him Dave and runs in with a baseball bat, knocking out the rapist.
- In one episode of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon, when listing things he's had to run from, briefly mentions one particularly persistent P.E. teacher determined to bend him over and give me a scoliosis test.
- In the Blue Bloods episode "Justice Served", this almost happens to Jamie's partner, who's reluctant to press charges at first for fear of looking weak in front of the male officers, but he eventually convinces her.
- Borgia has a scene in the first season where Juan starts to try to rape his sister Lucrezia but then she blackmails him into stopping.
- The Boys (2019): Two young thugs prepared to rape a woman before Starlight wanders onto the scene and beats them up.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- Spike attempts to rape Buffy in the Season 6 episode "Seeing Red", and since Buffy is injured and can't fight him off, he nearly succeeds before she eventually is able to kick him off her long enough for him to stop himself.
- Xander tries to rape Buffy in "The Pack" (while possessed by a hyena), though nobody is surprised that Buffy fights him off.
- Xander is almost raped and murdered by Faith in "Consequences". Angel intervens.Angel: He forgot the safety word, is that it?
- In "Dead Things", Katrina is almost being raped by Warren, Andrew and Jonathan under the effects of a device that suppresses her will. She is less than happy about it when it wears off just in time. Her calling them out on it and the events that follow cements Warren's slide into monster territory and starts Jonathan down the road toward his Heel–Face Turn.
- In "Go Fish", a member of the swim team tries this on Buffy. She begins by breaking his nose, but doesn't get much further than that because Snyder shows up, and accuses Buffy of leading him on.
- Later in the episode, the swim coach offers Buffy to be pack-raped by his team of monster fish. When she escapes and he is trapped with them instead...
- In "Bargaining Part 2", the leader of the Hellions Motorcycle Gang gleefully announces his intention of having Willow, Tara and Anya gang raped for hours. He even adds that his men have "anatomical incompatibilities that tend to tear up little girls." Buffy then gives him a well deserved beatdown.
- Carnival Row: Ezra tries to rape Vignette, then claims he caught her stealing after she fights him off before running away.
- Happens in the first episode of Carnivà le - Sofie gets jumped by a couple of gas station attendants and Ben shows up and knocks one of them out with a pipe, while Sofie knocks the other out with a can while he's distracted. This leads to some uncomfortable slut-shaming from Jonesy when she gets back to the Carnivale.
- Dancing on the Edge: This trope is implied to be the reason behind Julian's attack on Jessie.
- Das Boot: Forster attempts to rape Simone after discovering she's the mole. She manages to stab him in the leg before he can, and he nearly dies from the blood loss.
- Diff'rent Strokes: In the 1984 episode "The Hitchhikers," Arnold and Kimberly accept a ride from a seemingly genial man named Bill, who invites them to his apartment. It is at the apartment where he reveals his true self as a psychopath, drugging Arnold and nearly raping Kimberly. Arnold is able to escape and provide enough details to rescue Kimberly in the proverbial nick of time. (Bill had taken her to the darkroom with the intent of carrying out his assault, but when he hears someone try to unlock the door and looks ... she is able to throw photo chemicals in his eyes, stunning him long enough for the police to enter and take him into custody.) At the episode's end, Conraid Bain (who played the series' patriarch, Phillip Drummond) gave a PSA where he urges anyone who is a victim of sexual assault to contact the police.
- Averted in "The Bicycle Man," where Mr. Drummond and the police show up in time before the seemingly nice guy Mr. Horton can advance on and rape a drugged Dudley.
- Happens to Freddy in A Different World. Dwayne Wayne jumps onto the roof of the car to stop it.
- In Dollhouse, Boyd Langton punches a fellow Handler through a plate glass window Just in Time to prevent a rape. This is not entirely played straight, however, as the aforementioned handler had already committed the crime off-screen more than once. It was also a set-up — Boyd was hiding nearby, waiting for the handler to try it again and get punched through a plate glass window.
- In the Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman episode "The Abduction", the title character is kidnapped by renegade Native American soldiers and spends most of the time fending off attacks. To the point where as one drags her towards his teepee, another one intervenes because he supposedly wants her more—only to have it turn out that he's thoroughly disgusted by his comrades treatment of her and tries to help her escape. Unfortunately, it gets him killed for his trouble. A few days later, his killer tries to assault her again, and it's abundantly clear that this time, he isn't going to stop. Only Sully showing up Just in Time saves her.
- This happens to Mia, Roxie's daughter, in the pilot of Eastwick, but Roxie and Darryl save her.
- In the television version of Friday Night Lights, Tyra is attacked by a rapist outside a restaurant where She was to meet her tutor for a missed study date. Tyra manages to fight off the rapist herself when he tries to drag her into her truck to rape her by burning him with the truck's cigarette lighter and repeatedly slamming him with the truck door. Her tutor, Landry, then arrives to comfort her.
- In the second season premiere, Tyra's attacker is back and stalking her. He attempts to attack her again outside a convenience store and in an example of Chickification, this time she needs Landry to defend her. Landry then murders the rapist as he's escaping by hitting him in the head with a lead pipe. The murder and subsequent cover-up is the catalyst for Landry and Tyra to have a romantic relationship.
- Game of Thrones:
- Sansa Stark is almost gang-raped during the riot at King's Landing. The timely (and gruesome,) intervention of the Hound stopped it. Later, she is threatened with Droit du Seigneur and Marital Rape License in "Seconds Sons" by Joffrey during her wedding with Tyrion, but his threats are eventually defused. The Hound tells Arya while he is possibly dying that he should have raped Sansa while he had the chance. She's finally overcome by Ramsay in "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" on her wedding night, and then he rapes her for many nights after.
- Theon Greyjoy was nearly raped at one point in the woods by the Master Torturer when he was saved by Ramsey Snow with an arrow through the chest of his would be rapist. Apparently, it's a standard punishment for escaped prisoners. Although arguably the former fate might have been kinder.
- Brienne is nearly raped by the Bolton soldiers, though Jaime manages to have Locke stop them with the promise of a ransom by her father. "Valar Morghulis" implies that many men have tried this before. Tried being the operative word.
- Gilly is saved from rape by the timely intervention of Samwell and Ghost.
- In "The Bells", one of Jon Snow's soldiers tries to rape a woman. When Jon tries to stop him, the man attacks him and Jon is forced to kill him.
- Gang Related: Slotko tries to rape Vee after he discovers she's an undercover cop recording him while they talk, but she's saved from it as her colleagues come Just in Time.
- Gossip Girl (2007):
- Happens twice in the pilot episode, both times with the same character as the perpetrator.
- Happens again later in the series, with the Draco in Leather Pants being the rescuer: Jack Bass, Chuck's Evil Uncle attempts to rape Lily and is saved just in time by Chuck.
- Happy Days: In "Kiss Me, Teach" Joanie is almost molested by one of her students until Fonzie bursts in and scares the guy out a window.
- Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: the fourth TV-Movie, Hercules in the Underworld, adapts the example from the Mythology and Religion section. Working for Hera, Nessus stirs jealousy and paranoia in Deianeira over the latest maiden in need of help, but he overplays his hand and is swiftly rebuffed. He responds by trying to rape Deianeira, unaware that Hercules is still nearby to hear her scream for help. With his bow and arrow, Hercules shoots Nessus dead before anything can happen. Unlike in the myths, Nessus wouldn't get the last laugh; Herc even gets the better of him a second time during the eponymous trip to the Underworld. Season 1's "As Darkness Falls" would also explore the fallout of this event, as twin brother Nemis seeks revenge (though his female underling, Lyla, remarks Nessus deserved to die for what he attempted).
- Heroes:
- Claire almost gets raped by the Jerk Jock of her school, but he ends up killing her before he does anything. (She got better.) She gets revenge by ramming his car into a brick wall. While he's in it. She gets better. He doesn't. And then her dad has the rapist's memory wiped. All of it.
- Claire was almost raped again in season 4, this time by Sylar as part of an intended Deus Sex Machina.
- iCarly: This could be an interpretation of Trey trying to kiss Carly and her running away from him.
- The I-Land: When Chase and Brody start to investigate the island, they share a kiss after flirting for a bit. Then Brody tries to force himself on her and she has to fight him off. He lies about it when they return to the group, then later sexually assaults K.C. as well. This makes sense, as his real identity is of a convicted serial rapist and murderer.
- In the In Plain Sight episode "Stan By Me", Mary Shannon is mistakenly kidnapped and held captive for several hours. One of her captors attempts to rape her and - with her being very much an Action Girl - it doesn't end well for him. She shoots him. Repeatedly. And then escapes.
- In Law & Order: Special Victims Unit', it happens twice to the same person.
- In the episode episode Undercover, Olivia is almost raped by a Correction's Officer. Finn busts in at the VERY LAST SECOND and stops it from happening.
- And Olivia gets another close call in "Her Negotiation" and "Surrender Benson" while she is abducted by William Lewis. The only reason she avoids this fate is that he spends most of the time raping other people in front of her to psychologically torture her, giving Olivia enough time to get her hands on an Improvised Weapon to clock him on the head with. She then showed him why trying to rape her was a bad idea ...
- In London's Burning, Josie meets a man at an evening class and after he gives her a lift home, he talks his way into her flat. He then attacks her, but she manages to immobilise him with a knee to the groin and throws him out. Later, she spots him out shopping with his wife and causes such a scene that he gets arrested.
- Misfits:
- Alisha's power is the ability to induce irresistible lust for her in others. However, she can't turn her power off, which as a result causes her to suffer this.
- Melissa and Emma in 3.2 at the hands of their would-be rapist coach.
- It looked like Greg was going this way with Finn, but his telekinesis flared up and knocked him over some railings.
- The Musketeers has quite a few.
- Milady claims that Athos' brother tried to do this, having first attempted to blackmail her into it by threatening to reveal her criminal past, which is why she killed him in self-defense. Athos refuses to believe his brother would do such a thing and Milady's dishonesty about her past doesn't help her case. He eventually accepts the truth when Milday sticks to her story even when the brother's fiancee tries to kill her.
- Constance is cornered by a former Musketeer early in the first season but D'Artagnan interrupts in time.
- In the most explicit on-screen example Rochefort assaults Queen Anne in season two. Constance's arrival distracts him long enough for Her Majesty to show her skill with hairpins.
- The O.C.: Towards the end of the second season after taking cocaine Trey tries to do this to Marissa but she fights him off.
- October Faction: Viv fends off a date rape which she foresaw using her power.
- In One Tree Hill, Ian attempts to rape Peyton twice.
- Oz: Episode 4.16 "Famous Last Words" — Beecher's parole comes up and the Aryans wish to interfere with it. Said warns Vern Schillinger not to interfere but Beecher is denied his chances at parole for another year. Schillinger and Robson attempt to rape Beecher after the cancellation, but Said defends him by stabbing Schillinger and Robson and then is charged with attempted murder.
- The Power (2023): After she defies him and Mrs. Montgomery, Allie's foster father Mr. Montgomery attempts to rape her. She ends up killing him with her power, shocking him initially in self-defense.
- The Purge:
- Jane is nearly raped by a Purger after she leaves the safety of her office, but is saved by the Matron Saints, a group of women who make it their mission to protect women on Purge night.
- It nearly happens again two episodes later, when David has her tied up in his gallery, but Joe interrupts this time.
- Riverdale: Nick drugs Cheryl Blossom, then carries her away and tries to rape her. Veronica, Josie, and the Pussycats burst in and kick his ass.
- In a season one episode of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Grace is almost raped, but she manages to avoid it by threatening her attackers with a broken bottle and by getting some timely assistance from Ricky. The whole thing was picked up on a nearby building's security camera and, for no apparent reason, the local news and general populace treated the footage like
it was the funniest thing ever. - Cephelo (the leader of a band of rovers) tries to rape Elven Princess Amberlee in The Shannara Chronicles whilst she is her prisoner. Interesting though he later becomes an ally and his death is even presented as something sad. He also has no remorse in offering his "adoptive" daughter Eretria to his men for a price.
- Silk Stalkings: In "Pilot", Rita is undercover at a high society party and agrees to accompany a suspect to his yacht. He attempts to rape her, but, after a struggle, she manages to pull her gun and clap it against his groin. She manages to get out without blowing her cover.
- Sons of Anarchy: In season one, Tara is attacked by corrupt ATF agent Kohn, her former lover. She is able to grab his gun and shoot him in the gut. She calls Jax who ends up shooting the rapist dead.
- Sound of Magic is a Korean limited series from Netflix. Desperately poor high school student Ah-yi takes a part-time job at a convenience store. Her landlord is about to kick her and her little sister out if they don't come up with the rent, so Ah-yi asks her boss for an advance. He refuses on the ground that she's only worked a few days, but he gives her the money from his wallet saying he had just taken it out of the bank and he feels sorry for her plight. Ah-yi is touched by this kind gesture, but it turns out to be just a prelude for him to coerce her into sex. While she's struggling against him, the reclusive magician Ri-eul comes and with a wave of his cape makes the guy disappear with real sorcery.
- St. Elsewhere: In "After Dark", Peter White tries to rape Wendy Armstrong but Fiscus stops him.
- Twice in the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series, both times to Yeoman Rand. First attempt was the titular Charlie in "Charlie X", foiled by Kirk. Second time was Captain Kirk's evil twin in "The Enemy Within", foiled by Rand herself. Come to think of it, it's really not surprising she wasn't back for the second season...
- Step by Step: In addition to at least four episodes where each of the teen-aged sisters (Dana, Karen and Al) are would-be victims, Dana (Staci Keenan, playing the eldest of the three) was nearly attacked by a middle-aged man when the two are alone at a bus station. The set-up gag that led to this scene had Cody annoying Dana about a wild dream where she was going to be attacked by a man in a suit. Dana, who is trying to prepare for a college interview at a Chicago-area university, tells Cody to go away after he intrudes on her interview, thinking the college dean is the predator (he was trying to brace her as they were viewing the Chicago skyline), but Cody still feels bad vibes and shows up at the bus station just in time to run Dana's would-be assailant off. This time, Dana is grateful.
- Supernatural:
- In the pilot, a female ghost tries to rape Sam. She usually kills unfaithful husbands, but since Sam is faithful to his girlfriend, she wants to make him unfaithful by raping him. She is stopped by Dean shooting her repeatedly.
- In "Houses of the Holy", Dean violently prevents a guy from raping a woman the guy's asked out on a date, leading into a car chase and gruesome death. Yay! This mirrors the episode "Simon Said", in which Sam smashes in the would-be mind control rapist's face with his cast.
- Tehran: Zhila's boss attempts to rape Tamar (who's disguised as her). It ends poorly for him.
- In the intro to the second season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, it appears that Sarah is about to be raped by one of the men who stole the Turk. However, that makes John angry. Thou Shalt Not Kill goes out the window.
- Tipping the Velvet (2002): Nan is nearly raped by one of her gay male customers who won't take "no" as an answer when she refused to do anal sex. She's rescued by Diana's manservant before this happens.
- In The Tribe, this happens at least three times. Lex tries to rape Zandra in series one, who later marries him. He also tries to rape Salene in series two. In series one Zandra is also almost raped by Top Hat, but he loses the urge when KC kicks him in the testicles. These are somewhat disturbing in a show that was aimed at tweens.
- True Blood:
- According to Stephen Moyer (who plays Bill Compton) in a 2009 interview, this is exactly what Bill tried to do to Sookie in the graveyard in season 1. It's even worse when you remember that Sookie was under the influence of Bill's blood, and that it's later revealed in season 3 that Bill allowed the Rattarays to beat Sookie to death precisely so he could drug her with his blood (which was a powerful aphrodisiac and a tracking device) and use that to manipulate her emotions and sexual feelings.
- At the very end of the episode "Release Me", Sookie is about to be raped until Godric (whom Sookie has been trying to find for the entire episode) bursts in and grabs the would-be rapist off of her by the neck. The episode concludes with Sookie's "Godric?" and a Reaction Shot, thus ending with a Cliffhanger. Also, at the very beginning of the following episode "Timebomb", Godric then kills the rapist by snapping his neck.
- The Twilight Zone (1985): In "A Message from Charity", Squire Jonas Hacker attempts to rape Charity Payne, claiming that he needs to look for the Devil's mark, after she is accused of witchcraft. After attacking Hacker, she manages to escape unharmed.
- The Twilight Zone (2019): In "Try Try", Mark attacks Claudia with intent to rape her at the very least when she turns down his advances. She kicks his ass, then some security guards arrive.
- Underground: In "The Lord's Day", a drunk, angry overseer forcibly drags Rosalee into his house with the intent to have his way with her. A fight ensues, and she subsequently stabs him with a broken bottle in self-defense.
- Vikings: This has happened multiple times to Lagertha. She's killed every one of her attempted rapists.
- The Walking Dead (2010): In the episode "A", Carl Grimes is seconds away from being raped when his dad rips the attacker's throat out with his teeth.
