JUST over one million Australians lost someone they cared about this week.

His name was Patrick, and he wasn't real.

Fans of Channel 10's Offspring mourned the loss of an important character this week.

Wait, was he important?

I've never actually watched the show.

I seem to remember a bunch of Facebook posts gushing about him when the show first went to air - I only noticed because I thought they were talking about how wonderful and handsome I was.

So I never even knew a death was coming up on the show.

Like my first encounter I only noticed when I saw my name repeated over and over on Facebook in status updates like, "Can't believe they killed Patrick" and "No Patrick, nooooooo!"

Obviously they weren't talking about me - I was alive and well.

But it made me wonder - why was there such a public outcry over the death of a fictional character?

He wasn't real - the actor playing him is alive, well and off to his next project I assume.

Yet the fans continue to mourn someone they've only seen on TV since 2011 - and for only a handful of episodes a year.

It's one thing to be emotionally invested in a TV series - but it's a whole other thing to react like it was someone you know.

It's TV - get over it.

I find this somewhat hard to relate to - I don't seem to connect with characters on TV as others do. I wasn't left all that heart broken after the famous Red Wedding scene in Game of Thrones.

I haven't read the books so the scene was a bit of a surprise (although, the title Red Wedding hinted that something nasty might happen).

I was a tad shocked at what did happen - but there was no mourning over the characters from me. It was dramatic and has moved the story forward in an unexpected way.

Apparently George R.R. Martin still gets angry letters over it.

Maybe Offspring's producers can expect the same now.

Perhaps these reactions are the same as normal - except amplified, thanks to social media.

Characters come and go in stories told though books, television, video game and other mediums - it moves the plot forward.

No point crying over it - it'd be a boring story otherwise. Save sorrow for your real loved ones.