People are being 'gut-checked' after realising what dark Tom and Jerry scene actually means

Tom and Jerry was one of the pinnacle childhood shows for millions of people all over the world.

The American series of comedy short films - created in 1940 for MGM - has since remained a fan-favourite, with the show still being shown on kids' TV.

Starring a mischief-causing mouse and a disgruntled cat, the much-loved show would see the duo battling it out to survive, with the former consistently playing rib-tickling pranks on the latter.

And though many viewers believed this to be a wholly innocent children's comedy series, a resurfaced scene from the show has left some fans reeling with emotion.

The heartbreaking clip - which has been trending on social media for the last few weeks - shows three drowned kittens being taken to heaven, and is almost guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye.

The popular X account @historyinmemes posted the tragic clip yesterday, which shows pussycat Tom temporarily visiting the gates of heaven, having sustained an injury during a lighthearted playfight with mouse Jerry.

MGM

A line-up of cats begin entering the gates and boarding a train - the 'Heavenly Express' - after seemingly being killed on Earth.

The train conductor - a cat himself - then appears to be assessing a moving sack, which is tied at the top with a piece of string, before three gorgeous kittens emerge, splashing some water out of the bag, implying they'd been purposefully drowned.

Looking down at the late kittens, the cat conductor then says: "Tut tut tut, what some people won't do."

Leaving fans literally wiping away their tears, the video's caption explained: "We were too young to understand this. The golden escalator of Heaven takes Tom’s soul up into the sky to the golden gates of the railroad station where the 'Heavenly Express' train is waiting that carries the souls of cats to heaven.

MGM

"Fluff, Muff and Puff, three kittens who suffocated and drowned in a bag of water go quickly through the gate to the train. The gatekeeper allows the kittens through as their passings were untimely."

And viewers of the clip were quick to express their emotional at the tear-jerking video on social media.

"As a child I never understood this scene with the bag. Seeing it now again as a man it just gut checked me. Fuq, I need to hug my dog and cats for a bit," one viewer wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Another admitted: "I also hugged my cat after watching this."

A third wrote, "Every creature has heart," before another confessed: "Ive seen this s**t so many times and just got that".