Just in case you’re interested, a somewhat old review of mine covering the Five documentary The Man Whose Arms Exploded has just gone up at Off The Telly. It’s also below the fold.
Articles by Rob Buckley
US TV
And at number 25…
Coming up with last few characters in the list of the top 25 TV characters ever has proved harder than I thought. I managed to come up with 23 and 24 yesterday morning. That’s caused a bit of a stir over at the Doctor Who LiveJournal forum. Some agreed with my inclusion of Liz Shaw. Some didn’t pick up on my tongue-in-cheek style. Oh well.
Anyway, ever since, I’ve been trying to come up with number 25. You should have seen the look on my wife’s face when I explained why I seemed distracted in Sainsbury’s: “Well, I’m trying to think up the 25th greatest character in TV history.” “Oh, right….”
I came up with a few options, some of whom might be good for your own lists, if you haven’t already got them:
- Frank Burnside from The Bill
- Miranda from Sex and the City (thanks Marie)
- Maggie Forbes from The Gentle Touch (which goes back to my point about how we forget strong female characters in favour of slightly less strong female characters such as Jane Tennison from Prime Suspect, in this case)
- Dirty Den from EastEnders (until he came back from the dead)
- Dr Cox from Scrubs (thanks Lisa)
- Niles Crane from Frasier (thanks again Lisa)
- Regan from The Sweeney
- JR from Dallas
- Matthew Burton from It’s Your Move (Jason Bateman showing off some extreme talent at a very early age)
- Jason King from Department S and Jason King (the original Austin Powers)
- Kit Curran from The Kit Curran Radio Show
- Julie Newmar’s Catwoman in Batman
- Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers
- Howling Mad Murdoch from The A-Team
- Tom Chance from Chance in a Million
Eventually, though, I hit on it. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten him (or is it her)! You might well kick yourself when you hear their name.
At number 25 is…
Jim Bergerac.
Nah. Just kidding it’s….
Producers hate the working class, says Jimmy McGovern
TV is now in such a bad state because all the executive producers have nothing but contempt for [the audience they consider] the plebs who watch their channel.
I’m delighted in the mess they’ve found themselves because of the contempt with which they treat their audience.
Scott: anyone at ITV you’d like to suggest as having contempt for their audience?
Robin Hood stolen
There’s something ironic about the claims that thieves in Hungary have stolen the master tapes of the Beeb’s new version of Robin Hood. They are demanding a ransom of £1 million for their return, and without the tapes, the entire series might get cancelled.
They stole from the rich: will they now give it to the poor?
UK TV
More favourite characters
The top TV characters meme lives on! Stu_N has added his list to the mix; Marie’s crafted a much-admired ‘women only’ list; and there are other suggestions in the comments list of the original meme.
In addition to my original 20, we’ve now added
21) Stringer Bell from The Wire
22) Stewie Griffin of Family Guy (thanks Rosby!)
Stu_N has tempted me with David Callan, Will Scarlet and Steel, but I’m still not sure they’re great characters. I’m half-tempted to add Robert de Rainault – aka the Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin of Sherwood – simply because he was:
a) clever, unlike every other version of the Sheriff of Nottingham so far (and I suspect to come)
b) able to kill Robin Hood. Yes, kill him, stone dead. Well, technically, “so filled with crossbow bolts then trampled by horses that we couldn’t stick his head on a pike outside Nottingham castle because no one would recognise him” dead.
But I’ve decided not to. Again, good but not great. Still Stu_N and Marie both had one name in common on their lists, which has prompted me to come up with a 23 and a 24 for my list.
Drum roll (humour me)…
At 23, we have Liz Shaw from Doctor Who; and at 24, we have, from The Avengers… Cathy Gale.
Who they? I’m glad you asked. Because in both 23 and 24’s cases we have a similar thing happening. We have two pioneering, feminist characters whom everyone’s forgotten, in favour of two not-quite-so feminist characters.
Let me alpha nerd you for a moment…