A lot of people hate sit-coms as they are often mindless entertainment filled with one note jokes, I can include myself in that list for the majority of what I see, but for all the ways to tell a story there are, nothing tickles our fancy more than a good laugh. So I figured it’s time to have a giggle and look back at the comedy characters that have remained in the recess of my mind.

This is a lot of ground to cover, so I’m splitting it. First up, it’s the TV world of days gone by and to start of the list, we have the oldest show entered…

Harold Steptoe
Harry H. Corbett. Steptoe & Son (1962-1965/1970-1974)
A young man who wants to move up in the world, dreaming of moving out and escaping his family homw but at every opportunity, such as the focus of the pilot episode, his father lays a guilt trip and he finds himself trapped once again.

The shows concept is a really unpleasant and miserable one. The idea of a dysfunctional family unit considering of a bitter old man who verbally abuses his son and won’t let hims escape out of selfishness and spite. The bulk of the episodes revolve around the two having harsh disagreements with one another or Harold’s attempt to find a woman, but with every step forward his father is there to kick him back to the starting point winning almost every debate, proving Harold wrong or just defeating him in is efforts to improve his life.

The struggle could be the core of a gritty drama, and at times that drama was there with Corbett’s portrayal, but with the writing and the verbal battles the show became a British comedy classic and for me, watching Harold’s struggle always kept me entertained.

The Crane Brothers
David Hyde Pierce & Kelsey Grammer. Frasier (1993-2004)
Niles Crane is the younger brother of the title character Frasier, who we all know originated in the series Cheers. Both are highly intelligent psychiatrists who are highly competitive, especially with each other, somewhat of a failure with women and despite all of their intellect… they can’t seem to see their own problems unless they over-analyze themselves.

While Frasier slowly becomes more snobbish throughout the series, having relaxed in his time in Boston throughout Cheers, Niles hasn’t had the time out and is shown to be rude, snobbish and obsessively compulsive from the start.

Like many of my favourite characters, the key to the Crane is to see him build themselves up for a fall. We know it’s coming every time but the wit, charm, writing and performance all came togteher for an exciting ride that didn’t talk down to it’s audience.

Basil Fawlty
Fawlty Towers (1975-1979)
Based on a hotel owner John Cleese became fascinated by, Basil Fawlty is a man on the edge of sanity, ready to have a breakdown at the drop of a hat. He’s a rude and arrogant hotel owner who’s constantly battling with his wife as he puts down his low class guests while elevating any professionals on a pedestal.

With no redeeming qualities whatsoever, he’s possibly one of the most vile men in sit-com history. He spends his life trying to raise the hotel to the highest standards but mistakes, stupidity and accidents bring him down to the worst service imaginable and trapped inside the hotel with his family and staff, who hate him in equal amounts, there’s no where to unleash all his tension and anger but on the guests.

Despite his efforts, he’s a born failure and his passionate anger and stiff upper lip eccentricity through the awkward body of John Cleese, coupled with the characters fear of his wife, has made him an iconic symbol. Well, that and not mentioning the war…

Arnold Judas Rimmer
Chris Barrie. Red Dwarf (1988-1999 & 2009)
The misfit child in a family of success. All of Arnolds brothers became revered and respected officers. However Rimmers inability to pass the engineering exam almost a dozen times led to him being the guy who unclogged the chicken soup machine. His unhappy and somewhat bizarre and abusive childhood resulted in a weasly, slimey and horrible man. Constantly reaching for a success he’d never obtain, battling with his laid back room mate and doing whatever it took to advance himself before others. Though it all failed, and then he died.

Millions of years after Rimmer died, he was brought online as a hologram to keep Dave Lister, the last human, sane by giving him an adversary to challenge him and keep him company. Rimmer was like Frank Burns in MASH. He was on the receiving end of a lot of jokes but in the end was a product of his environment as a child which in talking about opened up moments of closeness between him and Lister.

Unlike Frank Burns, Rimmer evolved into a rounded and kind of nice person under all his failure and self loathing, eventually taking over the role of his parallel universe alter ego, Ace Rimmer, in a mission to save the universe. But then he returned, his revived body created by nanobots and the spite, and the humour, returned.

Victor Meldrew
One Foot in the Grave (1990-2000)
And as we hit the top of the list, we can see a pattern evolving. The legendary British character of Victor Meldrew, the grumpy old man who finds himself in often surreal situations ranging from a plant pot in his downstairs toilet to a car dumped in his skip. Victor was a wonderful character, not because of his actions as much as his reactions to the world around him.

Famous for the catchphrase he actually barely said, he’s also known for being a grumpy old git. Which is unfair. The life of Meldrew was essentially one of a normal man who would find himself in insane circumstances caused by mis-communication, overreaction or sheer bad luck. His misfortunes would drive any of us insane!

But even his long suffering wife knew that Meldrew was really the good guy, even walking away from a possible affair arguing in his corner that he was a kind and sensitive man. A wonderful scene where she says if he wasn’t so sensitive he wouldn’t get worked up and thats why she loved him.

She loved him to the end and beyond as she punished the woman responsible for his death in the final episode. An episode that caused fans of the show to leave flowers at the place of his fictional death which goes to show just how loved this character had become. He was a grumpy old git, but we both laughed and sympathised with him simultaniously and eagerly awaited every episode.

In a world of Frabnk Spensers, Frank Drebins, David Brents, Catholisisms finest in Father Ted, all the Blackadders and many many more, Victor comes out top of the list for me.

So… how about you?

Related posts:

1. The Funnies; The movie ones.
2. Cancelled shows, some twat called Wayne and an evil midget.
3. The Geeky List thing, now with added Buffy.
4. Not much on the telebox? Or is it just me?
5. All good things… must come to a list!

Tags: fives, geek, sci fi