Over the years, there have been a lot of sitcoms featuring a huge and diverse cast of different characters - it's why we love them and why we're willing to give even the most ridiculous of sitcom pitches the time of day. Some deal with family life such as the stress of children, wives or overbearing mother in laws, while others focus on the trials of everyday life and dealing with them as best you can with a group of friends. Whatever the set-up, a sitcom lives and dies on the strength of its characters: it's not enough for the situation to be funny, it has to have a funny effect on a character that we care about - whether positively or negatively enough to get a rise. That's why in every sitcom we see the same character types - the fool, the sluttier girl, the idiot, the hunk - in some form they are all ever-present. Throughout all the sitcoms over the years there have been some truly memorable faces that a lot of us can ultimately relate to in some shape or form. We laugh with them, we cry with them... but mostly we just laugh. Here is my list of the 40 Greatest Sitcom Characters of all time. Hold tight for some controversy...
50. Fez - That 70's Show
The stereotypical "foreign exchange student" of the group whose country of origin was one of the series' running gags. He constantly makes advances on the girls in the group, often being rejected in the process. However during series eight he became something of a ladies' man.
49. Vyvyan - The Young Ones
Vyvyan is a psychopathic, punk medical student who often displays feats of superhuman strength, such as being decapitated yet managing to reattach his own head. He often causes havoc such as when he wires the doorbell to a bomb to "pep it up a bit." Interestingly enough though he is the only member of the group to own a car- a yellow Ford Anglia with flames painted up the sides.
48. Caroline Todd- Green Wing
The first episode of the first series sees Caroline arriving for her first day at the hospital after spending all night locked in her car. She is seen as one of the more awkward characters in the show and is constantly embarrassed by her colleagues or more often than not by her own bad luck. This has led her to being one of the most popular characters on the show.
47. Geraldine Granger- The Vicar of Dibley
Dawn French turns up as Geraldine Granger- as the new vicar of a rural town called Dibley after the Church of England allowed female vicars. Her character was based off one of the first female vicars of the time and had many qualities that made her a memorable characters- such as her love of chocolate and her unusual first name- Boadicea.
46. Francis Mulcahy- M*A*S*H
A priest serving in the Korean War with the rest of his unit and is one of the more quirky characters of the series. He often refers to his sister who joined a nunnery as "my sister the Sister." We learn that he is an avid boxing fan and actually pretty good at the sport himself after an old Priest at Jesuit school taught him and the rest of his class. He also indulged in some un-priestly behavior such as gambling and drinking.