10 Unsung TV Characters Who Completely Save Their Show

2. Chandler Bing - Friends

The Characters Everyone Talks About: Joey, Ross & Rachel, and Phoebe. There are very few television characters quite like Chandler Bing; he's both funny and really not funny, sweet and sarcastic, lovable and a total idiot. He's played with deftness and subtlety - despite the strong chance he's just Matthew Perry playing Matthew Perry - and though he'd never be the centre of any of the show's really big plots, Chandler was always the thinking man's Joey. Ross and Rachel were the relatable pair in the show, and Joey and Phoebe both provided kooky entertainment. Monica was, to many, the annoying one - let's face it, they only stayed in touch with her for her cooking - and that just left Chandler: the socially awkward, hard-working and most teased one of the group. In actual fact, it's the social shyness, loneliness and pessimism that made Chandler so relatable to the British audience. American stars are charming, handsome and usually get the girl (Joey, Ross) and British sitcom stars tend to be rude losers (David Brent, Arkwright, Blackadder, Basil Fawlty). Chandler fitted more into the latter category; he couldn't help being tactless - inadvertently telling a child he was adopted was a highlight of this trait, paying him to keep quiet only extended it - but we loved him because he was vulnerable and human. It's perhaps no surprise that Matthew Perry's been, arguably, the least successful Friend. Chandler is much underrated though, and he'll always be loved by a cult of us.