50 Greatest British TV Comedy Characters Of All Time

11. Lauren Cooper €“ The Catherine Tate Show

Lauren €œAm I bovvered?€ Lauren Cooper is the most recognisable character from The Catherine Tate Show, brilliant parodying chav Britain and occasionally displaying surprising depth of knowledge (see, for example, the sketch in which she asks her language teacher if she looks bothered in French). For any Dr Who fan, she also wins points for asking David Tennant if he fancies Billie Piper in the Comic Relief Special.

12. Mark Corrigan €“ Peep Show

Mark Corrigan Perpetual underdog Mark Corrigan has a fairly miserable existence, with conflicting feelings of superiority and inferiority. After pining after girl-in-office Sophie, he becomes even unhappier once he finally manages to start dating her, as he realises they€™re totally incompatible. However it€™s his relationship with roommate and friend Jez that provides most of the comedy for perspective-based cringe comedy The Peep Show.

13. Damien Day €“ Drop the Dead Donkey

Damien Day Drop the Dead Donkey ran for 6 seasons on Channel 4 in the 1990s, and is perhaps the funniest portrayal of the media to ever appear on our television screens. It€™s hard to pick one stand-out character €“ Jeff Rawle shines as a feeble, pathetic hypochondriac out of his depth as editor of the news programme, and Robert Duncan€™s Gus Hedges is a brilliant parody of the jargon obsessed manager incapable of real human relationships. However, it€™s the creation of unprincipled news reporter Damien Day that perfectly encapsulates what the show was about €“ mocking the underhand and callous tactics of the mainstream media.

14. Basil Fawlty €“ Fawlty Towers

Basil Fawlty €œDon€™t mention the war! I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it...€ John Cleese€™s portrayal of Basil Fawlty during the uniformly superb 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers is perhaps the crowning jewel in his glittering comedy career. Basil Fawlty is a pathetic, ridiculous, unforgettably hilarious character inspired by the real-life owner of a hotel in which the Monty Python team stayed in Torquay.

15. Norman Fletcher €“ Porridge

Fletcher Ronnie Barker€™s most enduring character, prison inmate Norman Fletcher spends his (obviously vast quantity of) free time constantly trying to win little victories against the prison wardens and engaging in banter with cell-mate Godber €“ an optimistic youth from Birmingham played by Richard Beckinsale. Porridge is a superb example of comedy deriving from characterisation €“ the setting of a prison meant the programme had to rely on a strong script and comic performances, rather than over-the-top situations and guest stars.
 
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Contributor

Laurence Gardner was born in Canterbury, England. After moving around various cities during his childhood, and spending some time travelling in Europe and America, he studied English Literature at Oxford University. Since then, he’s been living abroad, teaching English, learning a range of languages, and writing in his free time. He can currently be found in Heidelberg, working as an English Tutor and Translator and studying at the University. If you liked this article, follow him on Twitter to get automatic updates on his work.