50 Greatest British TV Comedy Characters Of All Time

31. Mrs Overall €“ Victoria Wood As Seen On TV

Mrs Overall Victoria Wood€™s TV platform provided a lot of memorable sketches, but perhaps the finest is the recurring Acorn Antiques series (set in an antique shop), a send-up of the soap opera style. Mrs Overall is an unforgettable character, the dithering old woman played to perfection by Julie Walters.

32. Kevin Patterson €“ Harry Enfield€™s Television Programme

Kevin The worst possible outcome of adolescence, Harry Enfield€™s character is scarily true to life. The film Kevin and Perry Go Large was pretty terrible, but Kevin€™s appearances on Harry Enfield€™s sketch show, along with male friend Perry (played by the female Kathy Burke), were frequently hilarious.

33. Alan Partridge €“ I€™m Alan Partridge

1alan partridge Steve Coogan€™s insecure, narcissistic presenter is a genius comedy creation and a painfully realistic parody. Loathsome as he is, one ends up feeling pity for Alan. Watch the following clip of Alan trying to catch the attention of Dan (at least I think that€™s his name) and try not to wince. http://youtu.be/l2D3-FkoXNU

34. Reginald Perrin €“ The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

Reg Perrin As well as bringing us the less than lovable Rigsby, Leonard Rossiter was also responsible for portraying frustrated middle manager of Sunshine Desserts, Reginald Perrin. Based on a series of novels by David Nobbs, the series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin ran from 1976-70, charting the events in the main character's life. The show included many moments of surrealism, partly a reflection of Perrin's realisation that much of his work for Sunshine Desserts was essentially meaningless.The mockery it made of the world of advertising endeared the show to viewers, and Rossiter's performance was, as ever, masterful.

35. Andy Pipkin €“ Little Britain

Andy Pipkin It€™s hard to argue with Little Britain€™s popularity, and as with most sketch shows there are many characters that might have made the cut. The comic duo of Lou Todd and Andy Pipkin has been one of the show€™s most enduring, however, as Lou pushes the extremely capable Andy around in a wheelchair and cares for him, oblivious to Andy€™s tendency to perform feats of athleticism while his back is turned.
 
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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.