Someone asked who is ‘the single best British TV character ever created’ – 23 homegrown screen icons

People love to talk down the UK. Especially, it seems, people who are from the UK. But actually, we’ve got a lot to be proud of.

And one of those things is the incredible amount of high quality television we produce, which in turns spawns some absolutely iconic characters.

Over on the AskUK subreddit, user RoadToTyburn offered their thoughts on the matter…

What do you consider the single best British TV character ever created?

‘For me, it is Captain Mainwaring of Dad’s Army. What makes him different to other comic characters is that he is three dimensional.

‘Basil Fawlty, Del Boy, David Brent. They are all fairly one dimensional characters, Del Boy perhaps having an occasional more depth than the other two (he is better in the early to mid series later on he just becomes completely a caricature).

‘Mainwaring in contrast is only a few times turned up of the real type of people that did exist. He has an unhappy marriage, a class envy of Wilson, and yet in all of it, he isn’t written as a fool (pompous and a blusterer, but he is still well meaning).

‘He is still a very brave person and at times sympathetic (to the point that his rivals such as Captain Square and Warden Hodges come across more unlikeable).

;I think British TV has forgotten a bit how to make characters comic figures, without making them complete clowns in every single thing they do. It is almost a uniquely well written TV series, as arguably each of the main characters, you could craft a show around, it has that much depth.’/blockquote>

This interesting analysis prompted lots of other people to share their own favourites, like these…

1.

‘Alan Partridge. Without a doubt. Over 30 years of semi real world integration. Three ‘autobiographical’ books.

‘Ruddy Nora. What a character.’
–oso-oco

2.

‘Malcolm Tucker.’
–No_Pace5869

3.

‘Having since worked in a political environment, I was so surprised how uncannily accurate The Thick of It and In the Loop are.

‘It seems equally surreal, unfortunate, hilarious, and preposterous at times – but that’s exactly how it is.’
–Scotto6UK

4.

‘Victor Meldrew. Feels both universal (as Victor is usually right) but also distinctly British at the same time.

‘I’ve always felt One Foot is grossly underrated.’
–XStaticImmaculate

5.

‘Brent is an incredibly deep character. If you somehow missed that, you missed a lot.’
–Scarred_fish

6.

‘Dave Lister or Arnold Rimmer. They hate each other but both need each other.’
–martin8777

7.

‘Wallace. Loves his dog, loves cheese, loves inventing. Hates that evil penguin.’
–su2dv

8.

‘Pauline from The League of Gentlemen.’
–GeggingIn

9.

‘Philomena Cunk.’
–lardarz

10.

‘Yes, superb! Often has that Fool’s Wisdom, then comes back with something utterly daft, then does a clearly satirical bit mocking documentaries. And all the while being weirdly likeable.’
–dogbolter4

11.

‘Norman Stanley Fletcher in Porridge.’
–Own_University_5878

12.

‘Gene Hunt. One of the all time great coppers.’
–GosmeisterGeneral

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