100 GREATEST TV CHARACTERS

1 – 25   26 – 50   51 – 75   76 – 100

51. Jack Duckworth (79 – current) – William Tarmey
    "Yes, my petal"
    
    He's been a cabbie, window cleaner, pall bearer and Rovers cellarman but it took more than a decade to get his glasses fixed.
52. Jack Regan (The Sweeney) (74-78) – John Thaw
    "Get yer trousers on. You're nicked"
    
    Regan was a law unto himself – a maverick man out of time in the mid 70s police force that was attempting to clean up its act. No TV character has slugged Whisky from the top drawer of the filing cabinet with more relish.
53. Jane Tennison (Prime Suspect) (91-95) – Helen Mirren
    Helen Mirren's ambitious CID officer fights crime and the neanderthal attitudes of her colleagues.
54. Jason King (69-73) – Peter Wyngarde
    "I would offer you a glass of champagne, but it's bad for you in small doses."
    
    Dandy detective and novelist. His rakish moustache was the early 70s encapsulated in facial hair form.
55. Jill Munroe (Charlie's Angels) (77-78) – Farrah Fawcett-Majors
    "Once upon a time there were three beautiful girls..."
    
    Beflicked of hair and high of karate kick, this pioneer of "jiggle" broadcasting could usually be found working undercover as a stripper or cheerleader on the orders of the enigmatic Charlie.
56. Jimmy Corkhill (Brookside) (86-Current) – Dean Sullivan
    Oh God Jimmy...NOT AGAIN!!!!"
    
    A man of many contradictions. From gun runner to family man, smack addict to do-gooder.
57. Jim Royle (98- Current) – Ricky Tomlinson
    "Carol Smillie, My Arse!"
    
    As well as improvising some of his lines, Ricky Tomlinson enters into the part of two-faced, workshy Jim Royle with so much commitment that he doesn't allow his costume to be washed until the end of the series - "I like to feel the dirt on me."
58. J.R Ewing (78-91) – Larry Hagman
    "You're a drunk, a tramp and an unfit mother!"
    
    The scheming, womanising anti-hero of Southfork who survived a murder attempt and hobnobbed with his own "guardian angel." But at the height of the show's worldwide popularity, even he was unable to popularise the suit-with-cowboy-boots look outside Texas.
59. Keith Pratt (Nuts in May) (76) – Roger Sloman
    "Come along. Candice Marie"
    
    Not too deep beneath the surface of nerdish eccentric Brit trying to put up a tent and enjoying a brisk walk lies something altogether more obsessive and dangerous.
60. Kevin the Teenager (94-present) – Harry Enfield
    "That is so unfair"
    
    Model child turns into ungrateful monster at the exact second his biological clock strikes thirteen.
61. Kim Tate (Emmerdale) (89-99) – Claire King
    "Where did I put those pills?"
    
    The power-crazed, ruthless Superbitch of Home Farm, last seen escaping in a helicopter leaving a trail of destruction behind her.
62. Kojak (74-78) – Telly Savalas
    "Who loves ya, baby?"
    
    Perennial co-star and jobbing director, Telly Savalas finally hit the big time as the no nonsense cop with a weakness for a good lollipop. In Germany Kojak topped the ratings with the more poetic title - 'The Lion Without a Mane.'
63. Loadsamoney (85-88) – Harry Enfield
    "Look at my wad!"
    
    Loadsamoney started as a private joke between aspiring stand-up Harry Enfield and his plasterer mate, Paul Whitehouse and grew to define the stone-washed, money-flaunting ethos of the mid 80s. The joke backfired when the character was hijacked as a role model by the Thatcherite hooligans he was mocking.
64. Lucy Ricardo (I Love Lucy) (55-62) – Lucille Ball
    "You Cuban Heel"
    
    The ditzy antics of New York housewife (and showbiz wannabe) Lucy try the patience of Cuban bandleader husband Ricky and give nosy neighbours The Mertzes something to gawp at.
65. Lurcio (Up Pompeii) (69-91) – Frankie Howerd
    "Nay, nay, thrice nay"
    
    A silly name, a toga and a double entendre. Frankie Howerd was able to use his character's asides to camera as a way of rehashing his stand up routine for a new TV audience.
66. Margot Leadbetter (The Good Life) (75-78) – Penelope Keith
    "I don't think so, Jerry"
    
    Leading light of the music society and protector of the tone of The Avenue looks on aghast as neighbours Tom and Barbara Good go back to the land.
67. Max Headroom (85-89) – Matt Frewer
    "In my position at the top of the media world I can't afford to be arrogant."
    
    VJ, chatshow host and cult hero reporting back to the late 1980s from twenty minutes into the future.
68. Michael Murray (GBH) (91) – Robert Lindsay
    "I wish, I wish…I was a good man"
    
    Cocksure Labour council leader in a northern town whose hunger for power leads to a complete mental collapse - and in the process turning a slight nervous twitch in the shoulder into a full-blown Nazi salute.
69. Mildred Roper (George & Mildred) (73-79) – Yootha Joyce
    "Come here, George!"
    
    Sex-starved, suburban vamp in a banana print trouser suit. Her and husband George were give their own series after stealing the show for three years in Man About the House.
70. Miss Piggy (76-present) – Frank Oz
    "Hi-yahhhh"
    
    Winsome pig with a very nasty temper.
71. Mr Bean (90 - 96) – Rowan Atkinson
    " ............... "
    
    Virtually silent throwback to Chaplin pulled in the viewers by the million on the strength of the expert timing and elastic face of Rowan Atkinson.
72. Mr Humphreys (72-93) – John Inman
    "I'm free!."
    
    John Inman was able to use his days as an Austin Reed window dresser in his creation of the mincing member of Grace Brothers staff. During early rehearsals producer David Croft suggested that Inman might like to camp the part up a bit and he did what he was told.
73. Mr Spock (69-71) – Leonard Nimoy
    "Highly illogical, captain"
    
    The pointy eared Vulcan might never have become TV's most loved extra-terrestrial if NBC's doubts about the lack of action in the pilot episode had won the day.
74. Mrs Merton (95-99) – Caroline Aherne
    "Let's have a heated debate."
    
    Des Lynam-fancying Manchester pensioner whose TV success meant that son Malcolm never went without a nice brightly coloured jumper.
75. Mrs Overall (85-87) – Julie Walters
    "Cup of coffee, Miss Babs"
    
    The spirit of Amy Turtle lives on in Julie Walters' spoof tealady.