My 50 Favourite TV Characters – Part 1

I’m going to be listing my top 50 TV characters.  This isn’t a perfect list, I know.  Its made up mostly of modern shows and I tried not to let any one show dominate the list (which was hard in a couple of cases).   I will list them 10 at a time.

50. Titus Pullo

Series: Rome (HBO)
Portrayed by: Ray Stevenson

In a series full of larger-than-life historical figures, Titus Pullo was the everyman of Rome. His friendship with Vorenus was the glue which held this show’s emotional construct together. He would screw up a lot, but would usually make up for it. And he was just a lot of fun to watch.

49. Sgt. Donald Malarkey

Series: Band of Brothers (HBO)
Portrayed by: Scott Grimes

Band of Brothers was a show with a very large cast as it had to portray the diversity of a military company. The one character here that I really connected with was Malarkey, mostly because I think that he was very much how I picture myself if I were stuck in that time (and no, not just because of the red hair).

48. Avon Barksdale

Series: The Wire (HBO)
Portrayed by: Wood Harris

The enigmatic Avon who is the drug kingpin of the fantastic HBO series The Wire. At first he is almost a mythical figure; the cops are after him despite not even knowing what he looks like. We as the audience get bits and pieces of him through the point of view of other characters. As the seasons go on we get to see more and more of him and he always brings a certain charisma to all the scenes he’s in.

47. Maggie Jacobs

Series: Extras (BBC)
Portrayed by: Ashley Jenson

In Ricky Gervais’ second series after The Office, he has taken then straight man role and left most of the laughs and idiotic behaviour to his supporting cast, especially to his sidekick Maggie. Her naivety and hopeless ignorance creates some very hilarious situations.

46. Sir Thomas More

Series: The Tudors (BBC)
Portrayed by: Jeremy Northam

Its interesting that three of the five on this list so far are portrayals of real people. Yet even though characters based from real life figures have a lot to work with (as is the case with the very interesting story of Thomas More), it is still a challenge to make them real and lively characters on screen. In The Tudors, More’s role works wonderfully in the story. he is well-acted and gives a lot of emotional weight throughout the first two seasons.

45. Murray Hewitt

Series: Flight of the Conchords (HBO)
Portrayed by: Rhys Darby

This list is mostly going to be comprised of two different kinds of characters: serious characters who are well-rounded and have connected with me, and characters who are incredibly funny and make me laugh almost every time they’re on-screen. Murray is definitely in the latter category. Murray Hewitt: present.

44. Jemaine Clement

Series: Flight of the Conchords (HBO)
Portrayed by: Jemaine Clement

Bret and Jemaine both work really well as the dumb-founded wanna-be band members trying to make it in New York. However, I think I like Jemaine slightly more as his deadpan comedy really seems to click. I do feel bad since Bret always seems to be left out of things like this.

43. CJ Cregg

Series: The West Wing (NBC)
Portrayed by: Allison Janney

CJ is a huge favourite of many fans of this great series. She is probably the character who has grown the most, starting out as the unsure press secretary and eventually becoming the chief of staff and one of the most powerful women in the world. She’s not one of my personal favourites, I’ll admit, but after seven years as a loyal fan I have grown with her a lot.

42. Darren Lamb

Series: Extras (BBC)
Portrayed by: Stephen Merchant

What is it about comedy agents? For some reason agents always seem to get hilarious representation on the small screen, and Darren Lamb is no exception. Though I dare you to watch Stephen Merchant do anything and not crack up.

41. Hank Yarbo

Series: Corner Gas (CTV)
Portrayed by: Fred Ewanuick

Hmm, the last few entries seem to include a lot of really dumb people. Interesting. Hank’s stupidity is probably the most blatant of all of them, but his stupidity is played up brilliantly and to great effect almost every time.