Feature: The Top Ten Sitcom Villains

All comedy is cruel and the best situations for comedy come through conflict. It can be our hero trying to overcome physical surroundings, a series of unfortunate events but is usually at its best when the conflict is with another person. Matthew Reynolds presents his entirely unscientific and personally subjective list of the top ten sitcom villains below...

10. Paul Ryman

Not really a villain but certainly the counterpoint to Richard Briers' Martin. Of course, Paul was actually a nice, well-meaning man who despite being given plenty of reasons to hate Martin, actually seemed quite fond of him. But on those rare occasions that things went Martin's way, there would be something to take away his moment. And with almost painful certainty, it would be because of Paul.

9. Captain Darling

I was lucky enough to be at the filming of the final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth. The ticket had said Blackadder and batman and with all the hype surrounding the 1989 Tim Burton movie, I really wasn't sure what to expect. Of course the batman in question was Corporal Baldrick and nothing whatsoever to do with Gotham's caped crusader.

The villains changed over the course of the Blackadder series; where McInnerny played his devoted but stupid friend in the first two, his role had developed into rival and villain who although saner and more broadly aware of things than General Melchett, was still the obvious counterpoint to Captain Blackadder. And yet even he was reprieved. In the last episode where they finally go over the top, Captain Darling is finally portrayed as human, as is Captain Blackadder. This humanity leant great pathos to the characters and the series as a whole. When the audience all filed out after the filming, there was a certain hush over the crowd.

8. Montgomery Burns

Callous, greedy, undeniably evil and, in Homer, faced with an adversary well below him, Mr Burns always remained a fun villain. No scheme too dark, no child too cute to have the hounds released on them. The arch-capitalist supremo of the Springfield nuclear power plant was a cartoon bad guy in every sense but no less real for it.

7. Herr Flick

A Gestapo officer promising to shoot the locals out of spite might not seem to be the most charming of characters in regards to good taste as much as a character profile. Yet 'Allo 'Allo managed to cross the boundaries by way of mocking the rather po-faced take the Brits had previously displayed in programmes about the war (especially Secret Army) and turn it into a bawdy romp. The seaside postcard nature of the comedy stripped away all the reservations about the subject and playing all of the theatrical clichés of the evil Nazi gave Herr Flick an appeal that could easily have proven offensive in other circumstances. Happily, the leather trench coat, pronounced limp and permanently severe expression only ever added to his charm.

6. Dr Alan Statham

Mark Heap always plays the nice but weird characters. In Hippies, Spaced and Brasseye, he would be the one you felt no empathy but at least some sympathy for. In Green Wing, Dr Statham is a desperate and sad man; lost and unloved even within his relationship with a woman who never bothers to hide her contempt for him. He seems to be oblivious to his own tragic nature, which would make him simply laughable until you are given little insights into his appreciation of his own sorry state of affairs. His awareness makes him less comic, far sadder but also places his own behaviour under the spotlight.

Definitely a bad guy but whether he should get any sympathy or understanding is left down to the individual viewer.

5. Sir Humphrey Appleby

In the programme that MP's and civil servants would watch from behind the sofa because it would so accurately portray the trappings of Whitehall, Sir Humphrey represented all our suspicions of the frustrations, absurdity, arrogance and cynicism of the civil service. That he lived to thwart the efforts of the naïve new Minister/Prime Minister was both his innate persona and his character's function. He could bamboozle his hapless "Master" with red tape, protocol and wordplay. Any attempts at retaliation would invariably be casually dismissed with a "Very droll, Minister" before retaking the upper hand in a deft and winning manner. We knew "Humpy" was there to thwart us every bit as much as he was to thwart Jim Hacker, yet we loved him for it.

Not a fully-fledged pantomime villain, more one whose company we could certainly enjoy.

4. Papa Lazarou

There are of course so many excellent villains and monsters in The League Of Gentlemen, many of whom have taken on iconic status and whose catchphrases have been repeated through every Student Union in the land. But despite a relatively small amount of screen time (he didn't feature in the first TV series or the radio show at all) Papa Lazarou has all the ingredients; grotesque, scary, funny a worthy adversary and he has his own motives and motivation rather than simply being a comic device. We're all his wife now.

3. Alf Garnett

One of the rare examples of the main protagonist being the bad guy. Of course, the arch bigot Alf Garnet was always shown up and always made to look ridiculous. It's a testament to Warren Mitchell's abilities that the show was so successful and that the audience felt a pity and affection for Garnett rather than simply hating him. An often overlooked show that tackled a number of important social issues at a time when others were still exploiting them. And yes, Alf probably had many theories on the merits of the Black and White Minstrel Show, which was running at the same time.

2. Mr MacKay

From his exaggerated military strut, to his neck stretching sneer, his pomposity and snobbery, Mr Mackay was, on the face of it, the antithesis of Norman Stanley Fletcher. Yet they were both men who operated by rules yet were both still capable of breaking them. They were both trapped yet chose to make the best of it by getting away with their little victories in their closed world. And they both looked down on the people around them. They were excellent foils for one another and both roles were superbly performed by two actors whose like we shall not see again.

1. Blakey

Just look at him. Now picture that wordless noise he used to make. Now... wait... savour it... "I 'ate you Butler". Perfect.