world · BBC ↗

Homer Simpson named greatest TV character

BBC Reviewed Jun 30, 2026 ✓ Reviewed by citations.press editors

Citation-ready fact

Homer Simpson was named the greatest TV and film character of the last 20 years.

20 years · last 20 years

Entertainment Weekly survey, survey

View source ↗

Citation-ready fact

Buffy the Vampire Slayer came third in the ranking.

3 place · third place

View source ↗

Citation-ready fact

Tony Soprano was ranked fourth.

4 place · fourth place

View source ↗

Citation-ready fact

The list included ten characters.

10 characters · top 10

View source ↗

Homer Simpson has been named the greatest TV and film character of the last 20 years, according to a Entertainment Weekly survey.

The cartoon character, best known for his love of eating, beat schoolboy wizard Harry Potter to the top slot.

People relate to Homer "because we're all secretly propelled by desires we can't admit to," creator Matt Groening told the US magazine.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, came third.

In fourth place was Tony Soprano from US drama series The Sopranos, followed by comic book villain The Joker, played by late Australian actor Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.

Other famous characters which were included in the top 10 were Rachel from Friends, Johnny Depp's Edward Scissorhands and Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter.

Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw from Sex And The City and cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants rounded out the list.

This article was originally published by BBC ↗. citations.press indexes the source-backed facts above and links to the original. Something wrong? Corrections policy · Report an error