Off the Telly: Seven of your favourite TV heroes
Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page from the Off The Telly podcast are talking TV heroes, and they have very different views on what that means. But a screen hero can mean anything you want it to.
For Natalie, a hero is someone on TV who makes her feel happy (anyone share her view of Mr Bean as a hero?), while for Joanna it’s more about the traditional idea of an actively heroic TV character. Covering lots of interpretations of the word, here are some of the top heroes chosen by Natalie, Joanna, and the listeners.
Listen to Off the Telly
What are we watching? Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page chat all things telly.
David Jason
If we’re talking real-life small screen heroes, there are few who’ve endured like David Jason. As Natalie says, he’s celebrating over 60 years on TV. “I think he’s just an absolute hero for everything he’s done,” she says. From Del Boy in Only Fools And Horses, to A Touch Of Frost, to Open All Hours, to being the voice of Danger Mouse, David Jason has entertained generations of viewers. He’s beloved to people of all ages, for different reasons. A proper TV hero.
Jack Bauer from 24
Joanna’s first choice is the quintessential action hero that is 24’s Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland. As he showed over nine seasons, counter-terrorist agent Jack’s heroism was in being able to get himself out of even the trickiest situations, and always doing everything he could to protect those he loved. “There is a man who’s going to save your life,” says Joanna. “He is going to go through all sorts of different obstacles, people, planes, bullets, everything – the whole shebang – and you know if you’re with Jack Bauer he’s going to save you.”
June Osborne from The Handmaid’s Tale
Joanna also picks June from The Handmaid’s Tale, played by Elisabeth Moss. The series is set after an American civil war that results in an extreme patriarchal society where women are stripped of all rights. In the face of ever-increasing hardship – she even has her child taken from her – June never gives up. “The way she’s fighting against everything that’s going on: what the men are like, the religion, and what the system is like. All of that, and she’s fighting, fighting, fighting against that, so I’d say she’s my other TV hero.”
Victoria Wood
Natalie brings up a couple of her comedy heroes. She names Dawn French, who’s been amazing with Jennifer Saunders, as well as solo in shows like The Vicar Of Dibley, and gives a shout to Victoria Wood. The late comedian and writer was one of the defining voices of modern comedy. She wrote and performed in brilliant comedy shows, like her sketch show Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV (special mention to Acorn Antiques) and her sitcom, Dinner Ladies. She was also an award-winning dramatic writer and actor, with projects like That Day We Sang, and Pat And Margaret. There can’t be many modern comedy performers and writers, especially women, who don’t consider Victoria Wood a bit of a hero.
Miranda Hart
A listener calls in to nominate another comedy hero: Miranda Hart, specifically in her sitcom, Miranda. “Every time I’m ill,” they say, “I just put it on and it gives me that real feel-good, everything’s going to be OK comfort. For me, that is very heroic. She’s my comedy hero. She goes through so many mishaps in that show that she makes it OK to have mishaps in life. She’s a very powerful, very funny woman.”
Nessa from Gavin And Stacey
If we’re talking low-key heroes, let’s mention Nessa from Gavin And Stacey, played by Ruth Jones. She gets a nomination from an Off The Telly listener who loves her “don’t care attitude. She just gets on with it and says it as it is.” Joanna, who obviously knows Nessa very well, as a fellow Gavin And Stacey star, adds, “She doesn’t take any [rubbish] from anyone… but deep down [she’s got such a soft heart]. I think we could all have a bit of Ness, couldn’t we?”
Jane McDonald
Natalie has some difficulty trying to explain the definition of ‘a hun’ to Joanna. “It’s kind of banterish, taking the [mickey], 90s pop-culture-y, early 2000s,” is her summary. Perhaps the simplest way to describe a ‘hun’ is someone who has a kind of down-to-earth camp quality. Nobody embodies that better than the singer and presenter Jane McDonald, a woman who is at once incredibly glamorous and absolutely no-nonsense. She’s a hero for seeming 100% confident in who she is and being more than happy to make fun of herself.
Columbo
Going back into the TV past, one listener chooses the TV detective Columbo, played by Peter Falk. The show ran all the way from 1968 to 2003, with Columbo solving murders in his disarmingly quiet way. And he investigated some very famous names. “The early ones had such amazing guest stars,” says the caller, “like Johnny Cash, Leonard Nimoy, and even William Shatner. So many great actors and singers that star as the murderer.” A fictional TV hero mixing with other TV heroes, what’s not to love?
