HarryEnfield

He brought two great creations to Saturday Live: Greek kebab shop owner Stavros, whose innocent philosophies were augmented with a thick accent and a tenuous grasp of English, and grotesque plasterer Loadsamoney, a self-centred embodiment of Thatcherite greed.

He moved to BBC One with Harry Enfield's Television Programme and Harry Enfield And Chums, giving co-writer Paul Whitehouse an increasingly larger share of the limelight.

Among many memorable creations were the self explanatory Wayne Slob, Tim Nice But Tim, cheesy DJ Mike Smash and Mr "You Didn’t Want To Do That".

The brilliant one-off Norbert Smith - A Life (a pastiche biography of a famous British actor) and the feature film Kevin and Perry Go Large more than compensate for more recent flops like Celeb and a failed project with satellite broadcaster BSkyB.