Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones QUOTE: "Legen-wait for it-dary" The Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith), Downton Abbey The writing by Julian Fellowes for Downton Abbey is stiff-upperlippidly glorious, which is hardly surprising given his track record of such films as Gosford Park and Young Victoria. Every character in the extended household is beautifully distinct and dry. To rise above this high standard requires not only the incomparable acting skills of Smith, but also the sort of dialogue any upper class toff would give their birthright for. The fact that the dowager in a period piece is the shining light in a blockbuster show says everything for the skills of Fellowes and his team. QUOTE: "What is a weekend?"

Maggie Smith as Violet Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi), Community In America it is said that were NBC not failing so badly, Community would not exist. It’s ratings are so poor that any other network would have axed it, but at NBC (home to other comedic gems such as 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation and The Office) its numbers fit right in. If that’s the case, then long may NBC wallow. Despite starting its third season, Community feels like a well-kept secret, a razor sharp meta-comedy that lampoons and parodies a different genre every week. Surprisingly or perhaps crucially, the seven characters at the core remain strong, well defined and fresh every week. The best of these is Abed, played by Danny Pudi, a student with an ill-defined autism-like personality curiosity who uses this to gleefully steps between scene interaction and scene commentary. QUOTE: "Cool, cool, cool." Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), House

Currently residing in prison for driving his car into his ex-girlfriend’s home (and breaking his best friend’s wrist in the process), Gregory House is written as a modern day medical Sherlock Holmes. For all intents and purposes he is devoid of the human skills many of us take for granted like empathy, using people’s actual names and not experimenting on people week to week in extreme medical (and psychological) ways. This reimagining of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective has been wildly successful and has thus had many attempted emulations, however as much as anything else it is the cunning writing that makes House the perfect unlikeable medical genius. QUOTE: "It’s not lupus!" Tim ‘T-bag’ Mathieson (Phil Lloyd), At Home With Julia Amid the furore of debate about flags, honour, humour and accent, one theme emerged from Australia’s over-reaction to At Home With Julia; be it in the form of empathy, pity or adoration, we all embraced the character of Tim, the put-upon partner of our Prime Minister. As this short-run series found its level, it became clear it was more than just a string of political pot shots. At its core was a story of a lost hairdresser trapped in the castle. The humanity and vulnerability of the man of the many T-starting pet-names was wonderful to behold and perfect pathos foil to the many lighter elements. QUOTE: "I thought you’d never ask."

Gloria (Sofia Vergara), Modern Family Eric Stonestreet is my favourite actor in Modern Family, but Gloria isn’t far behind, and the writing is a huge part of that. Even Sofia Vergara assumed at the outset that her role as Ed O’Neill’s younger, sexy, latino wife would see her playing a one dimensional stereotype. Instead, Gloria is one of the scene stealers, constantly defying expectations not only of the racial and age-based clichés, but of mothers, wives and occasionally genteel members of society. QUOTE: “JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!” Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), The Big Bang Theory That Jim Parsons once again beat Steve Carell to the Best Comedy Actor Emmy this year, when Carell was sentimental favourite having retired from his role on The Office, is a great testimony not only to Parsons’ acting skills, but also to the perfectly defined character he has to work within. Sheldon Cooper should be as annoying to watch as he clearly would be to co-exist with, yet the team corralled by Chuck Lorre mix just the right dash of arrogance, pinch of social awkwardness and absolute absence of empathy to create a Frankenstein’s comedy monster of a side-splitting scientist.

QUOTE: "I am not crazy, my mother had me tested." Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), Game of Thrones No pun intended, this is a classic case of an actor making a small part into a scene stealer. As if any further evidence were needed of Peter Dinklage’s capacity to eat up the scenery, his turn as the runt son of the ne’erdowell Lannister family is a sight to behold. Still, the writing both dialogue and action he is given provide a fantastic framework to build upon. No matter if the scene before was a gory battle and the scene after a sexposition skin-fest, the memorable moments from this superb HBO series were all Dinklage. Particularly that slapping scene. QUOTE: "A Lannister always pays his debts." Pam de Beaufort (Kristin Bauer), True Blood

Starting out as a bit part character inserted to give Eric some back story, the character of Pam has risen to become a fan favourite with glorious, biting (I admit, pun intended) observations and genuine menace that somehow never crosses over into evil. On many occassions Pam speaks aloud the feelings of the viewer, sickened by the sickly romance and puppy-eyes, frustrated at the Authority's insistance on preventing vampires just killing everyone. Alan Ball and his team have developed Pam, along with Jason Stackhouse to be core characters from what were merely book bit-parts. QUOTE: (Speaking to children) "You make me so happy I never had any of you." Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), Entourage Another bit part made good. Ari was the agent, the necessary evil for the entourage of the title and the star at their centre, Vinnie Chase. By the time the show wrapped up (don't worry, no spoilers) Ari was the one with the post-credits scene and Executive Producer Mark Walhberg has acknowledged that it will be Ari's story at the centre of the planned movie spin off. Piven's extraordinary performance in the role is clearly a factor here, but so is a character that once written and let off the leash, allowed the team of Hollywood writers to give voice to every rumour, anecdote and frustration in the industry. Entourage became Ari and the boys, and quite rightly so. Those are my ten, but there are many more. Not enough Aussies on the list. Not really enough girls either. Who do you think are the best written characters?