Stan Laurel has been named Britain’s greatest comedian in a three-hour TV special.

Victoria Wood came second, followed by Billy Connolly, Peter Sellers and Eric Morecambe.

The Gold channel dedicated tonight’s primetime schedule to showing a jury of experts placing a top 30 of comedy greats into order

And their order held some shocks, such as Tommy Cooper failing to make the top 10.

After the result was declared, Sally Phillips said: 'Obviously there's going to be a huge backlash.'

Laura was the oldest contender on the list, but interest has recently been revived with the release of the Stan & Ollie biopic with Steve Coogan – who came joint sixth with Ricky Gervais – playing the comedy icon.

The order they came up with was.

1. Stan Laurel

2. Victoria Wood

3. Billy Connolly

4. Peter Sellers

5. Eric Morecambe

6=. Steve Coogan

6=. Ricky Gervais

8. Spike Milligan

9. Peter Kay

10. Ken Dodd

11. Caroline Aherne

12. John Cleese

13. Tommy Cooper

14=. Jennifer Suanders

14=. Dawn French

16. Ronnie Barker

17. Lee Mack

18. Sacha Baron Cohen

19. Lenny Henry

20. Rowan Atkinson

21. Dave Allen

22. Jo Brand

23. Lee Evans

24. Eddie Izzard

25. Stewart Lee

26. Bill Bailey

27. Micky Flanagan

28. Michael McIntyre

29. Rik Mayall

30. Kathy Burke

The list was not without controversy as the likes of Tony Hancock, Frankie Howerd, Kenneth Williams, Peter Cook and Vic Reeves did not even make the cut.

Alongside Phillips, the panel choosing the order were comedy actors Stephen Mangan, Nina Wadia, John Thomson and Ronni Ancona, stand-up Darren Harriott, comedy writer David Quantick, journalist Boyd Hilton and performer and music hall expert Roy Hudd.

Published: 26 May 2019