Channel 4 survey reveals the British public's top TV families

6 March 2013

The British public reveal the TV families they most love, including some surprises, ahead of new Channel 4 entertainment series Gogglebox narrated by Caroline Aherne from The Royle Family.

A survey conducted of 2000 respondents across Britain suggests that:

 

•           Nearly half of Britain’s say their favourite TV family is The Simpsons (45%) beating The Royle Family (24%) and The Dingles from Emmerdale (13%) however the top ten list also had a few surprises including The Flintstones and The Banks family from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

•           Brits love to talk about what they watched on telly with over half of people saying they discuss what they saw on TV with work colleagues the following day (57%).

•           The most common causes of arguments in front of the telly is the TV being too loud or too quiet and who is in charge of the remote control; and more than a third of households regularly argue about what programme to watch on TV (37%).

•           Reality TV causes the most arguments in households across Britain closely followed by comedy programmes and the news; and surprisingly men are more likely to argue about storylines in soaps than women.

•           People in Britain would choose comfy clothes and a cup of tea over their partner as a top essential item needed for a night in front of the telly.

•           The British public would most like to watch television with daytime TV queen Holly Willoughby, Scottish comedian, Billy Connelly and actor and presenter James Corden.

•           Nearly a quarter of men questioned chose Holly Willoughby as the celebrity they would most like to watch TV with (23%) whereas women’s favourite choice was  one half of telly duo Declan Donnelly (18%).

•           However, over a third of Brits would least like to share their TV viewing with Janet Street Porter (34%) beating Amy Childs (21%) and Sharon Osborne (17%), the top ten list also had a few surprises including Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw (12%).

•           There was a divide between Britain’s best loved telly couples; the public picked Declan Donnelly over Ant McPartlin as their preferred TV companion and Holly Willoughby was the favourite choice over her This Morning TV husband Philip Schofield.

 

Top 10 favourite famous TV families:

1.         The Simpsons (45%)

2.         The Flinstones (29%)

3.         The Royle Family (24%)

4.         The Addams Family (23%)

5.         The Gellers in Friends (18%)

6.         The Griffins in Family Guy (16%)

7.         The Banks in Fresh Prince of Bel Air (14%)

8.         The Dingles in Emmerdale (13%)

9.         The Osbournes (12%)

10.       The Crawleys in Downton Abbey (11%)

 

Brits would most like to watch TV with the following celebrity:

1.         Holly Willoughby

2.         Billy Connelly

3.         James Corden

4.         Michael McIntyre

5.         Declan Donnelly

6.         Karl Pilkington

7.         Ant McPartlin

8.         Dermot O’Leary

9.         Philip Schofield

10.       Billie Piper

 

Brits would least like to watch TV with the following celebrity:

1.         Janet Street-Porter

2.         Gordon Ramsay

3.         Amy Childs

4.         Bruce Forsyth

5.         Louis Walsh

6.         Sharon Osbourne

7.         Barbara Windsor

8.         Dean Gaffney

9.         Eamon Holmes

10.       Nick Grimshaw

 

Top 10 TV catchphrases:

11.       ‘D’Oh’ in The Simpsons (26%)

12.       ‘I don’t believe it’ in One Foot in the Grave (26%)

13.       ‘I have a cunning plan’ in Blackadder (22%)

14.       ‘Lovely Jubbly’ in Only Fools and Horses (23%)

15.       ‘How you doin’? in Friends (18%)

16.       ‘Yeah but no but yeah but’ in Little Britain (15%)

17.       ‘You’re Fired’ in The Apprentice (15%)

18.       ‘Giggity’ in Family Guy (14%)

19.       ‘Just like that’ in Tommy Cooper (13%)

20.       ‘Bazinga’ in Big Bang Theory (12%)

 

Top 10 main causes of arguments when watching TV:

1.         Not wanting to watch the same shows on TV

2.         TV being too loud or too quiet

3.         Who get control of the remote control

4.         Someone deleting unwatched recorded programmes

5.         Not agreeing with topics on the news

6.         Storylines in soaps

7.         Who gets the best seat in the room

8.         Someone in the room making rubbish jokes

9.         Whether someone on the TV is attractive or not

10.       There is nowhere to sit in the room

 

Which TV genre causes the most arguments in household across Britain:

1.         Reality TV

2.         Comedy

3.         News

4.         Factual

5.         Sci-Fi

6.         Horror

7.         Romance

8.         Crime

9.         Military

10.       Children’s

 

Do you discuss what you watched on TV the next day at work:

1.         YES (54%)

2.         NO (27%)

3.         N/A (19%)

 

Top essentials for a night in front of the TV:

1.         Comfy clothes

2.         Cup of tea or coffee

3.         Partner

4.         Chocolate

5.         Slippers

 

Notes to Editors:

Data from a survey of 2000 respondents conducted by research company Onepoll.com on behalf of Channel 4. Using an on-line questionnaire, it is nationally representative of people aged 18 – 55+ living in Britain.

Gogglebox is a brand new entertainment factual series which will see Britain's most opinionated households comment freely on the biggest and best shows on television. Filmed over seven days from the comfort of their own sofas, these telly fanatics will be asked to critique and review popular and topical TV shows and the breaking news stories of the week. Produced within an extremely quick turnaround means only the most relevant and current TV shows will be the talking points of these living rooms in Britain.