EastEnders’ Frank and Pat Butcher voted most loved TV couple

19 March 2023, 13:00

By Radio X

@RadioX

The characters, played by Mike Reid and Pam St Clement, came out top in a poll of on-screen couples.

Frank and Pat Butcher have been voted the most-loved TV couple.

The iconic EastEnders characters - who were played by the late Mike Reid and Pam St Clement (80) on the BBC One soap opera - came out at number one with 17% of the votes in the Elite Singles poll, which asked participants to choose their favourite famous pairing.

The survey, in which 1,500 people took part - saw Scott and Charlene Robinson from Neighbours, played by Jason Donovan (54) and Kylie Minogue (54) in the late 1980s, in second place with 15% of the vote and another Eastenders 'it' couple Dirty Den and Angie Watts, played by the late Leslie Grantham and West End star Anita Dobson (73), in third place with 12% of the vote.

The pollsters said: “Frank and Pat Butcher are a great example of the kind of tragic couple that never quite manage to find their happy ending, but they certainly gave us a few laughs and thrills on their journey.

“The most bizarre, hilarious, and baffling of these being Frank’s nude doorstep arrival.

“It’s the exact sort of oddball un-romantic romance that delights British viewers and leaves the rest of the world scratching its head.”

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Coronation Street got its first and only mention in the Top 10, with famous couple Jack and Vera Duckworth, played by Bill Tarmey (71) and Liz Dawn (77) on the long-running ITV1 soap, claiming 11% of the vote.

Homer and Marge Simpson, from the beloved cartoon series The Simpsons, are the only animated couple to appear in the top ten, taking sixth place.

Trailing behind in ninth place is the beloved Friends will-they-won’t-they couple, Ross Geller and Rachel Greene, (played by Jennifer Aniston (54) and David Schwimmer (56).

The tenth position was taken by Only Fools and Horses’ Del Boy and Raquel, played by Sir David Jason (83) and Tessa Peake-Jones (65).

See the Top 10 most-loved TV couples:

1 -  Frank and Pat Butcher, 'EastEnders' - 17%

2 - Scott and Charlene Robinson, 'Neighbours' - 15%

3 - Den and Angie Watts, 'EastEnders' - 12%

4 - Jack and Vera Duckworth, 'Coronation Street' - 11%

5 - Sam and Diane, 'Cheers'- 9%

6 - Homer and Marge Simpson, 'The Simpsons' - 8%

7 - Basil and Sybil Fawlty, 'Fawlty Towers' - 8%

8 - Tom and Barbara Good, 'The Good Life' - 7%

9 - Ross and Rachel, 'Friends' - 7%

10 - Del Boy and Raquel, 'Only Fools and Horses' - 6%