Who Does Your Favourite TV Character Support?

I was on American radio the other day, filling our transatlantic cousins in on the weekend’s “soccer” action. The presenter, half-jokingly, asked me who I’d been rooting for in the Super Bowl. Was I, he asked, a Giants fan?

“No,” I replied. “Always been a Jets fan, actually.” “The Jets!? Why?” “They were Tony Soprano’s team…” I explained. “No, my friend. Big T’s a Giants man.” (Don’t you love that present tense usage?)

There then followed an animated discussion on air about which football team the head of a fictional New Jersey crime family supported. “Bobby Baccalieri was definitely a Giants fan…” “Everyone’s a Giants fan over in Jersey…”

This was still going on long after I’d done my piece and vacated the airwaves, with listeners apparently ringing in to have their say on the great Soprano supporting debate.

A few years back an American friend came close to splitting up with his (English) partner after she dared suggest that Jerry Seinfeld was a New York Yankees fan.

Seinfeld always rooted for the Mets (the Big Apple’s other baseball club which, needless to say, my said American friend also supports), but you can still find online forum discussions where fans argue, to the point of spluttering rage, over which team Jerry supports. There’s even a website that carefully records every mention of either New York club in each and every episode of the show.

All of which got me thinking. Back on UK telly (and also going back in time a fair bit here), I’d always assumed Norman Stanley Fletcher of Porridge fame was a Tottenham fan. He was, of course, a Leyton Orient supporter (Lennie Godber was an Aston Villa boy, as we all know).

Equally, I’ve spent a large chunk of my time on this Earth thinking that Private Pike was a West Ham fan (because of that claret and blue scarf of his), but no. Actor Ian Lavender is a huge Villa fan and wanted his character to follow suit (clearly the Midlands club enjoyed some popularity in Seventies sitcom land).

Terry from Minder was a Fulham man, perfect for the role, the series beginning just at the time when the old Cottagers were a bit of a joke, best known for being a boozy rest home for the likes of George Best and Bobby Moore.

Alf Garnett was West Ham, of course (though actor Warren Mitchell’s a loyal Tottenham supporter), while Del Boy would frequently refer to Millwall on Only Fools And Horses, more often than not for comedy value (although young Rodders was Chelsea).

Back to the present day and over in E20, Eastenders is pure West Ham territory, though I seem to remember Mark Fowler was a Spurs fan (brave lad) and dear departed Arthur would regularly get his collection bucket out for the fictional Walford Town (the daft old nutter).

Heading northwards, Coronation Street characters tend to follow the City-United Mancunian divide and, staying in that part of the world, DCI Gene Hunt from Life On Mars and its various offshoots was a staunch Manchester City fan.

And then there’s that geezer from New Tricks, clearly a Wimbledon supporter. Hmmm… any others?