Television facts

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A blue police box materialises in a 1963 living room, wheezing. Out steps a man who says "Doctor WHO? Just the Doctor." The TV in the corner flickers to life for the very first time with his face on it.

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A cartoonist sits in a lobby, GROANING because he has minutes to pitch a show. He scribbles a family and names them after his own parents, Homer and Marge, then adds a spring to the town sign: Springfield.

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A chemistry teacher in his underpants stands in the New Mexico desert next to an RV. A white walter jug of water sits at his feet. Behind him a turkey albatross wearing a QUERKY hat waves a sign: ALBUQUERQUE.

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Six friends squash onto one orange sofa in a coffee shop in the centre of a park, their mugs as big as soup bowls. The barista, Gunther, glares from the counter.

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Four New Yorkers argue about nothing at all in a booth, while a row of monks in brown robes eat soup at the next table in total silence.

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A mob boss lies on a therapist's couch singing soprano because he's so stressed. Out of his pocket, a new jersey shirt with a duck on it falls out: the ducks in his pool started all this.

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A detective clips a wiretap to a phone line that stretches across a harbour, and the line is strung with bald eagles sitting on more wire: Bald-more.

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A knight on the iron throne points west at a map. A WEST wind blows the paper off and a woman wrapped in a red rose catches it: West-eros.

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On a riverbank, a body is found wrapped in plastic beside a palm tree that has no business in the snowy woods. An FBI agent sips damn fine coffee and says "Who killed Laura?"

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A big yellow bird the size of a bus leans over a brownstone stoop and says "Open sesame!" The street opens, and a grouchy green monster pops out of a trash can marked '69.

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A green frog made from his mother's old coat sits on a hen's nest, and the hen's son is the puppeteer: HEN-SON.

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Army surgeons mash potatoes in a tent hospital while helicopters land outside. On the mess-tent wall, a map of Korea has a big red pin in it.

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A starship shaped like a dinner plate on a stick flies past. On its side, a giant businessman in a suit holds a briefcase labelled ENTERPRISE, and Captain Kirk waves from a church (a kirk) on its roof.

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Two FBI agents crouch in a cornfield. One is mulling over a UFO photo, the believer Mulder. The other is a skull-faced sceptic doctor with a microscope: Scully.

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A tall, furious hotelier goose-steps through a lobby in Torquay, kicking his own car with a branch. A sign behind him reads "12 rooms" for the twelve episodes ever made.

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A giant python wearing a top hat juggles in a flying circus tent. A cartoon foot from the sky squashes everything and the ringmaster shouts "And now for something completely different!"

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A regional manager scrambles across a car park in Scranton, arms full of paper reams. A sign says Dunder Mifflin, and a muffin thunders down from the roof.

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A cringeworthy boss dances badly on a desk in a grey office park, stuck in a muddy slough. He's Brent like a bent old goose, honking.

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A bartender who used to pitch for the Red Sox polishes a glass in a Boston basement bar. Everyone shouts "NORM!" when the same man walks in, as always.

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A fussy psychiatrist sits in a radio booth in the Space Needle saying "I'm listening." His dog Eddie stares at him from the sofa, and the city is SEA-soaked and rainy.

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A man in a sharp suit falls past skyscrapers in the opening titles. He lands on a desk made of sterling silver and a cooper's wooden barrel. He's Don Draper, draped in a fake name.

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A bald servant holding a brick and a turnip shouts "I have a cunning plan!" His sneering master, a black adder snake in a ruff, rolls his eyes.

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A three-wheeled yellow van rattles through South London. A chicken pecks at a ham on the bonnet, and Del Boy shouts "Lovely jubbly!"

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A king is crowned in the middle of a cobbled street of terraced houses in Manchester. The crown has a sticker on it reading 1960.

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A huge wall blocks a ford across a river in East London. On the other side stands a pub with a statue of Queen Victoria on the bar: the Queen Vic.

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A ram with a say in everything stands at the end of a sunny Australian cul-de-sac, butting the letterboxes. Every house has a barbecue going.

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Kids on BMX bikes race past a hawk with fairy lights in its talons. The hawk HAWKS its kins on the radio: Hawkins. Below the road, everything is upside down.

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A butler carries a silver tray high up a hill to a clear castle made of glass. Inside, the Crawley family crawl around on the carpet looking for a lost earring.

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A plane splits in half above a tropical island. On the tail, a clock reads 8:15. A hatch in the jungle has the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 painted on it.

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A Texas oil baron in a cowboy hat is shot in his office on a dark night. The whole world waits all summer, holding T-shirts reading "WHO SHOT J.R.?" The answer: his sister-in-law Kristin, holding a Christening cake.

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A man in a dark suit stands in a dimension of sight and sound, smoking. He is sterling silver from head to toe, but the 't' has fallen off his name badge: Serling.

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A red-haired woman stuffs chocolates in her mouth as a conveyor belt speeds up. Her husband, a Cuban bandleader, bangs a conga drum and shouts "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do!"

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A detective in a long coat leaps out of a black cab. A baker on the pavement hands him two two one buns and a B: 221B Baker Street.

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A gang in flat caps walks through a factory town. A bird wearing a ham in its beak flaps out of a smokestack: Bird-ham. The leader Shelby shelves his razor blade into his cap.

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A man runs along a pastel Italianate village on a Welsh beach, chased by a giant white balloon. He shouts "I am not a number! I am a free man!" His badge reads 6. A port with a mare on it bobs in the bay: Portmeirion.

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Puppets on wires dangle above a tropical island. Palm trees fold back and a rocket launches. Tracy waves from every window: five brothers, all called Tracy.

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A ship flying a blue flag sets sail from a children's TV studio, and a boy called Peter waves from the deck. It's 1958, and the captain hands out badges.

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A racing driver in a white helmet never speaks. When he lifts his visor, there's a stick inside, a stig of wood: no face at all.

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A cheerleader drives a stake into a vampire on a sunny dale in California. Underneath the high school library, the ground opens like a mouth into hell.

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Staffers walk and talk down a White House corridor. The President is a Nobel economist with a Bart's letter in his hand: Bartlet. They are all in the west wing.

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A royal Waystar, a star that's lost its way, hangs over a media boardroom. An old man named Logan points at his four children and says "You're not serious people."

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A moustached coach from Kansas pins a yellow sign saying BELIEVE above the dressing room in a rich mond, a rich world. He has no idea what offside is.

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A detective in a crumpled raincoat turns at the door with a cigar: "Just one more thing." A falcon lands on his shoulder: Falk.

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Old men in Home Guard uniform march along a seafront wall, mingling with the tourists. One runs in circles shouting "Don't panic!"

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Three priests live on a craggy rock in the Atlantic. One shouts "Drink! Feck! Arse!" while Mrs Doyle insists "Go on, go on, go on" with the tea.

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A slob in a mining ship wakes from stasis after 3 million years. He holds a list of curries he's going to order: Lister. A hologram of his dead bunkmate, Rimmer, rims his glass.

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A caveman drives a car with his bare feet through a town carved from rock. His bed is a rock slab. "Yabba dabba doo!" he yells at a dinosaur crane.

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A sponge flips burgers in a pineapple under the sea, in a town on the bottom of a bikini atoll. His starfish friend Patrick lives under a rock next door.

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A Great Dane and four teenagers rattle along in a flower-painted van. Every week, a ghost is unmasked and grumbles "I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

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A blue puppy plays Keepy Uppy with a balloon in a Queensland house on stilts. Her dad, Bandit, pretends to be a horse. Outside, the city has a brisk bean breeze: Brisbane.

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In a studio at 30 Rock, a cast member shouts "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" The clock behind reads 19:75, and producer Lorne sits on a lawn chair in the wings.

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You step into a tiny blue box and find a ballroom inside. Painted on the wall in huge letters: Time And Relative Dimension In Space. The first letters glow: T-A-R-D-I-S.

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A man with pointed ears raises a hand split into a V. Behind him, a volcano erupts (Vulcan was the Roman god of fire), and he says "Fascinating."

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A surgeon called Meredith Grey opens a giant copy of Gray's Anatomy, the old medical textbook. The pages are soaked with Seattle rain.

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A cool guy in a leather jacket thumps a jukebox and it plays. Then he waterskis over a shark, and from then on everyone says the show had jumped the shark.

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A tiny boat named after a tiny fish, a minnow, sets out for a three-hour tour. A storm hits, and seven castaways end up stuck on an island for three seasons.

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A pizza delivery boy falls into a cryogenic freezer at midnight on the last day of 1999. When the lid pops open, the calendar on the wall says 3000, and his new job is at Planet Express.

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Four cut-out paper boys wait at a bus stop in the Rocky Mountains snow. One in an orange hood gets killed, again. The town sign shows a colour-dough of red and white: Colorado.

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A fat dad laughs at a giant clam, a quahog, sitting in his armchair. His talking dog Brian sips a martini and his baby plots world domination.

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A cheerful official in Indiana is trying to fill a pit with a park. A pawn chess piece sits on a knee in the pit: Pawnee.

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A dad on a couch in 2030 tells his kids a nine-season story. Every flashback happens in the same pub with a Mac computer on the bar and a Clare pouring the drinks.

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A couple from Essex and Wales get married. In Wales, a man called Barry has his own island with a funfair on it, and Nessa says "Oh, what's occurring?"

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You switch off your phone, and in the black screen you see your own face, cracked. A man called Charlie runs a small brook right through the cracks.

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A bounty hunter in silver armour carries a tiny green baby with big ears. The baby grows a gooey frog in its mouth and swallows it: Grogu.

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A black car with a red light sweeping across its bonnet speaks to its driver. It's a kit car: KITT, the Knight Industries Two Thousand.

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A surf wave crashes as a detective in a suit points at a crook and says "Book 'em, Danno!" Danno pulls out a library book.

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A suburban housewife twitches her nose and the dishes wash themselves. Her name tag reads Samantha, and her husband works in advertising.

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An alien in rainbow braces arrives in an egg-shaped spaceship and sits on his head. He's from a planet called Ork, so his name is Mork.

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A furry alien crash-lands in a suburban garage. He's from Melmac, a planet that melted like a Mac and cheese, and now he wants to eat the family cat.

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A man in a beige shirt crouches among mountain gorillas in Rwanda, whispering. A young gorilla plays with his shoelaces. The episode list says Life on Earth, 1979.

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A giant clock ticks for 30 seconds. Letters and numbers tumble onto a board as Channel 4 switches on for the very first time in 1982.

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In a creepy mansion, a disembodied hand crawls out of a box to answer the phone. The family calls it Thing, and a towering butler, Lurch, lurches in groaning "You rang?"

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A private eye with a huge moustache drives a red Ferrari along a Hawaiian coast, wearing a loud shirt. He lives free on a rich author's estate, guarded by two Dobermans.

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Players in green tracksuits freeze as a giant doll turns its head: red light. Coins tumble into a piggy bank hanging from the ceiling. The guards' masks show a circle, a triangle and a square.

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A man with a huge perm paints a whole mountain lake in half an hour, whispering about happy little trees. A robin sits on his joyful easel: Bob Ross, The Joy of Painting.