Simpsons are top TV family - poll

The Simpsons have beaten the squeaky-clean Waltons to be voted Britain’s favourite TV family.

The dysfunctional cartoon clan are more popular than the Trotters, the Royles and the Larkins with the nation’s viewers.

Layabout dad Homer, his blue-haired wife Marge and their three kids – Bart, Lisa and baby Maggie – topped a poll carried out by The Radio Times.

Former president George Bush showed how out-of-touch he was in 1992 when he claimed the US should be “a nation closer to the Waltons than the Simpsons”.

The British public clearly do not agree with him, voting the Waltons and their old-fashioned family values into fifth place.

Homer is not the only slob to prove popular with viewers, the poll of 6,000 readers showed.

The Royle Family, who spend their lives slumped in front of the TV, were voted in third place.

They came just behind Del Boy, Rodney and the rest of the Trotter family from Only Fools and Horses.

The Crane clan from the US series Frasier were fourth, followed by the Waltons - the family from Virginia who were a TV favourite in the 1970s and early 1980s.

They may have more family traumas than the rest of soapland put together, but the Slaters from EastEnders were in sixth place.

Elsewhere on the list were the “perfick” Larkins from The Darling Buds of May, the eponymous stars of At Home with the Braithwaites, The Harpers from the BBC series My Family, and Mafia mob The Sopranos.

The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has declared himself a fan of the Simpsons.

But despite the popularity of the animated series, psychologist Dr Cynthia McVey warned that they were not a great role model for British families.

“The role of the mother and father – with her organising everything and him basically a lazy sod – is a clear reflection of how many young people seem to regard gender roles today,” she said.

“In many ways, the Simpsons are a very poor example of family life: discipline, for example, never seems to happen.

“The parents make a lot of empty threats (of being grounded, etc) but never follow through, which is very poor, inconsistent parenting, horribly familiar to most families.”

But the old-fashioned Waltons represent “the ideal family unit”, McVey said.

“The parents love each other, and if the children ever have problems they can take them to their parents, who always have time to talk and understand.

“People may laugh at the Waltons as inane and unrealistic, but it makes a very powerful appeal to our sense of good family living.”

The top 10 favourite TV families are:

1 The Simpsons

2 The Trotters

3 The Royles

4 The Cranes

5 The Waltons

6 The Slaters

7 The Harpers

8 The Sopranos

9 The Braithwaites

10 The Larkins