50 Greatest Muppets

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Ladies and gentlemen, it's Jim Henson's finest creations. Yaaay!

Crazy Harry

Greatest Moment: Playing the Explodaphone, a series of detanators lined up in order of musical note.

Ghost of Christmas Present

The Muppet: Stern Dickensian plot device reimagined as jovial giant to help Michael Caine give up his Scrooge-like ways. Proof that great bespoke characters could be created for the films.

Muppet Magic: Originally, existing Muppets were down to play the Ghosts (Present would have been Scooter) but it was felt they would detract from the plot's seriousness.

Greatest Moment: The showstopping 'It Feels Like Christmas,' of course.

Robin

The Muppet: Kermit's dimunitive nephew and enthusiastic Frog Scout.

Muppet Magic: Robin debuted in TV Special The Frog Prince in 1971, and wasn't officially labelled as Kermit's nephew until the second season of The Muppet Show .

Greatest Moment: Performing top 10 hit 'Halfway Down The Stairs' on Top of the Pops .

Manah-Manah

The Muppet: Crazy caveman-style Muppet with a limited vocabulary but a delight in singing it to anyone who'll listen. Usually accompanied by The Snowths on "do doo do doo doo" duties.

Muppet Magic: The song wasn't a Muppet original. It was written for an Italian documentary about life in Sweden, which suggests maybe the composer hadn't actually been there.

Greatest Moment: Singing that song is pretty much it.

Red

The Muppet: Fiery redheaded Fraggle whose sportiness makes her hyper-competitive... or maybe just hyper.

Muppet Magic: Crossover time! Red is the Fraggle that Kermit and Robin meet in A Muppet Family Christmas .

Greatest Moment: Discovering a plot by the Gorgs to destroy Fraggle Rock.

Dr Teeth

The Muppet: Grinning keyboardist and lead singer of the Electric Mayhem, whose bearded bohemian look and love of jamming inspired Mumford and Sons. Probably.

Muppet Magic: Two puppeteers were needed to perform Dr Teeth because of his unusually long arms.

Greatest Moment: For sheer rock'n'roll pizzazz, performing 'Night Life' on a London double decker in The Great Muppet Caper takes some beating.

Sweetums

The Muppet: Don't let this hairy ogre's appearance put you off. As the name implies, he's a sweetie really.

Muppet Magic: Sweetums was often paired with Robin the Frog, most notably dueting "Two Lost Souls" in The Muppet Show .

Greatest Moment: His dogged cross-country trip following the Muppets to Hollywood in The Muppet Movie .

Lew Zealand

The Muppet: He throws the fish away...and it comes back to him!

Muppet Magic: Created as a one-episode gag, Lew was made from a 'Whatnot' (the crew's generic Muppet heads). A bespoke puppet was built later when the character's popularity was assured.

Greatest Moment: On his debut appearance, his boomerang fish inadvertently thwarted Miss Piggy's plans to marry Kermit in a guise of a wedding 'sketch.'

Sir Didymus

The Muppet: Labyrinth 's chivalrous, one-eyed fox, who escorts Jennifer Connelly to her showdown with David Bowie's Goblin King because she's kind enough to ask permission.

Muppet Magic: Technically, the characters built by The Jim Henson Creature Workshop for films like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth aren't Muppets. We're making an exception because Didymus, crucially, feels like a Muppet.

Greatest Moment: Faced with an army of goblins pointing their spears at him, Sir Didymus thinks they're surrendering: "throw down your weapons and I'll see you're well-treated."

Pepe The King Prawn

The Muppet: Elevator operator in Muppets Tonight who convinced the Muppets he was more than a shrimp to become a regular in the ensemble.

Muppet Magic: Originally Pepe was partnered with Seymour the Elephant. Why a prawn? According to the crew, because "a mouse was too easy."

Greatest Moment: His series of adverts for Long John Silver's restaurant chain made him one of the highest-profile Muppets in America during the past decade.