Runner-ups abound but undoubtedly the best TV home is the Friends' Manhattan apartment, reckons Sarah Thomas.
1. The Friends apartment
The lilac walls! The gold frame around the door peephole! The balcony from which to spot Ugly Naked Guy! The layout of the Friends apartment is indelibly stamped on everyone's brain and was pretty object of real-estate envy in the 1990s. Mainly home to Monica and Rachel, and at times housing Phoebe, Joey and Chandler, the question was always how did a sporadically employed chef and a coffee-shop waitress afford prime Greenwich Village real estate? Savvy writers got around this by claiming Monica sublet on the cheap from Granny Geller.
2. Summer Bay Caravan Park
It's been a pillar of the community since Home & Away's beginnings in 1988. It's now filmed at Lane Cove River Tourist Park but has featured other spots such as Duffys Forest Waratah Park Earth Sanctuary, also home to Skippy The Bush Kangaroo. It's not only been a fictional budget-friendly holiday spot under the careful watch of Tom (Roger Oakley) and Pippa Fletcher (Debra Lawrance) but also home to a number of characters. Our favourite residents have included rebellious tearaway Bobbi Simpson (Nicolle Dickson), loveable halfwit Lance Smart (Peter Vroom) and ditzy glamour puss Marilyn Chambers (Emily Symons).
3. Roseanne's home
The 1990s wry sitcom headed by comic Roseanne Barr featured a relatable Average Joe kind of house. There was nothing the kitchen didn't see: marital woes, money troubles, dramas with the kids... (see also: its spiritual offspring, Malcolm in the Middle). The features of Roseanne's home were as familiar to us as those in our own: the crocheted blanket over the grim-looking couch, the extended phone lead enabling Roseanne to move around and yell at her kids while on the blower. Most loveable of all were the warm family gatherings around the kitchen table, marked by the rapid-fire wisecracks of Roseanne and Dan (John Goodman), making it a dinner everyone wanted to be a part of.
4. All US sitcom homes
It's a dream real-estate catalogue: Seinfeld's city unit/drop-in centre for his closest chums (see also Will and Grace, Mad About You, How I Met Your Mother); Frasier's swish Seattle penthouse balanced by Marty Crane's weathered, ragged recliner; Modern Family's sprawling mansions (see also The Cosby Show, Arrested Development). And then the cosy standard-suburban numbers such as Married With Children, The Golden Girls and Family Ties.
5. Addams Family House
It is, of course, creepy and it's kooky, and in need of a serious reno, but it was home to Gomez and Morticia and their family of freaks in the 1960s kitsch show. Brimming with bizarre knick-knacks, the treasures included a big taxidermy polar bear, a mounted swordfish with a leg sticking out of it, a hangman's noose/bell pull to summon lofty butler Lurch – "You rang?" – and Morticia's big wicker chair. Oh, and a pet lion named Kitty Kat. The address? 1 Cemetery Lane.
6. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air Mansion
Who can forget that famous catchcry from the 1990s: "Yo homes, to Bel Air!" Big-eared tearaway Will "The Fresh Prince" Smith is despatched from West Philly for a better life with extended family headed by his Uncle Phil (James Avery) and Auntie Vivian (Janet Hubert-Whitten, Daphne Maxwell Reid). Fish-out-of-water hilarity ensues at the posh LA mansion, mainly at the expense of Will's Tom Jones-loving cousin Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) and sour-face butler Geoffrey (Joseph Marcell).
7. The Simpsons House
742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, is the address of one the most famous TV homes of all time – and producers didn't need to worry about finding a real location. The pink-hued property is typically suburban and comes with an annoying neighbour in the shape of Ned Flanders and a treehouse that carries a portal to the third dimension (according to Hallowe'en special Treehouse of Horror). And the TV room couch has seen plenty as one of the running gags at the start of each episode, like the family beamed down onto it, Star Trek-style, getting electrocuted, blasted off into space, shredded, repossessed, deep-fried, mounted like moose heads, microwaved and featured on the cover of Modern Couch Gag magazine.
8. Oscar's Trash Can
It's a trash can, it's inhabited by a grouch and, apparently, it also has a tennis court, Olympic-size swimming pool, an ice rink, a bowling alley and enough room to house pets including Fluffy the elephant and Slimey the worm. Oscar's trash can has been a mainstay of Sesame Street since its 1969 beginnings, proving that somebody's trash (can) can indeed be something deeply treasured.
