Yes, Jimmy became a bit of a joke over time but in his heyday he was fantastic. I'd forgotten Barry and was going to say Bobby and Sheila. In fact, I'd suggest the Grants as a whole unit - when Brookie started they were instantly the most 'real' family I'd ever seen in a soap, nothing in Corrie came close and EE hadn't started.

To be absolutely clear these are based on my personal favs and are all in IMHO and only IMHO! So please no wagging pointing fingers and losing your crap at me if you disagree mm'kay? Good!

In no particular order...

Emmerdale:

Chris Tate
Zoe Tate
Charity Dingle
♥♥♥♥♥Cameron Murray♥♥♥♥♥ (Admittedly I might be a little bit biased with this one!)
♥♥♥♥♥Cain Dingle♥♥♥♥♥ (Ditto above!)
Moira Barton
Carl King
Matthew King
Steph Stokes
Jack Sudgen
Diane Sudgen
Val Pollard
Bob & Viv Hope (Screw Brenda! I STILL refuse to accept her as Viv's replacement! )

Honorable mention: Debbie & Chas Dingle (Sort of have a love/hate relationship with these 2, I really enjoy watching them but at the same time they sometimes annoy the crap out me! Can't really explain it to be honest.)

Coronation Street:

Peter Barlow
Tony Gordon
Rita Sullivan
David Platt A.K.A. Demon David
Kylie Platt
Danny Baldwin
Mike Baldwin
Richard Hillman
Todd Grimshaw
Pat Philean
Mary Taylor
Emily Bishop
Blanche Hunt
Karen McDonald
Liam Connor
Maya Sharma AKA Mad Maya
Yasmeen Nazir (I liked her before it was "cool")

Eastenders:

Janine Butcher
Nick Cotton
Dot Cotton
Denise Fox
Grant Mitchell
Tiffany Mitchell
Archie Mitchell (Don't like the fact they made him into a rapist though, was already a good enough villain without it)
♥♥♥♥♥Dennis Rickman♥♥♥♥♥ (Yup, another suspected bias!)
♥♥♥♥♥Steve Owen♥♥♥♥♥ (Leave me alone!)
Melanie Owen
Zainab Masood (Such an interestingly flawed yet complex character and they ruined her off-screen!)
Chrissie Watts
Trevor Morgan

You might notice a lot of my favs are the villains.

blimey, i am stuck, i cannot think...trying to choose someone who is not just my favorite but iconic a great character and had been involved in memorable scenes, even people that inspired the British public (even if you are not a soap lover).....

some on here have put some great people i forgot. Some of the brookside people as mentioned above should not be forgot. deirdre barlow is up there with impact and long service, Phil Mitchell for sure, The Dingles as a clan...nope its to hard to do a top 10 let alone.....

Although i am a Pat Phelan guy, but thats for a future hall of fame

Elsie Tanner
Hilda Ogden
Bet Lynch
Annie Walker
Eddie Yeats

from modern Corrie

Todd Grimshaw
Pat Phelan

But the greatest star of TV.....JR Ewing

Kylie Platt
Gemma Winter
Peter Barlow
Tim Metcalfe
Mary Taylor

JR Ewing

Kat Slater
Janine Butcher
Bianca Butcher
Pat Butcher
Grant and Phil Mitchell

Mike Baldwin
Hayley Cropper
Karen Mcdonald
Jack and Vera

Lindsey Corkhill
Jimmy Corkhill
Beth Jordache
Bev Dixon

Jacqui McQueen
Brendan Brady

Kim Tate
Charity Dingle
Betty Eagleton
Zoe Tate

Angie Watts
Sable Colby
David Wicks