True Bromance

Richie and Eddie Bottom



A true bromance is one that triumphs over adversity, and this was never more true than for Richard Richard and Edward Elizabeth Hitler.

Theirs is a relationship that seems to have lasted all their lives, and has survived a thousand violent arguments, misery, poverty and the mainly unspoken - but often just plainly spoken - fact that they actually hate each other.

The template for any good sitcom is to trap characters in a situation together and see how they react. While Richie longs for a better life and to transcend his surroundings, Eddie is happy enough with his lot as long as he has a bottle of Pernod and a copy of the Sunday Sport. But for all the frustration and frying-pans-in-the-face this conflict creates, they couldn't live without each other.

Actually, Eddie probably could.

House and Wilson House



It's often hard to see what keeps this friendship alive. Just like the Holmes/Watson coupling it's based on, the dynamic is one in which one man is constantly irascible, immature and downright cruel, and constantly sabotages the other's attempts to forge relationships with women - and the other just sits and takes it, for the most part.

The answer lies in the fact that, though he appears to be the stable one, Wilson is almost as screwed up as House is - he just goes about it more quietly. He needs House in his life just as much as the vice and the versa, which is why he always comes crawling back. When this show's finally over, there can be no other satisfactory final shot than the two of them, arms round shoulders, walking off into the sunset with no thought for anyone except each other.

Probably on a muscle beach in Key West.

Rimmer and Lister Red Dwarf



Sometimes you meet another guy and you think, "We wouldn't be friends if we were the last two people alive." More rarely, you meet one and think: "We'd probably just about tolerate each other if I was the last man alive and you were a hologrammatic representation of your living self."

Rimmer is everything Lister's not. He's fastidious and petty, he loves to stick to the rulebook and he keeps his underpants on coat-hangers. Lister's the last surviving member of the human race, and all he wants to do is bum around and eat vindaloos till they get back to Earth.

And man, they hate each other. Each delights in getting on the other's nerves. But deep down, they grow used to each other's company, and what started out as all-out hatred blossoms, slowly and delicately, into ... no, who are we kidding - they couldn't stand each other. One of them drove the other so mental, he wound up doing crack in the back of taxis.

Sorry, cheap shot.

Joey and Chandler Friends



You had to feel sorry for Ross sometimes. He'd been Chandler's friend since college, then all of a sudden this guy moves in and so began something so pure, so beautiful he couldn't hope to muscle in on.

But who'd want to? These guys were made for each other. The yin to each other's perfect yang, they shared an apartment, a woman or two, a passion for Baywatch, and a pair of reclining chairs you couldn't prise them out of for love nor coffee.

Could they be any more in love? Etc etc.

We hope this stirred up some feelings for you, men of the world. Don't fight it. Just turn around to your best guy pal, look him deep in the eyes, and say: "I love you, man."

Then maybe share a sauna together? Hey, whatever works.