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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Guardian readers and Alfie Packham

‘Filthy rich, kinky and heartless’: your favourite late-arriving TV characters

Ewan Roy (James Cromwell) with younger brother Logan (Brian Cox) in Succession
Brothers beyond … Ewan Roy (James Cromwell) with younger bro Logan (Brian Cox) in Succession. Photograph: HBO

Mike Hannigan – Friends

Mike Hannigan was the only character to truly feel like a seventh Friend. He was the perfect match for Phoebe, a lightning rod for her kookiness and providing the solid family she’d never had. It wasn’t just the fact that he was played by Paul Rudd that managed to win over the viewers. His profile was nowhere near what it would later become, so the audience weren’t responding to star power in the same way they had, say, to Bruce Willis, Tom Selleck or Reese Witherspoon. Mike had to play the long game, put in the graft and win Phoebe’s trust, and won ours in the process. AJ, London

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