1 | Moss
Geek-com The IT Crowd’s standout character was Richard Ayoade’s socially inept genius Maurice Moss: hyper-intelligent, super-awkward, wearer of thick-rimmed specs (even in bed) and still living with his mum, who dresses him and packs him lunch. Moss was a Countdown champion, invented “the Abracada Bra”, always knew exactly how many staples were in his stapler, and carried a small spray bottle for when his left ear got hot. The IT Crowd bowed out last year but Ayoade won a Bafta for his performance in the final episode and said in his acceptance speech: “I hope this serves as an inspiration to other nasal men with no facial expressions or emotional range.”
2 | Spock
“Live long and prosper.” Portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series and Zachary Quinto in the recent Hollywood reboot, Mr Spock is the USS Enterprise’s science officer, first officer and later captain. The son of a Vulcan ambassador and a human schoolteacher, he’s formidably intelligent, emotionally detached and dominated by logic, with a bowl-cut, forbidding eyebrows and pointy alien ears. Spock’s death in 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is often voted the franchise’s most memorable moment by Trekkers. Nimoy also released five pop album, of varying degrees of quality, between 1967 and 1970.
3 | Liz Lemon
Tina Fey’s quip-smart NBC sitcom 30 Rock, set on an SNL-alike sketch show, revolves around head writer Lemon, who didn’t lose her virginity until 25 and retains an adolescent gawkiness into her 40s. With her specs, hairy upper lip and “bi-curious” shoes, Liz is like a 3D version of Velma from Scooby Doo. Still, that didn’t stop her dating Jon Hamm and Matt Damon during the seven-series run. Boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) summed her up as a "New York third-wave feminist, college-educated, single and pretending to be happy about it, over-scheduled, undersexed, you buy any magazine that says ‘healthy body image’ on the cover and every two years you take up knitting for... a week”.
4 | Anthony Michael Hall
In the mid-80s, this skinny, strawberry-blond dork pretty much cornered the market in playing lovable geeks in John Hughes-directed high-school movies. He was Brian “The Brain” Johnson in The Breakfast Club, who had a fake ID “so I can vote” and contemplated suicide after getting a bad grade. He was desperate-to-be-popular Gary Wallace in Weird Science, who, Frankenstein-like, created a “perfect woman” (Kelly LeBrock) with the aid of a Barbie doll, a home computer and a lightning bolt. His braces-wearing freshman in Sixteen Candles (“I’ve never bagged a babe. I’m not a stud”) was even credited as The Geek.
5 | Comic Book Guy
There are several candidates for Springfield’s prime geek but here that honour goes to the tyrannical proprietor of the Android’s Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop. Real name Jeff Albertson, he has a bulging belly, greasy ponytail, encyclopaedic sci-fi knowledge and utter contempt for anyone (especially children) expressing an opinion different from his own. He has a masters in folklore and mythology (translating Lord Of The Rings into Klingon for his thesis) and his own website, Ain’t I Fat News. Simpsons creator Matt Groening says he’s based on “every comic book store guy in America”. Worst retail worker ever.
6 | George McFly
“Last night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn’t take Lorraine out, he’d melt my brain.” Played by Crispin Glover in 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future, George was a friendless 50s high school weakling who learned to stand up for himself thanks to his time-travelling son Marty (Michael J Fox). He punches bully Biff, gets the girl and becomes a successful sci-fi author. Eccentric actor Glover, however, refused to return for the sequels, so was portrayed by Jeffrey Weissman wearing prosthetics and doing a Glover impression, mixed with footage filmed for the first movie. Glover successfully sued.
7 | Seth Cohen
With his curls, knits, Converse and Original Penguin polos, Adam Brody’s dorky yet witty character from 00s teen drama The OC was a pioneer of geek chic. This alt rock-loving, comic book obsessive from Newport Beach in California’s Orange County came out of his shell when his philanthropic parents adopted Ryan, a troubled delinquent from the wrong side of the tracks. Seth had a toy horse called Captain Oats and created inter-faith holiday Chrismukkah. Like many geeks, he lusted after the popular girl in school, Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson), and got the girl. Seth had gone from friendless loner to unlikely sex god.
8 | Sheldon Cooper
Bazinga! Even in The Big Bang Theory, a sitcom about geeks, quantum physicist Sheldon (played by Emmy winner Jim Parsons) stands out. He’s scarily smart, utterly asexual, socially gauche and obsessive-compulsive. As a former child prodigy with a masters, two PhDs and an IQ of 187, he cultivates an air of smug superiority. He finally got a girlfriend after five seasons (neurobiologist Amy), even though he’s paranoid about germs and physical contact. He’s also named an asteroid after himself. Oh and Leonard Nimoy has taken out a restraining order against him.
9 | Napoleon Dynamite
Gosh! The cult film from husband-and-wife team Jared and Jerusha Hess is celebrating its 10th anniversary. It stars Jon Heder as a redheaded high-school misfit in rural Idaho who lives with his loser big brother, his quad-biking grandma and their pet llama Tina. Near-sighted Napoleon is a daydreaming, doodling, boondoggle key chain-making, milk-tasting fantasist and a magnet for bullies – until he helps his best friend Pedro snatch the Student Body President title from mean girl Summer Wheatley. How? With a spectacular dance routine to Canned Heat by Jamiroquai, of course. Sweet moves
10 | Sherlock Holmes
Conan Doyle’s sleuth has always been an eccentric genius but Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat’s BBC reboot turns him into an über-geek. Brilliantly played by heartthrob otter lookalike Benedict Cumberbatch, he’s a “high-functioning sociopath”, “consulting detective” and friendless asexual smart-arse, redeemed by his friendship with Dr Watson (Martin Freeman). Sherlock talks fast, thinks faster, plays the violin, wears a flowing Belstaff coat and nicotine patches, regularly retreats to his “mind palace”, and becomes a reluctant celebrity by cracking high-profile cases and faking his own death.
