The Springfield resident certainly isn’t perfect, with even his wife, Marge, admitting that he “forgets birthdays, anniversaries, holidays (both religious and secular), chews with his mouth open, hangs out in a seedy bar with bums and lowlifes, blows his nose in towels and puts them back, and scratches himself with his keys.” Crude, overweight, simple-minded, lazy and a borderline alcoholic he may be, but despite these foibles, there can be no doubting that the big yellow buffoon is a loving husband and father, who’d do anything for his family.

Marlin may have been slightly overprotective of son Nemo, but considering he’d just lost his wife and 399 of his children to a hungry barracuda, who could blame him? Just like any father, Marlin found it hard to let go on his nipper’s first day of school and things go from bad to worse when Nemo is captured by a scuba diver and taken to a dentist’s aquarium in Sydney. The heroic clownfish proves to be an inspiration for single dads everywhere, however, setting out on an epic and highly dangerous voyage across the ocean to find his only child.

Even though Fred was the patriarch of the “modern stone-age family”, he always had to answer to his wife, Wilma, after his many misadventures with best bud Barney, proving that nothing much has changed for us blokes since we were all cavemen. This prehistoric pop may have had a bit of a temper on him – especially when trying to get that damn cat to stay out for the night – but he certainly had a softer side which showed through with daughter Pebbles.

He may have been a poor carpenter, with no wife and no children, but that didn’t stop Geppetto trying to be a top dad when he carved himself a puppet out of wood and wished for it to become a real boy. Like most kids, Pinocchio promises to be good, but he soon goes off the rails a little bit, disobeying his father and running away. With the help of Jiminy Cricket, however, he soon gets back on the straight and narrow, beating temptation and learning to become brave, truthful and unselfish. Any father who raises a kid like that is definitely a top dad in FQ’s eyes.

Fatter and cruder than Homer Simpson, many would argue that Peter Griffin is also funnier than Springfield’s favourite family man. Both are bumbling, blue-collar workers in small-town America, but their home-lives could not be more different, mostly due to the fact that Peter’s clan includes a Martini-swilling, talking dog and an evil infant son, hell-bent on world domination. Any dad who can deal with that deserves a special mention and ‘Family Guy’ even survived being cancelled in the States when it became the first TV show to be recommissioned thanks to huge DVD sales.

King Mufasa may have been tragically trampled to death by thousands of stampeding wildebeest in Disney’s ‘The Lion King’, but that was only after he’d saved the life of his little cub Simba – a truly heroic dad. Strong, powerful and kind-hearted, Mufasa ruled fairly and was a well-loved king, except by his brother Scar, who gave him a helping hand on his fatal fall. Convinced that Mufasa’s death was his fault, Simba flees, racked with guilt, but after his dad’s ghost appears to him in a cloud he returns to take his rightful place on the throne.

Hank’s “narrow urethra” means he’s only been able to father one child – his son Bobby – but that often seems more than enough for the Texan propane-seller. Even though he is reluctant to display his feelings, Hank clearly loves his son – despite often remarking how “that boy ain’t right” when worrying about Bobby’s slightly effeminate characterists. Hank  even gives up his beloved den so that niece Luanne can move into the Hill family home and proves an excellent, if slightly uneasy, surrogate father to the troubled teen.

The Jetsons could easily be dismissed as just being The Flintstones in space, but George is definitely his own man and not just a carbon copy of his prehistoric predecessor, Fred. A father to teenage daughter Judy and younger son Elroy, George and his wife Jane enjoyed all the trappings of life in the future, such as robot servants, holidays on Venus, flying cars that fit into briefcases and a three-day working week. Of course, none of that made parenting any easier, with futuristic fathers still having to face the same problems as present-day pops, but George always seemed more than capable of dealing with all his family’s woes.

We learn a lot more about the big green ogre in Shrek’s third outing, notably that his father tried to eat him. Not exactly a great example of parenting and it’s therefore little wonder that poor Shrek is worried about his own skills as a future dad, when he learns Princess Fiona is expecting. After all the usual offspring-related nightmares, plus a few adventures along the way, Shrek and Fiona are soon looking after their triplets and taking to parenting like, well, like an ogre to mud. A swamp never seemed like a better place to raise a child.

Enforced retirement from saving the world may have seen Mr Incredible gain a few pounds, making him “twice the hero he used to be”, but it’s also meant he’s had to settle down and start a family. Of course, when your kids have all got superpowers it can make parenting a bit trickier than usual. Go on, imagine if your little ones could become invisible or move at the speed of light. Now that’s a scary thought. Not for Mr Incredible though, who soon realises that his family is his greatest adventure yet. What a guy.