John Rueger - Commissioner of Prisons (Miami Vice, 1986)

Earnest and capable, John is dedicated to rooting out corruption and vice in the Miami prison system. He persuades Tubbs to go undercover in prison as a drug-dealer to dig up evidence that will bring a ring of crooked prison warders to book. A man who leads from the front, John is not averse to picking up a gun and getting to grips with the crooks himself.

The other Methos (Highlander, 1992)

One of the oldest of the Immortals, he has forsaken weapons in a bid to stop the killing and bring peace amongst the immortals that walk the earth. A man of wisdom and power, he tries to persuade Duncan McCloud that a sword is not always the answer, and he is willing to put his own life on the line to do so.

Marcel 'Snake' Boureaux (The Untouchables, 1993-1994)

Big, shaven-headed, tattoed and very, very nasty, Snake is a Cajun with a taste for body decoration and a distinct tendency towards killing people for money and for the sheer pleasure of doing it. He did, after all, once kill a man for eating too much. He loves his 'babies', a trio of diamondback rattlesnakes, and his main weapon is a reflex bow. He is tenacious in the extreme, deadly, and totally, irrevocably psychotic.

Jim-Bob Buchanon (Arly Hanks, 1994)

Mayor and gas-station owner in the little Arkansas town of Maggody, Jim-Bob is a man always on the lookout for the chance to make a quick buck and a good impression. Charming and devious, with a weakness for a pretty girl, Jim-Bob nevertheless had a good heart, but his plotting and scheming often gets him into trouble with the one person Jim-Bob is deathly afraid of - his beautiful, winsome, religious and tough-as-nails wife, Miz Jim-Bob ..

If you want to read more about Jim-Bob and the little town of Maggody go to author Joan Hess' wonderful site http://www.maggody.com/

Jack Plummer (Picture Windows - Lightning, 1995)

A gambler down on his luck, Jack notices an old prospector drift into town looking to buy a mule. Greedy and short-tempered, Jack and his companion, a whore determined to share in any riches coming Jack's way, set off to see what the old man has found. Violent and not averse to hitting women, Jack manages to get his hands on a fortune - but he hasn't reckoned with a wily and sometimes uncannily clever mule called Lightning ...

Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Grace (The Outer Limits - Black Box, 1998)

Brandon Grace is a man close to having a complete nervous breakdown. Haunted by the memories of his betrayal during a secret military mission that left him badly wounded, he is now in civvy street trying to hold down a job in a real estate firm. But the memories won't leave him alone, and paranoia begins to set in - who are the mysterious figures that almost appear to be figments of his imagination, figures in military gear threatening his workmates and his ex-wife? But in his pain, the only thing he can think about is a reconciliation with his teenage daughter Cammi ...

Mr Kellman (Charmed - Wrestling with Demons, 1998)

Outwardly, Mr Kellman appears to be everything the successful businessman should be - ruthless, charming and adept. But underneath the designer suits Mr Kellman harbours a far more sinister secret - he's a demon. And what's more, he's a demon recruiter, turning humans into demons for 'The Source'. Like all good businessmen, he has a contract with a quota to fullfill, and he trains his demons well - if they don't behave, he puts them into his own, personal demonic wrestling ring complete with demon wrestlers. He sure does love a good fight ...

Roy Hutchins (Family Law - The List, 1999)

Roy is a humane cop and a loving father with a problem - his wilful and unstable daughter. He has been trying to raise her on his own since the death of his wife, but she has become more and more difficult to control, and now she has turned violent. At his wit's end, he tries to get her committed to a secure unit where she can get psychiatric help, but it isn't easy - and he even thwarts his own case when he hides evidence that she shot a fellow student ... an action which has tragic consequences for both Roy and his daughter.

Fiery Blaze (The Tick - Couples, 2001)

Fiery Blaze is a superhero with an attitude problem, and the person who bears the brunt of his overbearing and pompous behaviour is his slightly effete sidekick Friendly Fire. Blaze has all of this 'superhero' business off-pat - criminals have to face up to his brand of 'combustible justice', and he even has snazzy business cards that have just one word on them - 'ZOOM!'. He takes his status very seriously, kicks Friendly Fire far too often in fight practice, and is generally an ill-mannered, elitist pain in the you-know-where.