DS Icon: Gordon The Gopher

This week marked the 25th anniversary of the glorious BBC institution that is the Broom Cupboard. Originally designed as a cheap way to do the links between shows such as Willy Fog and Grange Hill, it ended up becoming a home from home for a generation of children. With the likes of Phillip Schofield, Andy Crane, Andi Peters and Simon Parkin helming the show, it became must-see TV, sometimes even surpassing the so-called entertainment either side of the comic interludes.

However, it might not have been such a success story if it wasn't for one creature. A creature named Gordon The Gopher. Communicating through a high-pitched squeak that only Schofield is known to understand, the furry friend was an anarchic, leather jacket-wearing nutter. Replaced in later years by the inferior Edd The Duck and irritating Otis The Aardvark, Gordon was one of a kind. Outside of the Broom Cupboard he struggled for work and there have been several reports of stints in rehab for various addictions and tabloid allegations about coke and call girls. Even Schofield, his most loyal pal, has ditched his buddy for the more curvaceous Holly Willoughby. But wherever Gordon is now and whatever trouble he's in, he will always be remembered fondly as a DS Icon.

Click along our gallery below to remind yourself of the glorious Gordon The Gopher: