Peter Kay's 'garlic bread' line voted best in comedy

PETER Kay's line in Phoenix Nights - "Garlic bread - it's the future, I've tasted it" - has been named the greatest one-liner in TV comedy history.

Uttered by wheelchair-bound nightclub owner Brian Potter, it beat other memorable favourites from the likes of Only Fools and Horses and Fawlty Towers.

The Mrs Merton Show, where the acid-tongued pensioner played by Caroline Aherne asks Debbie McGee: "So, what first attracted you to millionaire Paul Daniels?", takes second place.

Next is The Office, where Ricky Gervais' creation David Brent launches another desperate attempt to boost his credentials as a cool boss.

He tells his employees: "If you were to ask me to name three geniuses, I probably wouldn't say Einstein, Newton... I'd go Milligan, Cleese, Everett, Sessions..."

Fourth in the poll of 4,000 people, commissioned by UKTV Gold, is Father Ted, where actor Dermot Morgan utters the line: "I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do. Whereas priests... more drink?"

The survey put Rowan Atkinson's Edmund Blackadder in fifth place, with the vitriolic butler uttering: "He's mad! He's mad. He's madder than Mad Jack McMad, the winner of this year's Mr Madman competition."