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Best fictional Dad.

109 replies

ilovepixie · 01/08/2026 15:08

Following on from the mum thread who is the best fictional dad. I’m going for Atticus Finch from Mocking bird, and Bill Smugs from Enid Blyton Adventure Series.

OP posts:
TeenToTwenties · 01/08/2026 18:31

Atticus Finch yes, good role model, there for his children.

Commander Walker from Swallows and Amazons - too absent imo

Mr Weasley - a fun Dad maybe, but seemed to leave the brunt of the parenting and money side to Mrs Weasley, he sat back too much from responsibility.

undergound · 01/08/2026 18:36

Guido Orefice In the film Life is Beautiful.

AsGoodasIOnceWas · 01/08/2026 18:38

Homer Simpson

thinkpadmad · 01/08/2026 18:40

Coach Taylor

Onelittledog · 01/08/2026 18:41

Mr Brown in Paddington, the one played by Hugh Bonneville

CrystalSingerFan · 01/08/2026 18:41

ForPinkDuck · 01/08/2026 15:17

A surrogate but i think nm will approve. Ronnie Barker as Fletcher in Porridge 💖.

Oh god, I've just got this. Although I'd still like to hear Ingrid's view....

MrsMSheridan · 01/08/2026 18:43

Phil Dunphy from Modern Family

Sometimessmiling · 01/08/2026 18:43

Uncle Tom loved the book and the film

whiteroseredrose · 01/08/2026 18:44

Outnumbered

CrystalSingerFan · 01/08/2026 18:44

Grandfather in Joanna Spyri's Heidi.

CountryGirlInTheCity · 01/08/2026 19:05

Martin Crane from Frasier - grumpy on the outside, marshmallow on the inside. Also hilarious!

InQuiresandplaceswheretheysing · 01/08/2026 19:08

Mr Tom in Goodnight Mr Tom.

EBearhug · 01/08/2026 19:09

Not Pa Ingalls. I totally identified with Laura, of course,but my mother read them for the first time when I did, and she said she couldn't understand how Caroline could bear it - every time they got settled and feeling part of a community, Pa made them go west again and live some subsistence starvation life of drudgery in the dirt.

Attics Finch though.

PigglyWigglyOhYeah · 01/08/2026 19:10

I am adding Phil Dunphy to my list!

Mr Brown from Paddington is just like my DH, so naturally I have added him to my Great Dad list, as DH is, too.

LightningTree · 01/08/2026 19:10

Not strictly a dad, but Joe Gargery in Great Expectations gets my vote.

ImpatientlyWaitingForSummer · 01/08/2026 19:14

TwisterSpice · 01/08/2026 15:27

Bandit Heeler.

I thought I was going mad that he was my first thought, so happy others have said this 😂 they both make me feel so inferior 😭

slughater · 01/08/2026 19:14

Atticus Finch
Moominpapa

oh, Big Bear (from can't you sleep little bear)

actually there aren't that many human fathers in fiction I would rate as Dads

HelenaWilson · 01/08/2026 19:15

Not strictly a dad, but Joe Gargery in Great Expectations gets my vote.

He was the nearest thing to a father that Pip had.

Mischance · 01/08/2026 19:15

"Daddy, my Daddy!"

Tablo · 01/08/2026 19:17

Silas Marner

But Atticus Finch gets my top spot.

EvelynBeatrice · 01/08/2026 19:18

Phil Dunphy in Modern Family; also have soft spot for Jay.

But best of all Eugene Levy as ‘Jim’s dad’ in American Pie films.

Theresmagicwheretheflowersgrow · 01/08/2026 19:32

MrsMSheridan · 01/08/2026 18:43

Phil Dunphy from Modern Family

I love Modern Family and love Phil. He was a great dad in lots of ways but could be infuriatingly incompetent as a husband!

Uricon2 · 01/08/2026 19:33

Atticus Finch.

TV wise, and 'adopted' , Sir Edward Pellew to Horiatio Hornblower.

I don't think Pa Ingalls has stood the test of time, sadly. Even the relatively restrained books are really hinting at the constant upheaval. Michael Landon as Pa though, yes.

MachineBee · 01/08/2026 19:34

wheretoyougonow · 01/08/2026 15:54

Mr Weasley

Another vote for Mr Weasley

User122333 · 01/08/2026 19:42

Cantwaitforwinter · 01/08/2026 17:30

Did you misread “best fictional father” as “worst fictional father”?

Simpsons s6 ep13 “And Maggie Makes Three” always gives me a lump in my throat at the end.