Luke Holland: I've enjoyed more episodes of Top Gear than any other programme, and I genuinely like all three presenters – even if the brilliance has dimmed in recent years

Eva Wiseman: This subtle, oblique tale of alcoholics, sociopaths and geniuses requires us to listen - and not look at our phones once

John Crace: It's the programme that makes Mondays worthwhile, says an aficionado since the 1970s – even if he'd rather forget his own appearance on the show

For those of us who were teenagers when Ricky Gervais' sitcom arrived, The Office was more than just a great comedy – David Brent and his colleagues formed the basis for the way we relate to each other

Rosie Swash: The US drama about a family of undertakers provided an examination of day-to-day death post-9/11, an era when the personal and the political were potently intertwined

Sam Wollaston: For a boy stranded in a Suffolk village, David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser tearing around in a Gran Torino catching bad dudes was perfect escapism – and the source of some important lessons about friendship, girls and denim

Despite the changes wrought by bidding wars, technical improvements, and questionable personal grooming decisions, Match of the Day remains an iconic – and only occasionally infuriating – piece of TV. Mark Lawson salutes its blend of always-original content and comfortingly unchanging punditry

The concept was groundbreaking, the writing transcended the sticom genre – and they wore saucy jumpsuits. No other TV show has been as influential, writes Hadley Freeman