There’s not a lot I find myself wanting to watch on BBC3 these days, but am prepared to make an exception for Family Guy, the ace up the channel’s sleeve. It’s been on BBC3 for a while now but has always been tucked so neatly away at the far end of the schedule that it’s often all too easy to overlook it. Which is a shame as this is simply one of the funniest, smartest and dare I say it most underrated shows on TV.

This is a show so popular with its fans that when Fox attempted to cancel it in the US some years back they were inundated with protests from fans demanding its reinstatement – and the fans won. As such the programme still enjoys a hugely devoted following, and its fanbase is still growing.

For my part, I didn’t discover it until last autumn when I happened to come across it one night and thought I would give it a go. And discovered just how clever it was – subversive like all the best TV cartoons but with a kind of surreal undertone (in its ability to shoot off into little animated ‘fantasy’ scenarios, usually off the back of a line of dialogue) and with some memorable characters.

Where else on TV would you find an intellectual baby with delusions of grandeur, a talking dog, or a bunch of supporting characters quite as colourful as the ones who surround the Griffins? The show kind of leaves the impression that this is what The Simpsons might be like if it were on a bit later and appealed to a slightly older demographic (as opposed to attracting the kind of audience which ludicrously once voted it the ‘Best Children’s Show Of All Time’ in one of those Channel 4 compilation programmes).

Cartoons on TV – especially those for grown-ups – have a tendency to be a bit hit and miss – but Family Guy is a consistently funny gem of a show, possibly not for everybody but it does seem to have an army of fans – it’s surprisingly the number of times you say you’re going off to watch it and the person you’re addressing then decides that it’s their favourite show and they have to go and do the same.

It isn’t on at the most sociable of hours, it’s true – but if you’ve never seen it and you’re unlikely to be offended by close-to-the-bone humour and cartoon characters spouting very edgy oneliners and engaging in some frankly ridiculous storylines then you should give it a try.