15 female characters who changed our TV screens

Arriving on the first episode of Friends as a runaway bride, privileged and out-of-touch Rachel Green soon cuts up her credit cards, lands a waitressing job and then climbs the ladder of the fashion industry to become a senior buyer at Ralph Lauren.

Rachel (and Monica and Phoebe) promote ideals of female independence, unashamedly discuss sex and female pleasure, educate the men in their lives on how to treat women throughout the ten seasons. As well as bringing baby Emma into the world as a single Mum and mocking said men when they think they know better ("No uterus, no opinion"), she also blesses us with a cult nineties haircut along the way...

Hinging on a scenario all too familiar in American society - the scorned wife standing by the side of her scandalised cheating politician husband as he apologises to the nation - The Good Wife ultimately turned this on its head by focusing on Alicia. When she has to go back to work as a lawyer while her husband's career is in tatters, the programme makes her bounce-back the focus.

Similarly to the case of Friends, there's an argument for Miranda, Samantha, Carrie and Charlotte all featuring on this list. Miranda always sticks up for women and her friends in every situation. She talks about sex in the way men so often do and always calls out double standards. Yes, she's often seen as the 'career one' thanks to her successful legal profession yet she also portrays a frank and realistic account of balancing the demands of her job and motherhood after she gives birth to Brady.

Though she may be eternally eight years old, Lisa is the intelligent, sensible and fearless female force in the iconic cartoon. From favouring a 'Lisa Lionheart' to 'Malibu Stacey' doll, dressing up as a boy to join in with the boys only maths class and a look-to-the-future episode where Lisa has become the US president, there's no doubting her feminist credentials.

On the face of it Annalise is a strong, powerful woman who heads up her own legal firm and never relies on a man to get the job done. However, there's more to her. Yes she's all that, but also very complicated with a double-sided moral compass. Viola Davis, who became the first black woman to win a best actress Emmy for the role, said it best about Annalise: “It’s blowing the lid off everything that people say we should be, especially as a dark-skinned woman, that you can’t be sexual, you can’t be unlikable, you can be angry but with no vulnerability, you can’t be damaged, you can’t be smart. It blows the lid off all of it. And even if it’s not executed all the time in ways that people like, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that she’s out there. That’s it. She’s out there, she’s on screen, she’s making an impact.” (Via The Guardian)

Much like a grown-up Lisa Simpson, Amy Poehler's Leslie is an unashamed feminist and government representative who hangs pictures of female political powerhouses like Hillary Clinton and Madeline Albright in her office - the latter even made a cameo in the show. Through Poehler's witty writing, Knope consistently responds to small-minded local government sexist opinions with humour and sarcasm, although actually highlighting the kind of comments women face all the time through the art of parody.

A helpful reminder that a woman doesn't alway have to have her life in complete order comes in the form of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag. The central 30-something character - who is not even given a first name in the show - attempts to navigate a struggling career, financial situation and personal life though never losing her sense of humour as she talks to the audience on a personal basis. A format more often than not seen with male characters like Ricky Gervais' David Brent and Kevin Space's Frank Underwood.

In a terrifying dystopian future where every single basic right has been taken away from women, handmaid Offred (formerly June) is systematically raped, beaten and controlled by the state of Gillead. This, along with the desire to be reunited with her daughter Hannah, spurs Offred (played by Elisabeth Moss, yet again) to undertake a dangerous and risky mission to rise up against the oppressive state. A brave character shown at a timely point in history.

Not a character who would be described as moral, in any sense of the word, yet how refreshing it is to see a female portrayal of an assassin who doesn't solely rely on her sexuality to entrap men. Jodie Comer's Villanelle is vindictive, ruthless, obsessed with fashion and, erm, hilarious? Comer plays the character with so much charisma and depth that, in spite of her evil occupation, you almost end up rooting for her.

In a role typically awarded to men, it is Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope who is the go-to non-nonsense crisis-management guru for all could-be humiliating political scandals. Pope is intelligent, complex and harbours secrets herself yet completely leads the show.

Scandal's creator Shonda Rhimes has said of Pope - who is loosely based on crisis management expert, Judy Smith, who advised Monica Lewinsky through the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal - "She's been a very three-dimensional independent woman who was, at a time when female characters really weren’t anti-heroes, an antihero. Now it feels very normal and obvious that female characters can be anti-heroes. It feels normal and obvious that women of colour can lead the shows."

Khaleesi is an undeniable heroine on one of the 21st century's biggest shows. Despite a torrid backstory of abuse, throughout the series' Daenerys has risen up to be an independent ruler and leader, freeing the oppressed and standing up for what she believes in. As fellow Game of Thrones cast-member Rose Leslie said of Emilia Clarke's portrayal: “She’s at the forefront of representing independent women.”

Lena Dunham's Hannah is narcissistic, unaware of her own privilege, selfish annoying, self-centred, immature and, at times, very deluded - all things women on screen are not typically supposed to be. Throughout Girls, Hannah and her friends Marnie, Jessa and Shoshanna struggle to forge names, careers and futures for themselves, rivalled against the very real competition of New York City.

Though her character might not be particularly likeable, you can't help but find Hannah's flaws, body image, inability to save money, good, bad and awkward sexual encounters and utter frankness of living with a mental health condition refreshing.