For as long as I can remember, six o’ clock has been ‘Simpsons-time’. My brother and I would drop everything we were doing, no matter how urgent, and unite on the sofa for our daily dose of merriment. To our Mum’s dismay, we didn’t care that we’d seen them all hundreds of times (up until Season 9, that is, before my beloved second family become a warped parody of themselves). 

It doesn’t matter if I’m stressed, melancholic, angry, heartbroken or hung-over, The Simpsons have always been there to pick me up and remind me that life ain’t so bad. When the Cambridge-induced pressure builds to an unbearable pitch, I hide under the duvet with one of my many box-sets until I’ve giggled myself into a blissful stupor. 

What’s so special about The Simpsons is that it’s one of the most adept and enduring social satires ever created, but is completely without pretension. There is so much warmth in these characters, and we can all relate to them. I like to think I empathise most strongly with Lisa; a misunderstood intellect in a world of ignorance and injustice. But, let’s face it, really I’m Homer, lazing in a paddling pool eating a hotdog and dispensing such motivational gems as, “If something’s hard to do, then it’s not worth doing!” 

There are episodes that have gotten me through some tricky times. 'Lisa’s Rival’– in which a new girl joins Lisa’s class and is younger, smarter and better than her at everything – pretty much sums up my Cambridge experience. The Simpsons have taught me how to deal with loss, whether it’s Ralph getting dumped in ‘I Love Lisa’, Homer saying a premature goodbye to his fugitive mother in ‘Mother Simpson’, or Lisa waving off her inspiring teacher Mr Bergstrom in ‘Lisa’s Substitute’. During exam term, Ralph’s incredulous remark, “Me, fail English? That’s unpossible!” [sic] became something of a mantra for me. While, “Everything’s coming up Milhouse!” now seems like the only appropriate way to express triumph.

But what I love most of all about the show is its brilliant capacity to laugh at itself. In one of my all-time favourite episodes, ‘Homer’s Enemy’, Homer meets Frank Grimes, a down-trodden nuclear plant worker who has had to struggle through adversity his whole life. He is enraged by Homer’s ability to always land on his feet in spite of his extreme idiocy, and ironically ends up electrocuting himself while sarcastically impersonating Homer. The show is poking fun at itself, acknowledging the absurdity of Homer’s character and having a good giggle at him. 

The older I get, the funnier and more pertinent The Simpsons becomes. Not a day goes by when I don’t relate it to something that has happened to me, and nothing cheers me up quite like it.