The Top 10: Parodies more successful than the originals

From ‘Allo, ‘Allo to Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, the spoofs that became better known than the spoofed

Surely you can't be serious: 'Airplane!' took more at the box office than 'Airport 1975', one of the movies it parodied (Rex)

This list was Rob Ford’s idea when Jonn Elledge commented that ’Allo ’Allo is so much more famous and successful than Secret Army, a drama about a fictional Belgian resistance movement, first broadcast in 1977.

1. Deadpool, Marvel’s masked mercenary protagonist – whose name is Wade Wilson – started as a parody of DC’s similarly masked mercenary Deathstroke, whose name is Slade Wilson.

2. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a rebuttal of Ballantyne’s The Coral Island, 1858, a wholesome moral adventure. Thanks to Paul T Horgan.

3. Airplane!, 1980, was such a detailed parody of a 1957 film called Zero Hour the producers even bought the rights to it, according to Joe Twyman. The film also parodied Airport 1975, a 1974 disaster movie that also took in less at the box office, said Paul T Horgan.

4. Lost in Space, American sci-fi series 1965-68, parodying The Swiss Family Robinson, a book by Johann Wyss, 1812, and a film of the same name in 1960. “Series started borderline serious and became more tongue-in-cheek,” said Robert Boston.

5. Tina Fey, whose career was lifted to new heights by her portrayal of Sarah Palin. Nominated by Andrew Lilico.

6. Diary of a Nobody, by George Grossmith. “It started as a spoof, mocking the proliferation of diaries – everybody who was anybody was publishing a diary,” said Francis Wheen.

7. This is Spinal Tap. “More successful than any rockumentary ever made,” said Richard Morris.

8. Life of Brian. Thanks to Peter Russell.

9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. “Began as a parody of comic book trends of the 1980s and became more popular than any of them,” said Wario Draghi.

10. 1066 And All That, Sellar and Yeatman, 1930, a parody of history textbooks, especially Our Island Story, by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall, 1905. Thanks to Damian Counsell.

There are always a few rogue nominations. Rafael Behr and Bernie Collier suggested CorbynSuperFan, the Twitter account that so accurately parodies some of the Labour leader’s admirers that it unfailingly provokes outrage and stands as a proof of Poe’s Law. “But surely CorbynSuperFan hasn’t been more successful than the original – he hasn’t won a general election,” protested PD Anderson. “Or a Nobel peace prize,” added Owain Morton.

Paul Ashby counter-nominated New Labour.

A late entry from Damian Counsell: “The TARDIS, the form of which is a running joke in Doctor Who, is more famous than the police boxes upon which it was based.”

Finally, an honourable mention for Paul T Horgan, who suggested Animal Farm, which was more successful than the Soviet Union “because no one was killed in the production or reading of the novel”.

Next week: Facts that sound fake but are true, such as: there are only four escalators in the state of Wyoming

Coming soon: Pronunciations designed to trick the unwary, such as antipodes, biopic, furore and segue

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk