James Gandolfini's six best moments

One of the many enduring joys of ‘The Sopranos’ was Paulie’s habit of telling a joke and then explaining it to Tony on the off-chance that his boss had missed it. Tony’s ‘slightly bored of Paulie’ face never got old.

The Coen Brothers’ ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ was the British audience’s first glimpse of a ‘Sopranos’-era Gandolfini as anyone other than the big guy. ‘Big Dave’ Brewster was a subtle tweak: a similar bullishness but with an edge of desperate vulnerability; somewhere between cock of the walk and scared schoolboy.

Gandolfini’s General George Miller was different again, walking the thin line between comedy and tragedy. In this scene, Miller does an excellent impression of a giant ball sack, works out troop shortfalls on a child’s pink counting toy before concluding, ‘at the end of a war, you need some soldiers left, really. Or else it starts to look like you’ve lost…’

After pausing for his customary root around in the fridge, Tony hears the cries of his suicidal son and races for the pool. What follows is a brief but devastatingly intense two-hander. Tony and AJ might not have liked each other very much, but the love in this scene is painfully obvious.

Spoiler alert: this entry contains important information about the conclusion of 'The Sopranos'

The most debated final scene in TV history? Probably. Whether or not the Soprano family lived or died is up to you. But this scene felt like the culmination of a unique relationship between writer, actor and part. And of course, in the light of Gandolfini’s death, it feels especially poignant. Fade to black…