The Simpsons has come under fire in recent months for its depiction of Kwik-E-Mart owner Apu and the allegedly racist stereotypes relating to him - but last night the cartoon series made the news for a more positive reason.

Most people of a certain age have grown up with Bart, Lisa, Homer, Marge and Maggie - and indeed, it's hard to remember a time when the show was not on telly.

Now, it's been made official - The Simpsons became the longest-running primetime scripted series of all time last night, when its 636th episode aired in the US.

 

In case you were wondering, it beat Western series Gunsmoke, which ran for 635 episodes from 1952 to 1961. The first episode of The Simpsons aired in 1989.

That's quite an achievement in anyone's book.