Five fictional nannies we love

So it turns out Hollywood's favourite couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner split over their former nanny, Christine Ouzounian (she is a celebrity nanny, it seems, yes, there is such a thing).

So did Jude Law and Sienna Miller.

And who can forget how Princess Diana (herself a former nanny) was livid with how close Prince Charles became to Tiggy Legge Bourke (as the name suggests, she was, err, rather leggy), who was nanny to her beloved boys William and Harry?

But nannies are not always husband-snatching harpies. At least not in popular culture.

Here are our five favourite nannies:

1. Nanny McPhee:

Nanny McPhee leaves as surreptitiously as she arrives, in accordance with what she told the children before on her first night: "When you need me, but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go". She is the nanny from hell with a heart of gold. Emma Thompson's beloved 2005 adaptation from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda fixed poor Mr Brown's seven children who are bent upon giving their sole surviving parent, the much put upon Colin Firth, a heart attack. The film's sequel, in 2010, starred the wonderful Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dame Maggie Smith.

2. Mary Poppins:

Everyone's favourite flying nanny with a talking umbrella, the product of grumpy PL Travers' genius. The literary series was adapted by Walt Disney into possibly one of the most beloved musicals of all time, starring Julie Andrews. The tussle between Travers (Emma Thompson) and Disney (Tom Hanks) made for the remarkable movie Saving Mr Banks in 2013. As for Mary Poppins, from 1964, is still gorgeous. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, anyone?

3. Annie Braddock in Nanny Diaries:

Think of it as the domesticated Devil Wears Prada. Written by two former nannies, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, the bestseller was made into a 2007 movie starring the luminous Scarlett Johansson and is memorable, among other things, for Chris (Captain America) Evans' cameo as Harvard Hottie whom she meets in the lift to the penthouse. What's not to love about this little bit of fluff?

4. Mrs Doubtfire:

Every working woman's ultimate nanny, her former husband in disguise. Robin Williams owned this role as Euphegenia Doubtfire who would do anything to be with his children, even put up with the far-too-smooth-for-his-own-good Pierce Brosnan, his former wife's current lover.

5. Maria Rainer in The Sound of Music:

Our all time favourite, an adaptation of the Broadway musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Julia Andrews again as the nanny who will take care of the motherless Von Trapps and the wife less, anti-Nazi Captain (Christopher Plummer, ooh) while prancing around the Salzburg countryside singing the iconic "The Hills are Alive". Is there a song on this soundtrack that isn't still alive 50 years later? "Do Re Mi", "A Few of My Favourite Things", "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" How indeed do you make such a classic film?